Porus 126 : An overdose of Bharatiyata - Page 3

Of course, my dear Meghna, you are more than welcome to my threads and to the forum. I would be very glad to have you with us on a regular basis.

I am really flattered by your sweet comment about my posts, and I hope you continue to like them in the future as well. Now what I would like is for you, whenever you feel like it, to comment, not necessarily on my post, but on the episode as a whole. I shall look forward to that!

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Folks,

You can relax, this is not going to be another Ramayana like my last post. 😆

In fact, I have nothing much to say about the episode, except that Puru's bhashan about the unequalled virtues of the Bharatiyas would have provoked an angel. Even Jodha Begum never spouted so much self praise about the Rajvanshis.

If all the Bharatiyas had been like what Puru makes them out to be, there would have been no Dhananand (of course it is doubtful if Puru knows anything about him or about Magadha either😉), and no reason for Chanakya to struggle for years to cobble together a coalition against him. Raja Purushottam would have had the whole country fight alongside him against Alexander, instead of having to go it all alone, with Ambhiraj of Takshashila ranged on the side of the invader. And of course we would never have been ravaged by the Ghaznis and Ghoris. and ruled over by any number of outsiders from the Slave Dynasty to the Brits. We are a great country and we have a great, millenial civilisation, but there is no point blowing one's trumpet non stop about it, and that is all that Puru does.

Now, after having been treated to Puru's usual hijinks of solo victories against a dozen, which bores one to tears, we are apparently going to have a duel between him and Alexander. This is something that I had anticipated earlier in a different context, and then dismissed, thinking that a king would not fight a commoner. But now here it is!

I don't suppose either of them can be shown defeating the other, not at this stage of the show, so I expect it will be a draw, or it will be somehow cancelled.

Actually, it is strange to see Alexander. the king of Persia, thinking of fighting against some ordinary Bharatiya, and for what? Normally, kings would fight only against their equals in rank. Why does Alexander plan to do this now? To prove that all the stuff Puru was spouting was wrong? A sensible king would just have locked him up, and the public would very soon have forgotten all about him.

Perhaps it is a boyish desire to prove himself top dog, even against a nobody, simply because he has dared to challenge Alexander. This is perhaps Alexander's real weakness (though I doubt if Puru is going to spot this durbalta); he has to win every time, and he has to be seen winning.

But Alaria has a different take on this, so do look at her comment below.

So the whole of Faras has to be there to see him triumph against the Bharatiya. Is he going to build a mammoth stadium to accommodate all these Farsis? Ridiculous.😡 And what of Bactria and, hopefully, Roxanne? Put on hold for these gladiatorial games, one presumes.

I begin to get the impression that something Chetan Hansraj (he was one of the only two TV actors I have ever met, along with Aashka Goradia) told me 10 years ago in Montreal still holds good: that the CVs wake up each morning and write the script for the next day. And they probably write by committee: Kal maine kar liya na, aaj tum kar lo!

Yes, and Alexander has now officially been classified as a rakshasa, courtesy Laachi. I suppose that he will progressively be turned , from what poor Rohit thinks he is, a parallel lead, to a full blown villain. Saare lakshan to aise hi nazar aa rahe hain.😡

The only thing that was worth watching tonight was the way in which Alexander sat there, unmoving, like a graven image, while Hephaestion was being half strangled by Puru. His self control is admirable, and he never flies off the handle.

Then the way in which he quickly looked back at Barsine when Puru said they had come to Faras to fulfil a promise. He can connect the dots faster than a modern PC! 👏

Yes, and the way in which his tawny eyes held Puru's dark eyes in a lockhold, neither of them blinking and neither letting go. And the level voice in which he speaks to Puru, never raising it and never ranting.

Finally, it was clear, from the sudden triumph in Alexander's narrowed eyes when Puru saves the child and clobbers Hephaestion, that he had achieved what he had wanted, ie to smoke out the Bharatiya who was helping Barsine. I was glad to be (occasionally!) proved right!😉

Puru fails to bring any nuance to that confrontation ; he is the same, smug, self-satisfied, over-confident character he ever was, always sure he is 101% right and ready to lecture to all and sundry. He must have been feeling deprived, not having had the chance to deliver a bhashan for quite a while, and now that he got it, he made full use of it, alas for me!😆

Lastly, I think it is high time Alexander changed out of this Persian costume and got back to the Macedonian white in which he looks every inch a warrior. I am sure even Rohit's most ardent admirers must have done with counting and admiring his abs, so there should be no complaints!😆

I have not watched the Paurava Rashtra parts; that can keep.

I don't know how many of you will like this crabby post, but if you happen to do so, kindly hit the Like button.

Shyamala Aunty

Your last para says it all, my dear, and the prospect of that happening is a dim one, for the power of the army there is directly linked to the maintenance, and periodic ratcheting up of hostility towards us.

I am also very pleased that you have grasped, and that you agreed with my main point: that the Pak protagonists in Raazi are not part of the common folk. They are part of an establishment that is unrelentingly hostile towards us. So the makers say nothing about what actually happened in East Pakistan from March - December 1971? That is the kind of cop out I did not expect from Meghna Gulzar.

Shyamala Aunty

Porus - Tumne Pechaan Toh Liya...Ki Main Ek Bhartiya Hoonn... (the proud in his eyes was in mine too... i was so happy ki usne us bache ko kuch nahi hone diya...yeh us bache ka haq ki woh yeh choose kar sake ki usse alexander jaise insaan ke saamne jhukna hain ya nahi...koi usse force nahi kar sakta porus ke hote huye). Par Tum Yeh Nahi Jaante Ki Bhartiya Hota Kya Hain...Toh Suno...Hum Bhartiya Apne Bhagwan Ke Saamne Jhukte Hain...Unka Aashirwad Lene Ke Liye...Aur Rakshas Ke Saamne Jhukte Hain...Uske Pairo Tale Zameen Khiskane ke liye ...Hamari Sanskriti...Hamare Sanskaar Hamein Yeh Sikhaate Hain...Ki Hum Doosron Ki MatrBhoomi Aur Maa Ka Samman Karein...Aur Agar Koi Hamari Maa YaMatrBhoomi Par Dhrishti Daalne Ka Prayas Bhi Kare...Toh Uska Ant Karna Jaante Hain Hum Bhartiye ...Hamare Sanskar Hamein Raksha Karna Sikhate Hain...Raksha...Apno Ki...Apne Parivar...Apne Desh KI...Tum Yaha Farasss Aaye in Nirdoshon Ka Lahu Bahane ...Is Dharti Par Adhikar Karne...Aur Hum Bharatwasi Yahan Aaye Apna Vachan Nibhane ...Hum Bhartiye Karm Mein Vishwas Rakhte Hain...Phal Paane Ke Liye Karm Nahi Karte...Hamare Desh Mein Samman Tab Milta Hain ...Jab Hum Doosron Ki Seva Karein...Unki Sahayta Karein... Naaki Unka Bhakshan Karein...Hum Bhartiye Jhukte Hain Prem Ke Liye...Bhawnao Ke liye...Aadar Ke Liye...Aur Jiske Man Mein Prem Aur Bhawnaye Na Ho...Jiske Liye Man Mein Aadar Na Ho ...Hum Unkee Samman Chattan Banke Khade Ho Jaate Hain...Tum Sabko Apne Beh Ke Astra Se jeetna Chahte Ho Na Alexander... Mrityu Ke Beh Se Sab Par Adhikar Karna Chathe Ho Na Tum ...Aur Hum Bhartiye Mrityu Se Nahi Darte Alexander ...Kyonki Hum Jaane Hain Ki Sansaar Ka Sabse Bada Satya Mrityu Hain...Jeevan Toh Bhagwan Ka Daan Hain aur Karna Hamein Apni MatrBhoomi Ka Samman Hain...

I dont think they will show alexander getting defeated by puru coz it will only increase puru's over confidence, as u say maybe match can be a draw but i really hoping 4 failure of puru so that he start improving himself & alexander is very gud player he may let puru believe that puru is winning but finally he knock out puru.

Puru always carries an attitude i know everything in reality he know nothing but he is only over confident, whereas alexander actually has knowledge of everything, how 2 use 2 it coz he is well trained in everything.

Makers bring unnecessary characters like that malay boy , vishkanya but cannot bring in a intelligent person 4 puru 2 guide him ,

One, the absence from this script of Darius' mother, Sisygambis, who had, according to recorded history, been present at Issus and had met Alexander there. It is as if a major character who did much to shape Alexander's attitudes towards Persia had never existed!

It has been narrated by innumerable contemporary and later Greek and Roman historians that Sisygambis loved Alexander far more than she cared for her son Darius- whom she in fact disowned for his cowardice in abandoning his family and running away from the battlefield, and refused to mourn when he was finally killed by one of his former satraps. In fact Sisygambis loved Alexander so much that she committed suicide when she received the news of his death.

If that relationship had been shown, no one, beginning with the CVs and ending with the viewers, could have seen what Alexander did for the Persian royal ladies as merely a political ploy to gain leverage against Darius. Or that he would have treated them with anything but courtesy and respect.

Two. Showing Alexander killing the Pythia, the High Priestess of Delphi just because she was warning him against going to Bharat. This sequence is a distortion of an unbelievable degree. The Delphic Oracle, and thus its High Priestess, were so revered throughout the Hellenic world and even beyond that if Alexander had actually killed the Pythia, his soldiers, convinced that the wrath of the god Apollo would descend on them, would have refused point blank to follow him to Persia, or indeed anywhere else. He would, in effect, have been excommunicated.

Yes, contemporary Greek sources narrate that Alexander did visit the Oracle at Delphi before he set out on his campaign against Persia. This was in the winter of 335 BC, in November, to be precise. The Oracle, for unknown reasons, was silent and would not make prophecies again till February 334 BC. So Alexander, who needed a favourable prophecy to enthuse his 40000 plus troops, found that his demand, request, and even pleading would not work.

Predictably, his famous temper flared up, and he charged into the temple, grabbed the shocked Pythia, and dragged her to the sacred tripod, insisting on having his prophecy. Plutarch, the historian, narrates that thereupon, as if overcome by his ardour, she exclaimed : "Thou art invincible, my son!"

Phir to kya tha. Alexander ki to chaandi lag gayi. He promptly released her, saying that he desired no further prophecy as he had his answer, came out of the temple and told his anxious troops that the Pythia had said he would be invincible. They were all reassured and perked up, and he then led them on to the conquest of Persia.

Instead of this factual account, the script shows us Alexander murdering an old woman, that too a universally revered High Priestess of Apollo, because he did not like her prophecy about the need for him to stay out of Bharat!

Nor is there is any historical backing for this piece of natakiya rupantar, or "creative scripting, about Alexander being warned by the Delphic Oracle to stay away from India.

Alexander is a grey character, at times he is greyer than at others, but he was not the monster he is being made out to be in Porus.

This has become too long, but I hope that you will bear with me!

Shyamala Cowsik (Aunty/Di, whatever you like)

Towards the end of the movie they gave a brief recap about the PNS Ghazi's sinking and what followed after that till the point of India winning the war and Bangladesh being created.

Dear aunty,

I don't read very long posts. Plus I like puru character and Alex character both. So I don't like the posts jisme puru Ki burayi ho Rhi ho.

Bcoz he was a defender.. And I agree with his thoughts.

And Jha tak rahi pure white hone Ki baat to har Indian show me hero humesha pure white hota h... We would never like hero as a grey character. So I have no problem with that too.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: --BlackSheep--

@Bold,No they did describe the Mukti Bahini and the conditions in East Pakistan but that was done by the Pakistani characters.So it's natural that they won't reveal about the atrocities committed by their own military.

Towards the end of the movie they gave a brief recap about the PNS Ghazi's sinking and what followed after that till the point of India winning the war and Bangladesh being created.

That is what I meant, that we are so far apart in our tastes that there seems to be very little meeting ground!

And not all Indian TV serial heroes are lily white. The Akbar of Jodha Akbar was not (of course you don't like it! ) nor the Chandragupta of Chandragupta Maurya, nor the heroes of any number of socials that I could list. One that readily comes to mind is Ek Mutthi Aasmaan, but very many of them have grey leading men, whether you call them heroes or not.

Shyamala Aunty

Some even questioned Sehmat's actions of betraying her husband and 'family' 's trust in the course of fulfilling her duties as a spy.

I so wish that we would have been given a glimpse into the atrocities committed by the Pakistani military on the innocents of East Pakistan by the Indian characters.Coz these are not fabricated but sheer,chilling hardcore facts which cannot be forgotten whenever that phase of history is remembered.

Personally I think a scene like Sehmat getting distracted or emotional for a moment during her job and then getting reminded by her superiors at RAW about the activities of the Pakistani Army in East Pakistan to restore her focus on her mission would have been apt for inducing these facts into the movie and letting the audience know what the actual circumstances were.