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From: mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Re: TV series on Mountbatten
Message-ID: <19@petrus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Feb-86 18:45:47 EST
Article-I.D.: petrus.19
Posted: Mon Feb  3 18:45:47 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 3-Feb-86 23:56:39 EST
References: <1181@ulysses.UUCP>
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Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc
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Yesterday, I saw about a half hour (all I could stand) of the PBS series,
"Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy".  It seemed to me just an episode
of Dallas starring people with darker skin!  Jinnah (sp?) and several of
the characters 'on his side' were portrayed as conniving, ruthless men;
Ghandiji was made to be a fool -- like he was a popular puppet put up
by the ones with the real power for the people to adore.  There was a
scene where Mountbatten confronts a mob of thousands of angry Moslems,
demanding an independent Pakistan, who he befriends simply because he
is wearing green (by chance) which is their color!  This really seemed
like the way African natives were treated in Tarzan movies.  Are we
to beleive that after so many years of British rule, the Moslem Indians
were so backward and naive about their governor?

My opinion is based on watching only 20-30 minutes of that trash; seeing
the movie, "Ghandi" three years ago; and traveling for 6 weeks in Bombay,
Madras, Kerela, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, New Delhi and Agra (two years ago).
I visited cities and villages, and everywhere people asked me, "Did you
see the movie about Ghandiji?"  They all seemed very proud of it.  If
"Ghandi" has a grain of truth to it, this "Mountbatten" thing doesn't.
PBS should be ashamed.

-Mark Garrett