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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site petrus.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!bellcore!petrus!mwg
From: mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Re: Mountbatten series
Message-ID: <32@petrus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Feb-86 18:53:47 EST
Article-I.D.: petrus.32
Posted: Mon Feb 24 18:53:47 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Feb-86 06:50:21 EST
References: <115@Shasta.ARPA>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc
Lines: 32

++
> What we cannot argue about are historical facts. One of the  critics  of
> the  TV  series referred to an incident in the second(?) espisode, where
> Mountbatten and  his  wife  almost  single-handedly  pacified  an  angry
> demonstration  by  thousands  of  armed Pathans. The critic charged that
> this scene was ridiculous - initially,  I  tended  to  agree  with  him.
> However,  I  changed  my  mind  when  I  found that the book "Freedom at
> Midnight" by Collins and Lapierre (pg. 130) had an  identical  portrayal
> of this incident. What is more, there is a photograph of the incident on
> pg. 329. I also saw a similar description in  Tendulkar's  biography  of
> Abdul  Ghaffar  Khan...
> - zerksis.

I might be that critic.  Perhaps unfortunately, my impression of that
scene was not derived from previous knowledge of what actually happened.
Indeed, it would be ridiculous for the writers to make such an event
up, if something like it didn't really happen.  What I object to is
the fact that the writing (and maybe the acting) was so bad that the
viewer could not tell *WHY* the crowd settled down.  He didn't do
anything but wave at them!  If Mountbatten was a great man, they
certainly didn't capture that greatness.  And I know Gandhi was a
great man (from reading his autobiography) and they certainly didn't
capture his greatness either!

I watched the last episode since posting my original tirade on the
series.  Does anyone know what was going on when Mountbatten and
Jinnah were in that car; they knew someone was planning to bomb it;
you saw people in the crowd with grenades; and then the parade ended
and Jinnah claimed to have saved Mountbatten's life.  I didn't have
the slightest idea what was happening.

-Mark Garrett