Thiong'o, Tharoor and Films on Colonial History

Hello Readers!

When one talks about colonialism and postcolonialism, Shashi Tharoor is a name whose work is worth considering.

Shashi Tharoor is a renowned author who has penned a postcolonial text namely, "An Era of Darkness: British Empire in India" He has given many speeches about Indian colonial history and how Britishers 'Looted' India for two centuries. Here is the work done before on the topic. Click Here to navigate to the blog post.

* Films on Colonial History

There are several films made with reference of colonial aspects and colonial history.

1. Kavi Raz's The Black Prince

Duleep Singh was the last king of Punjab state, a princely state of British India. His father Ranjeet Singh was killed in the Anglo-Sikh war when Duleep Singh was a kid. Duleep Singh was set on the throne at five. At the age of fifteen, he was abducted by Britishers and sent to England. He was converted to Christianity and was not allowed to get back to India. During his exile, his mother Jind Kaur ruled in Punjab. The film covers the strong colonial politics and shrewd strategies to colonize the land at any cost.

2. Stephan Frears' Victoria and Abdul

3. Mira Nair's Reluctant Fundamentalist

4. Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children

5. Richard Attenborough's Gandhi

The films captures the timespan of British India and a struggle for freedom. Though the film is a biopic but still it carries the colonial history in the background.

6. Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List

Oskar Schindler, (born April 28, 1908, Svitavy [Zwittau], Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now in the Czech Republic]—died October 9, 1974, Hildesheim, West Germany), German industrialist who, aided by his wife and staff, sheltered approximately 1,100 Jews from the Nazis by employing them in his factories, which supplied the German army during World War II. (Britannica, for more https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oskar-Schindler)

And many other films are there which capture the colonial nuances from the history. Here is a list of some more films. https://mubi.com/lists/postcolonial-cinema

References:

Al-Kadhi, Amrou. "Victoria and Abdul is Another Dangerous Example of British Filmmakers Whitewashing Colonialism." The Independent, 18 Sept. 2017, www.independent.co.uk/voices/victoria-and-abdul-white-wash-british-empire-colonialism-poverty-slavery-a7950541.html

Thank You!

Shashi Tharoor - Sahitya Akademi Award 2019

Hello Readers!

Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician and currently serving as the member of the parliament, from Kerala. He is a fluent speaker of English language and has delivered many speeches at various places. People also get amazed by his rich vocabulary and by the usage of difficult words with long spellings. He has written many books highlighting political incidents and historical aspects. Recently his popular yet controversial book "An Era of Darkness: British Empire in India" has won the Sahitya Akademi Award 2019. Click here to read an article about it. The work Tharoor falls in the category of creative non-fiction. Sahitya Akadmi Award is given for literature every year. Click here to read the list of authors who have received this award till 2019.

Here are some videos in which Shashi Tharoor gives speeches and interviews. Let's have a look.

(1) Tharoor's speech at Oxford Union

Shashi Tharoor strikes very sharp arguments with the usage of word 'Loot'. During the time when India was known as "Sone Ki Chidiya" or "The Golden Sparrow", her GDP was much higher before arrival of British colonies. Tharoor again strikes that Britishers impoverished India by looting raw materials and transferring them to England. Here one question can be asked that can it be said that Industrial revolution wouldn't have taken place if India wouldn't have been colonized by British empire ? Tharoor again says that Prosperity of Britain is based on the de-industrialization of India. A very remarkable line from the video is this:

"The Sun never sets in the British Empire because even God couldn't trust the English in the dark." - Shashi Tharoor

(2) Looking Back at the British Raj in India

At the University of Edinburgh, Tharoor gave an excellent speech on looking back at British Raj. He talked about his PhD and most importantly about the academic rigor which is must required for writing any thesis or paper. This was very relating to the students of literature, especially who are doing their graduation and post - graduation. In a nut shell, Tharoor talks about how Britishers and other colonizers looted India. All the colonizers came to this country and robbed all the useful things. India was capable enough to produce textile and steel, and in agriculture also India was producing much organic and nutritious crops. But the drawback for India was new machinery and technology was not easily accepted. Otherwise India was potent enough to rule all over the world and govern the highly prestigious culture. In some manner it can be stated that the submissiveness of Indians was also the result of this colonization. Not a single empire would have dared to enter this country if the three watch words Liberty - Equality - Fraternity were applied among the princely states and provinces of India.

(3) Interview on his book "An Era of Darkness"

In this video Tharoor talks about his book An Era of Darkness. Britain transformed India from the richest country in the world to the poor country. Taxation, economy and many things were made weak. He says that how Britishers attacked the Indian economy by increasing tax. People, who were unable to pay the tax, were whipped, tortured and harassed, treated very cruelly by the Britishers. India was rich in many industries also, such as steel, textile, hand loom etc. These colonizers made Indians weak enough that Indians lost the courage to strike back, and raise the voice. By taking the advantage of this weakness, Britishers kept on looting and sucking the prosperity of India for 200 years.

(4) Another Interview on his book with Suhasini Krishnan




(5) Interview with Vishnu Varma

In the later 3 videos on the book written by Tharoor, he throws light on various aspects by attacking the British colonies and it's influence which lasted for 200 years. Indeed this book will be of a worth reading. None other than Tharoor have talked about Indian economy with such deep historical sense, and after having a close introduction to the book, if we try to write a brief critique on it, it stands as an individual talent with the parameters of T. S. Eliot's essay, Tradition and Individual Talent.

References:
(1) Agencies. “Shashi Tharoor Named for Sahitya Akademi Award 2019.” Millennium Post, Millennium Post, 19 Dec. 2019, http://www.millenniumpost.in/features/shashi-tharoor-named-for-sahitya-akademi-award-2019-391842.

(2) “List of Sahitya Akademi Award Winners for English.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Dec. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sahitya_Akademi_Award_winners_for_English.