The King’s Man is the third chapter in the Kingsman series of films that takes the audience more than a hundred years back to present what were the causes and factors involved that gave birth to the Kingsman organization. Directed by the same guy, Michael Vaughn, this film touches on so many important political events that happened before, during, and after World War I.
The Kingsman films are basically a comic book series ‘Kingsman‘ written by Mark Millar and the artwork by Dave Gibbons. Kingsman is so far consisting of three parts, starting with ‘The Secret Service‘ of 6 issues. Then ‘The Big Exit‘ which is only 1 issue. And then ‘The Red Diamond‘ of 6 issues. Keeping in mind, Mark Millar gave birth to Kingsman in 2012 and Michael Vaughn picked the literature in 2014; so the Kingsman franchise in all formats has made steady progress in just 10 years.
History has been one of my favorite subjects. Therefore, time-traveling with Kingsman to one of the most important political events in history was necessary. Of course, the events were not historically accurate. Hitler didn’t kill the Tsars, Mata Hari didn’t seduce Woodrow Wilson, Rasputin wasn’t a fighter, and many more.
There may be two reasons for these inaccuracies. One is that Michael Vaughn took the liberty to present the film with such theatrical license to become how the history would look like to build a purpose of giving birth to an organization.
The other reason is maybe this is how the original source of the comic book series is written. And if that is so, then the historical inaccuracy does not become a problem because the writer has the liberty to present his/her audience the way he/she wants to write a fictional story on a real event. There is no argument in that. There are tons and tons of fictional novels based on real events and that is completely okay. If anyone still has any objection, let me drop this to you, Joker was once Iran’s representative to the United Nations *cough*.
One more fact that we need to acknowledge is that Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons themselves are the executive producers of all three Kingsman films. So no one should have any problem with any portion of the story if the Gods of that universe are the ones financing these films.
Michael Vaughn’s direction was quite different than the previous two installments. But I must say, the direction was pretty complex in the middle of the film. I felt the film was deliberately running fast, they have to catch the train and reach the platform where the organization will come into existence. But also, Michael Vaughn usually paces the screenplay.
The casting of this film is so elite and perfect. Ralph Fiennes in the leading role as the Duke of Oxford was marvelous thought. He perfectly suits a franchise like Kingsman. Tom Hollander! I mean what a smart and intelligent pick for the triple role of Tsar, Wilhelm, and George. Giving such heavy roles to the same actor was funny and clever as two of the three, Tsar and George were identical. To my utter shock, Rasputin is played by Rhys Ifans. Never imagined him being Rasputin. What a thought! He looked so Rasputin in superb makeup. And I found this Rasputin in physical presence better than Ben Cartwright‘s in the limited series, The Last Czars.
And then the fast action sequences, that have been important elements of Michael Vaughn’s filmography, will not disappoint. Rasputin’s fighting was fun to watch, I was laughing at this action sequence because Rasputin was fighting with elements of Russian folk dance.
Maybe the film is not appreciated because of the complex direction in the middle of the film and is quite different than the first two Kingsman films. But I recognize the importance of this film and I think it was quite alright. I liked the idea of how one evil sent his followers to bring hell on the global powers. This film is extremely political and may also be the reason that Kingsman fans showed less fondness as compared to the other two. But I believe, this film stays untouched by the graceful aesthetics and makes no harm in this Kingsverse. With the development in the mid-credit scene, I wait for its continuity.
Gauhar Mahal built by Qudsiya Begum in 1820. The palace is notable for its beautiful Hindu and Mughal architectural fusion.
It was the 15th of October, 1812 when the powerful and furious army of the Marhattas comprised of Gwalior and Nagpur states numbering a force of 82,000 marched towards the Fatehgarh Fort under General Jagua Bapu, his deputy General Kachua and the Muslim General Sadiq Ali.
From Gwalior, Jagua was joined by one of his officers, Dan Singh. Jagua’s force amounting to 25,000 men was strengthened with 12 battalions of infantry and 30 guns. If that was not enough, the commanders of the infantry and cavalry, Ramlal and Krishna Bhau joined Bapu with their 15,000 men, horse and foot. And from Nagpur, General Sadiq Ali marched with an army of 30,000 men. So that is a force of 70,000 men out of the above-mentioned figure of 82,000. I am not aware what the rest of 12,000 was comprised of.
STRENGTH OF WAZIR’S ARMY AND HIS ALLIES
As compared to the gigantic Marhatta force, Wazir Mohammad Khan was able to convince his Rajput Allies and Sikh mercenaries to fight by his side against the Marhattas. And along with his ever loyal Pathan army, Wazir had a Rajput-Sikh alliance support of only 6000 horse-and-foot, and 2000 men provided by the zamindars of Talpargana and Ratan Singh Thakur. Besides, the other support came from Namdar Khan of Tonk and his 3000 Pindaris. Namdar Khan was the nephew of Karim Khan who was once a prisoner of Sindhia for five years.
Wazir realized that such a small number of force is not enough to fight against them. So he considered a defensive approach and ordered his guards to close all the gates of Fatehgarh Fort with the entire population of Bhopal inside. Looking at the scenario, the enemies encircled the fort and stormed the gates every day or threw rope ladders over the walls at night. When they lifted from the ladders, they were welcomed by the Bhopalis pouring boiling water above them. The other alternative was to throw a barrage of rocks and stones over their heads to dissuade them from climbing.
The enemies cannonaded during the first few weeks. The friends of Wazir had the utmost difficulty in prevailing on him to abandon the tombs of his ancestors where the principal battery of the enemy was afterward raised.
Wazir and his army defended this way for a few weeks but then their spirits met a new low when all of Wazir’s allies, the Rajputs, the Sikhs and the Pindaris decided to quit and withdraw from the fort. I am not aware of the reason but most certainly they realized that was not their war to defend or sacrifice. They assisted as much as they can but being inside the gates for weeks was too much a favor.
Pindaris were in such a distressing situation due to being unable to procure forages for their horses. With the departure of his allies, the army strength of Wazir was reduced from 11,000 to 6,000.
Out of the remaining 6,000 force, Wazir posted and assigned half of them this way;
100 men at the old fort (guarded by Doongar Singh, a Rajput officer)
200 men at the Ginnor (guarded by Thakur Jay Singh)
200 men at the Gondwara gate (guarded by Mir Bakar Ali)
200 men at the Mangalwara gate (guarded by Nanga Sar meaning bearheaded)
200 men at the Itwara gate (guarded by Mulaim Khan)
200 men at the Jumarat gate (guarded by Khawaja Bakhsh)
400 men at the Sondwara gate (guarded by Moiz Mohammad Khan, son of Ghous Mohammad Khan)
200 men at the Humamil gate (guarded by Karim Mohammad Khan)
500 men at Wazir-gunj, a suburb outside the town (guarded by Gulshan Rao)
200 men for Fatehgarh (guarded by Dil Mohammad Khan)
100 men at Bala Fort (guarded by Zalim Singh)
100 men for Fatehgarh’s port (guarded by Soota Khan)
500 men for Wazir’s personal command
One of the six gates built in the 18th century under the command of Dost Mohammad Khan, Jumerati Gate is the only gate still standing. The rest according to the historians were demolished back in the 1950s.
THE ALARMING
Ghous Mohammad Khan, to whom goes the credit of bringing this wrath on his Bhopalis gave up on hunger, depravity, and hardship. Because of him, Wazir had to negotiate safe passage to move him outside Bhopal in comfort under the company of eunuchs and courtesans. It is hard to visualize and measure the level of embarrassment and shame he brought on the efforts of the Bhopalis. His wife Zeenat Begum and her eldest daughter Qudsia decided to stay on in the fort to rally their people in resisting the siege. Qudsia in a few years became the first of the four female rulers to rule Bhopal typically termed as the Begums of Bhopal. Yes, you read it right, Qudsia was the daughter of this Ghous who was so worthless that even the enemies didn’t bother to take him as a hostage.
Many times, the defense of the fort was in jeopardy and the measures had to be taken in haste. One day, the enemies broke into the fort by attacking the guards on the Budhwara Gate. The gate was wide opened for the Marhattas to finally march and enforce a possible bloodbath but Wazir’s commander-in-chief and the most loyal of all the Barrukat Pathans, Sardar Bakhshi Bahadur Khan, bravely fought the enemies at the gate. Bhopali women assisted Sardar by throwing stones and pouring boiling water on them. When the news of the attack reached to Wazir, he came to the rescue and successfully defended the gate. Sardar served severe gashes but his gallantry boosted the morale and augmented the much-needed courage among the Bhopalis.
FOOD SUPPLY
With the weeks passed, the normal consumption of food was deadly compromised. Bhopalis began to eat leaves and boiled shoe leather. During this painfully ravenous time, Wazir’s loyal Rajput allies, Ratan Singh and Aman Singh, the zamindars of Rajput, helped the Bhopalis by arranging grains enough to feed them. So when the food was required, Wazir would seek help from them and agree to reach on a certain spot after midnight. Then Aman and Ratan (or their men, I am not sure here) would bring cartloads of grain through the jungle to an agreed spot on the far side of the lake overlooked by the fort in the darkness of the night.
On the other side, Wazir with his few loyal companions including Bakhshi Bahadur would carefully leave the fort through the gates and swim across the lake carrying empty mushuks (water bags) to fill with grain and return with weight. These were the times which we will never imagine to exist. Escaping from your enemies by slipping from the gates and trying to reach at a spot on an agreed time and trying to return safely again from their enemies while carrying the weight. Too much to ask but that is loyalty to defend while resisting the siege.
Grains were not enough. Wazir somehow contacted the Hindu corn merchants who were commissioned to supply wheat to the Marhatta army at one rupee for five seers. He knew that the merchants will not supply wheat to the enemies of the Marhattas and that too on this rate. So he paid exorbitant sums to convince the dealers. Therefore, the merchants black marketed the wheat to the Bhopalis at 10 rupees per seer. Wazir risked his life and spent a huge fortune to feed his people, leaving the conclusion on God. Pure madness but the gem of example to determine the leadership.
This continued for six months. An abnormality of a life survival was on the count and many people began giving up or became treacherous due to lack of food and water, and sanitation. Observing the Bhopalis breaking their courage, the Marhattas began bribing the guards to open the gates. Looking at these circumstances, anyone at Wazir’s position would have either committed suicide or waved a white flag but he patiently waited.
Zeenat Begum bravely led the Bhopali women, both Hindus and Muslims, and supported their men’s army. They supplied them food and water, learned musketry and the other arts of combat. The women put themselves to exercise to fill cannons with gunpowder and fire so that made it easy for the men to take rest and let the women, dressed as men, stand to guard at nights.
Zeenat Begum unified all classes of women into one. Under her, there was no difference between the rich and the poor women. They all sat together beside her at the table meeting. She led with examples. One day, Zeenat ordered her 14-year-old daughter Qudsia to give two chapatis to a cleaning woman after being informed that her children were starving for a couple of days. Qudsia gave one and hid the other for her brother Faujdar. When Zeenat inspected, she scolded her daughter.
On the other occasion, Zeenat’s other son Moiz was wounded by the enemy musket-fire and fell unconscious. Her mother came for the rescue, dressed her son’s gashes with her dopatta and loaded and fired cannon herself for several hours until Moiz revived. Yes, it is really hard to believe that she was Ghous’ wife.
A TREASURE OF HOPE
The resistance of siege continued until they tolerated the deprivation. The time length of the ultimate wait in the line of defending the land was outnumbering due to the succumbing of the women and children. After nine months to the siege, Wazir held a meeting and decided to negotiate with the enemies a safe passage for the women and children through Qazi Mohammad Yusuf and Molvi Nizamuddin so the remainders in the fort can launch a suicide attack because there was no other way to conclude of what Wazir decided for his people.
This decision was agreed and both, Qazi and Molvi, were sent to the enemy as the envoys. During all this, Wazir went to a faqeer for the spiritual guidance. Pir Mastan Shah was known as the dancing Pir living in Bhopal for past 12 years. Wazir dropped his turban and sword, and placed at his feet and asked for the final blessing. Inclined towards the circle of devotion, Pir chanted ‘Fatah Fatah, Nacho Nacho’ (Victory Victory, Dance Dance) and indicated a location in the fort to discover and dig. Expecting it to be a God’s sign of the lasting hope, Wazir reached a secret chamber of the fort where he discovered around 500 bags of dynamites. Not a confirmed source but the legacy is that long time ago, an old servant of Wazir’s great-uncle and Ghous’ grandfather, Yar Mohammad Khan hid or stored those dynamites there. Wazir found the courage and postponed the likely surrender for a day making Qazi and Molvi think if they were deceived by altering the agreement.
Sultan Shah Jahan Begum of Bhopal, 1872
SADIQ ALI’S DREAM
Wazir assembled his force to revise the plan but had no idea to the situation inflicted around his enemies. Major General Sir John Malcolm has accounted for an interesting turnaround in one of his books about Sadiq Ali.
One day out of nowhere and beyond anyone’s expectations, Sadiq Ali announced that he had a horrible dream about some force from the ground cursing him for joining hands with the infidels against the people of his faith. He was further warned by the force to dissuade from fighting against them as the period of nine months without genuine progress was certain evidence of not breaking the defense of the Bhopalis because they were protected by the divine powers.
With the explanation of such a dream, he ordered his army to withdraw. Dan Singh and other Sindhia commanders struggled to convince but there was no stopping. Sadiq Ali and his army raised the siege and left to Sarangpur.
Moreover, Jagua Bapu’s army suffered a dreadful attack of cholera taking Bapu’s life which further weakened and reduced the opposing force. So when Wazir and his army went on for the final assault finally after nine months, only the weakest force was left. Women from the ramparts fired with cannons. Bakhshi Bahadur bravely fought and faced severe injuries again. Jagua Bapu’s deputy Kachua committed suicide by swallowing the diamond dust.
After nine months of Bhopal’s siege and self-arrest of the entire population, the historic Fatehgarh Fort was not invaded. In one of the most incredible circumstances, Bhopal was saved from the Marhatta Army under the most ideal leadership of Wazir Mohammad Khan and proved to be the true bloodline of his great-grandfather, Dost Mohammad Khan. True to his noble tradition, Wazir declined to claim the title of Nawab. He pensioned off Ghous to Islamnagar.
After the victory, the dancing Pir disappeared…
Tomb of Wazir Mohammad Khan in Bhopal. The site is hardly 3kms far from the tomb of his great-grandfather, Dost Mohammad Khan.
“Entering in 2019, these kind of stories are impossible to believe to exist. Because things are drastically changed, the soldiers do not wait for their opponents to come out from their place for nine months. There have been many sieges. To my surprise, Bhopal’s siege is hardly available on the internet. Many names I mentioned in the story here cannot be detected by any search engine. Which actually proves that there is still a lot of treasure to gain from the books which cannot be found on the internet. My piece from Hindustan’s history is a favor to the global readers who can treasure this through my blog and benefit to the coming generations. Thank you for reading.”
This book came to my attention when I came to know that he was the cousin of the Nawab of Pataudi which meant that he belonged to the royal house. So when I read about him on Wikipedia, I was reintroduced to his name as an author. One of the books had this title envisaging some blood connection and when I read that some of the women ruled the Bhopal state for more than one hundred years, that knowledge encouraged me to read this book.
Mr Khan emigrated to Pakistan with his mother in 1950. His mother inspired him to write this book and for the research, he used his mother’s library to read all the available books, documents, and manuscripts, even the recorded tapes about his ancestors in the state’s history. No book on Bhopal can challenge the heaviest and rich detailing of this book due to the fact of Mr Khan having the luxury of storing the most authentic sources about Bhopal.
In this book, Mr Khan attempts incredible research and enriches the readers about his ancestors in which four Muslim women rulers reigned over Bhopal between 1819 and 1926. Therefore, the length of the blood lineage of Mr Khan can be traced back to Dost Mohammad Khan of the 17th century.
This double-storey palace was built by Rani Kamlapai in 1722. Rani was the widow of Nizam Shah, the Gond Raja who ruled Ginnor. When Dost Mohammad Khan protected her from her Gond rivals, she gifted the village of Bhopal. A new chapter of Dost’s dominance over Bhopal began from that moment.
This blog is not a book review. My reading to this book is merely 60 pages old but what has made my mind to write this blog is to inform you about one of the sieges mentioned in the book which was occurred in extraordinary circumstances. I would like to take you back to the chapters of the Indian history to tell you how the soldiers defended their piece of land. An example which is hard to imagine and nearly impossible to exist today.
We are observing a lot of wars, bloodbaths, riots, protests, ceasefires, political and religious disturbances between any of the two which is dismantling the way this world used to function. In these times, when all our ancestors of the golden periods are vanishing and becoming a part of history, there is a certain possibility that one day there will be no one and nothing to tell the new generations. The history books are already losing its value because of the priorities the new generations are setting to read. So it is the duty of some of us to share a part of history what we have read. Today, I will tell you the story of a siege and try to memorize you the significance of sacrifice. This is about the siege of Bhopal occurred in 1812.
Before I speak about the siege, I must enlighten you about some points which connect you towards the reason behind this siege. I will try to summarize the details.
DOST MOHAMMAD KHAN (1672-1728)
Now I mentioned this name before, Dost Mohammad Khan. This is the man from whom the history of Bhopal is genuinely spoken because he was the founder of the Bhopal state. He was a Pashtun from the Mirazi Khel clan of the Orakzai tribe from Tirah. He was a powerful warrior who fought under the army rank of Emperor Aurangzeb.
After the death of the emperor in 1707, he was employed in Malwa‘s Rajput state called Mangalgarh by Raja Anand Singh Solanki. Solanki’s mother was highly impressed with his service and after Raja’s death, she appointed him the guardian of Mangalgarh in 1708. Dost also married their Rajput girl, Kunwar Sardar Bai, who later converted to Islam and become Fateh Bibi. Dost had 11 children. The most popular of those were Yar, Wasil, Fazil, and Sultan.
By the next year, Dost bought Berasia on lease from Taj Mohammad Khan and built his fiefdom on it. He also built a mosque and a fort and appointed a qazi (judge). He gave administrative assignments to his trusted Afghan lieutenants and persuaded his clan in Tirah to join him and settle in Berasia. By 1712, fifty of his clan people along with his father and five brothers traveled and joined him. Thus, his Mirazi Khel clan became the pioneer settlers of Bhopal and were called Barru-Kat (shrub dwellers) Pathans of Bhopal.
Bhopal’s first mosque, Dhai Seedhi Ki Masjid, was built by Dost Mohammad Khan in 1722
In 1722, the foundation of Fatehgarh Fort was laid by Dost naming the fort after his beloved wife Fateh Bibi. Bhopal’s first mosque Dhai Seedhi Ki Masjid (Two-And-Half-Steps Mosque) was also built inside the fort. This fort has never been conquered. During this period, Dost was entitled as the Nawab of Bhopal for what he did for the state. It was his charismatic leadership by which he created a Muslim state with 90% Hindu population and surrounded by a sea of Rajput and Marhatta adversaries.
Mausoleum of Dost Mohammad Khan is located near Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal
YAR MOHAMMAD KHAN (1710-1742)
Six years later, Dost died and his son, Yar Mohammad, became the second Nawab at 18. The post-Dost era was a pretty hard time in the beginning as the Marhattas began dominating over Malwa under PeshwaBaji Rao I. Peshwa, in 1736, fought and defeated the Nizam of Hyderabad. In 1740, Bajirao died and his son Balaji Rao succeeded him. Yar’s leadership lacked the charisma which his father had and his 14-year reign saw Bhopal genuflect towards the Marhattas. In 1742, Yar died of illness at a young age of 32 leaving his Hindu wife Mamola Bai behind. She was the first significant woman of Bhopal’s political history. She didn’t give birth to any of Yar’s but ruled over Bhopal for over 50 years under the name of Yar’s sons, Faiz and Hayat with the assistance of another Hindu loyalist Bijjeh Ram who was Dost’s faithful chief minister. It was ironic to observe two Hindus giving a helping hand to rule the Muslim state over a population of most of the Hindus and invoking the Islamic legitimacy in favor of her stepsons. Mamola herself adopted a Brahmin, Chottey Khan who later became her chief minister.
FAIZ MOHAMMAD KHAN (1731-1777)
Faiz, the third Nawab, was a very religious man whose devotion to Sufism grew to an extent that he lost his interest in the state politics. Mamola ruled under his name for the next 35 years until he died of an illness leaving his wife behind. His wife was Saleha Begum, better known as Bahu Begum, his first cousin. Begum was the daughter of Yar’s brother Wasil Mohammad Khan, the traitor who once helped Peshwa to invade Bhopal.
HAYAT MOHAMMAD KHAN (1735-1807)
The era of the fourth Nawab, Hayat, met serious crisis when he allowed his cousin, Murid Mohammad Khan, to enter the Bhopal state in 1796 (a year after Mamola Bai died). Murid was the son of the conspirator Sultan Mohammad Khan, who once attempted to claim the title of Nawab from Yar once their father died. Murid was a pure villain and treacherous. In 1797, he killed Hayat’s wife and later called Marhatta leaders for support to take over Bhopal state. Hayat summoned Fazil’s grandson, Wazir Mohammad Khan to take the charge. Hayat and Wazir with 1000 tribesmen were assisted by Kuli Khan, the jagirdar (landlord) of Ambapani and defeated Murid in the battle where his other opponents were Bala Rao Anglia of Gwalior, Raghuji Bhonsle of Nagpur, and Amir Khan of Tonk with a force of forty thousand.
WAZIR-GHOUS RIVALRY
Although the opponents tasted a bitter defeat and the Bhopalis defended their state under Hayat but it was Wazir whose heroics earned the highest reputation hoping to revive the legacy of his great-grandfather, Dost Mohammad Khan. Almost 70 years to Dost’s demise and their people missed that leadership quality among Yar and his sons Faiz and Hayat. In fact, it was Mamola Bai most of the times when she ruled with proper care under their names.
Wazir became the deserving commander-in-chief in 1797. He recovered many territories which were lost under Hayat’s rule. His growing reputation became a huge concern for Hayat and his son, Ghous Mohammad Khan. Wazir and Ghous were rivals but Ghous had permission by his father to exercise the powers of Nawab. After all, Ghous was next in line. Wazir had no interest in the power, he was a born warrior who wanted things to go in the best interest of his state.
Sensing a possible threat from the powerful neighboring states of Gwalior and Nagpur who were recently defeated, Wazir negotiated with the British in 1804 to support them against the Marhattas. This may have proceeded in a mutual agreement if Ghous wouldn’t interfere. His enmity for Wazir was so venomous that in 1807 when Hayat died and he became the fifth Nawab, he banished Wazir from Bhopal and made treacherous deals with his rival, Daulat Rao Sindhia. As per the deal, Ghous was willing to surrender the Islamnagar Fort, pay four lakhs of rupees in cash, present an annual tribute of 50,000 to Sindhia and 11,000 rupees to his public officers.
BHOPAL UNDER THREAT
In 1807, when Ghous banished Wazir from Bhopal, he moved to Ginnor and took a temporary residence in this fort, Ginnorgarh Fort.
With this deal, the British drew themselves back because they were obviously unsure of Bhopal’s commitments. Looking at Ghous’ impotency, Raghuji Bhonsle took his chance to take revenge from their defeat and sent a colossal force of 40,000 under a Muslim general, Sadiq Ali.
Wazir on his tailless horse Pankhraj took a temporary residence in the Ginnorgarh Fort, an ancient fort built in the times of Gond Rajas. Areas of Hoshangabad and Cheynpoor Barree were taken by the Nagpur army.
Rahatgarh Fort is located in a town, Rahatgarh. Built by Sultan Mohammad Khan. In 1807, when Daulat Rao Sindhia besieged the fort, it was Wazir Mohammad Khan who began to recover Bhopal back by fighting his enemies from this fort.
Sadiq Ali stayed for six weeks at Bhopal, took Ghous’ eldest son Moiz as a hostage and returned Nagpur. Sindhia besieged the evacuated Rahatgarh Fort. Wazir scrutinized the security on the fort weaker enough to confront and overtake. After taking the fort back, he determined on an attempt to return for the rescue, kick the Nagpur force out and take the control from here.
Raisen Fort is over an 800-year-old fort to be first under the control of the Rajputs and various Hindu rulers until the 16th century when the fort was captured by Sher Shah Suri in 1543. Faiz Mohammad Khan occupied the fort in 1760 and remained under the princely state of Bhopal when India achieved independence in 1947.
There was no way the state would trust Ghous as their leader. Wazir accused him of treachery and banished him to Raisen fort. Ghous remained Nawab but with no authority to exercise. The situation was alarming after the omen which Ghous brought on the Bhopalis. In 1812, the states of Gwalior and Nagpur who had differences with each other during this period, resolved their issues because both had a common enemy to deal with.
Daulat Rao Sindhia and Raghuji Bhonsle joined hands to defeat Wazir, invade Fatehgarh Fort and take over Bhopal. Their collective Marhatta army of 82,000 under the generals, Jagua Bapu and Sadiq Ali, marched towards the state of Bhopal to the siege. Bhopalis faced the greatest crisis and the toughest times in their history.
How possibly would Wazir defend his state and his people against the mighty Marhattas this time?
400,000 Men Couldn’t Get Home, So Home Came For Them
The message from hell descending from the clouds. The sea waves escorting back the dead bodies. The civilian boats rescuing the freezing fate-less soldiers. Casualties outnumbering the survivors. Hark! the bombers are approaching and releasing your death certificates. Realize! the fuel is getting low! So decide either you drop your plane to the sea or shoot your rival pilot.
There is panic everywhere, there is sonic everywhere. There is no amount of food, there is no hope for good. More than 300 thousand soldiers are trapped on the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk in an uncanny weather. France has fallen to the Germans and their troops are to reach the site anytime. But the Commander is hoping that they all will be back – Home.
Dunkirk is Christopher Nolan‘s latest project, a war film whose storyline and characters are fictional in nature but relies on the rich historical accuracy based on the historic evacuation of the Allied forces during World War II. Nolan has touched the new dimensions of the filmmaking of war films. For ages, the filmmakers have strived in convincing the audience by making ‘lengthy’ war films but Nolan’s warfare drama runs for only 106 minutes and proves that it is just a matter of speaking the story in the most formidable manner. Nolan proves that to make a successful war film, a coherent presentation plays a major part, not the length of the script.
“I’d rather fight waves than dive-bombers.”
The story is divided into three divergent segments of land, water, and air. There is a stupendous balance in all the three segments with the land story definitely being more of a blood boiler. Thousands of the soldiers standing, sitting, lying in the queue on the sands of the beach await their fate and hope for deliverance. When I say lying on the beach, few are the dead bodies.
War films are acutely loud and noisy. But here there is no massive bullet-firing in the whole film, no earth-shattering blasts or powerful destructions. The grip of the plot is kept at loose ends. Dunkirk’s script is build on intensity. More than killing, the film is about saving the lives and rendering a valuable service for the people stuck in the battle.
Yes, the nature of this war-subject is saving more than killing but like I wrote above that it is the intensity, the incredible screenplay of bringing things into either an argument or a question mark. The sequences and consequences of numerous scenes drop the emotions displaying the significance and tragic life conclusions like a boatman losing his son, a soldier dropping his helmet and walking towards the sea waves, a pilot watching his plane burnt etc.
“He’s shell-shocked, George. He’s not himself. He might never be himself again.”
Angel of death knocks the door everywhere and it is not a matter of bombs but other critical things like an oiled human body trying to wash himself in haste before it catches the fire on the water or a young soldier making an unsuccessful attempt to catch the ladder of the boat before fainting into the water.
Another impressive factor of the film is the target age-group of the troops portrayal. Mostly in the film are extremely young men. The impact is hard but I like the way the young skins are put to test in the biggest scare of their lives. There were two such scenes shot on the boys giving a fascinating look on the labor and patience during the war times. One was when the two young soldiers witness a helpless gashed soldier on the stretcher. Both heed each other’s possible signal and prepare to lift the heavy stretcher miles towards the boat running and staring the other dead bodies on the beach. The other scene is when the German troops shot at the trawler for target practice where the young soldiers are hiding and no one has the courage of volunteering to release from the boat.
The film is blessed with an ensemble cast whose characters are equally divided in all the three segments. The beauty of the screenplay is that there is no main character. All the characters support each other in their segment i.e., the character of the boatman, Mr Dawson, played by Mark Rylance is indeed the lead character on the sea but his sons, Peter and George, have decent onscreen appearance subjected towards the gallantry. Rylance piloted his character boat every day and listened to the audio recordings at the Imperial War Museum.Cillian Murphy plays the rescued soldier who suffers the psychological impact of the war. Being short in the role, his mental acting performance was exceptional. To improve his character, Murphy read about the psychological trauma the soldier endured.
“Men my age dictate this war. Why should we be allowed to send our children to fight it?”
Tom Hardy is the RAF pilot playing the major role flying in the clouds but his fellow RAF pilot, Collins played by Jack Lowden, is not to be considered underrated. On land, Kenneth Branagh is the commander, loosely based on Admiral William Tennant, but also attached to him is James D’Arcy as Colonel Winnant. But the weight of the characters is equal keeping in mind that the former’s character is verbal as compared to the latter’s character being physical.
Among the young soldiers, the character of Tommy played by Fionn Whitehead was impressive than Alex played by Harry Styles. In fact, Fionn’s performance was indeed the most impressive one who surely had the most minutes throughout the film. Fionn’s character Tommy was named after the slang term ‘Tommy‘ which was commonly used for the ordinary British soldiers. When Nolan auditioned Harry Styles, he was not acquainted with his immense popularity.
Audience pointed Hardy’s contribution to the film as best but he was just a pilot flying the plane in the whole film. It was actually not Hardy’s performance but the character to be counted as the most valuable one.
“How hard is it to find a dead Englishman on Dunkirk beach, for God’s sake?”
Musical department? Hans Zimmer to Nolan is what John Williams to Spielberg. Easily the most powerful director-musician combo after the latter. And here Zimmer has gifted the audience with just another masterpiece in music. The sound of the watch ticking (often played at the start of the trailer) was actually Nolan’s own pocket watch synthesized by Zimmer. Also to his credit is including Edward Elgar‘s most famous variation ‘Nimrod’ from his Enigma Variations in the film’s dramatic theme. Sound mixing is excellent. The roar of a falling enemy aircraft from the sky will haunt you.
Dunkirk is supreme at almost every technical department. Nolan’s screenplay is superbly balanced with Lee Smith‘s editing. The timing of the segments’ stories kept changing ahead and behind to show from other character’s point of view and it is indeed the beauty of editing which makes Dunkirk attract the audience understand the depth of the story from different angles. Hoyte van Hoytema‘s cinematography is sublime. I loved the aerial plane attacking shots.
Christopher Nolan keeps experimenting a new genre and develops his directional methods and ways of telling the stories. His direction is frank, polar and strict to the subject. In first half an hour, the presentation of the film is concentrating on the happenings at the beach, in the air, and at the sea with very remote dialogues. With the help of a phenomenal film editing, Nolan has crafted his Nolanistic method of depicting the heightened realism and giving the viewers a chance to see his artistry like resurrecting for a reason.
Dunkirk is so superior film that in a premiere the Dunkirk veterans wept and expressed if they time traveled back in Dunkirk. The veterans approved the realism and precise presentation of the war. Many critics have declared Dunkirk to be Nolan’s best work to date. It truly is a difficult question with more arguments than announcing the conclusion. Between his Inception,The Dark Knight, Interstellar, and Dunkirk, it seems impossible to pick the best and ignore the rest.
In my opinion, Dunkirk is the greatest war film ever made and will be remembered for ages. The greatest in a sense that the subject has been addressed and crafted in the most excellent form and has to be included in an elite list of the greatest war films like Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan.
Ratings: 9.5/10
“We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. and even if this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”
One boring day, I was sitting idle on my office chair, had less burden of work and no idea of what-to-do was existing. Then I began clicking my old Facebook albums and I found few albums of my past trips with my globetrotting buddies. And I realized that the year 2015 was empty of any attempt of exploration. Then my brain cells discovered a puffy cloud of thought that I should dig some interesting sites on Google Maps. Minutes later, I found a route between Rabigh and Yanbu, opposite to Mastourah which lead towards two ancient villages of Al-Abwa and Khuraybah. The pictures of ruin sites on the Google Maps looked very interesting. I marked the place and informed my fellow Pirates of the Arabian the new spot to dig the treasure of history.
Weeks passed by, and our commitments didn’t match to drive any weekend till 18/9. Our plan was to reach the destiny at the time of sunrise to avoid unbearable temperature. But somehow the plan didn’t work and left Jeddah by sunrise. The place is 257km away from Jeddah but if you drive between 120kph-140kph, you can easily reach within three hours. The chosen transport of legitimacy was Mazda 6 2014.
Our first stopping was at the Raheli station where we bought a can of Pringles, few Bison energy drinks, couple of Kit-Kat chunky, Max-Chili flavor of Lay’s, bottles of cold water, half kg of bananas and a packet of seeds.
Some plans hesitate our desires and get delay and that was the very same case with us when we left by sunrise at 6 am but the advantage of leaving late was that we had all benefits to get our eyeballs seduce to the nature’s beauty existing on our left and right. The sun rising on my right promised mountain eclipse with the light rays waking the land and our sleepy mission. I didn’t sleep that well because I generally am much used to of sleeping maximum 1 am but for this plan, I had to change my normal routine and off to bed at 11 pm and coming out of grave at nearly 3 am.
My friends, Athos and Porthos, have been in major contribution in all my/our expeditions that include Madain Saleh, Johfa Fort, Thee-Ain Village and Wahbah Crater. This Abwa-Khuraybah plan was our first expedition since Nov.2014. Yeah, commitments and responsibilities have delayed/postponed our plans to that amount of time. This was the first time that we three drove the same car in any trip. Most of the time, not more than two were driving in any trip. I always had issue of mobile battery charging as my Xperia Z is always spitting life faster than blood due to tremendous use of making high-quality videos and images. But this time, my buddy brought inverter.
The temperature was touching in mid-30s and was promising that the heat will folk us hard. We three always share common understanding of playing roadies musical tracks in our vehicle. Mostly these are trance and house music. So we basically have no musical disagreements while the destiny is breathing.
We never realize that the time passed so fast as the destiny was less than a dozen kilometers. Our first mission was to spot a site of religious significance; the grave of Bibi Aminah (R.A.), the mother of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.). Aminah (R.A.) was Qurayshi by tribe from Banu Zahrah clan. When the prophet was 5 or 6, Aminah introduced him to Yathrib (Madinah) and his extended family. While traveling back towards Mecca (Makkah), she fell ill and died. And she was buried in the village of Al-Abwa God knows where this grave is? Hellooooo anyone!! I am in the middle of the road! On my left were some suspicious mountains which make me feel the probability of her grave and on my right was a small village where my fellow diggers were using the toilet.
It was pretty silent place and I saw few children playing until they stared at us and ran towards their guardian. Didn’t know if I scared them *feeling annoyed*, do my face carry a haunting image? Oh I also noticed a herd of sheep staring at us. They do respond and speak in God knows very very strange voice. I did ask one of the kind if it knew the grave but failed to understand its gesture.
We actually were too urban for the place and its inhabitants as the car approached towards us and began interrogating. He was a very rude man who had no intention to help us in locating the spot and told us to leave asap. We did leave and relied on the Google map.
We stopped to the opposite site of the mounts where we were predicting the possibility. We climbed one of the easiest low-altitude mountain and began sniffing around for 20 minutes. There was no help and we googled the site and found some images of her grave with the stones colored green and some had the stones covered with green cloth. With confusion arousing and rising temperature welcoming, we left the spot with disappointment. Fate was not with us to stand near the grave of prophet’s mother and I was scared of our plans meeting further failure when the village of al-Abwa was nothing but a wasteland with few dozens of people holding their heart and walking on the street. As it was Friday morning, so there was an understood silence with all the shops closed. There were many ruins and wild bushes installed to make the place look either interesting or distressful enough to expect a zombie by our next stopping.
After 10 minutes drive, things became lively when we saw a small farm. In our surrounds, there were mostly private properties with land cruisers. Google Maps was confusing us in picking an exact route towards Khuraybah where I had my target for the purpose of this trip to view the old ruins what I viewed in my first attempt while sitting idle at office once. Those were improper roads going towards Khuraybah but it wasn’t that hard. Reaching such hard tracks with ease is comfortable if you have a SUV.
Yesssss we made it!!! By some distance I stared an ancient mosque which was in google maps. There was some life back in our mission as we reached the spot. The place surely is not well-known to the common travelers as we found an ancient mosque and some 63 same-dimension ruins of most probably shops or houses. There is some sign of civilization far a distance but there is no sign-board to explain us what history lies here. Sun heat was getting worse as I began sweating and our mobiles warming. Making videos became a problem as we tried to cover most of the important figures of the site.
I explored the interior and exterior side of the ancient mosque with no dome and minaret above the ceiling. The ceiling work is all wooden furnished which gave us some idea that the work is not that ancient as compared to the houses built on marble mountain in Thee-Ain village where the ceilings were made from juniper trees. The same juniper case was in Deira City of al-Ula, the old town consisting of 1032 houses.
My fellow pirates decided to climb a nearby mountain to explore and have a complete look of the view on an altitude. Meanwhile, myself down near the mosque, I spotted a large rock with ancient islamic calligraphy with the words of Shahada. And that was the only rock I found. I tried to locate more familiar rocks but that was the masterpiece.
Some historians or archaeologists should dig this place and come with some useful results. This place is inviting and explorers like we did feel the heat but found an amazement in checking such historic place. I have tried to research this place on the internet and some literature sources are indicating that sites of Rabigh, al-Abwa, Khuraybah and Johfah were once a pilgrim station for Syrians and Egyptians.
The mountain climbers descend down as we approached towards the vehicle to take rest. Minutes later, we left towards the ruins again. These are 63 ruins, each carrying almost same width as the height cannot be considered because some of these are incomplete. Each ruin is consisted of black stones. There was nothing in these ruins. Only few were covered with thorns and wild plants. None of the ruins had ceilings which creates further more doubts of its ever being houses or shops. How come the houses or shops never have ceilings? Out of 63 ruins, 23 were partitioned. Yeah we did count below the teasing sun. Our stay at Khuraybah was not more than 90 minutes but exploring with such amount of time at the temperature somewhere near 40s is still some craziness.
We left the spot with some great experience and while we were taking u-turn towards Jeddah, we swiftly decided to check Masturah beach. Masturah sea is located exactly opposite road of the targeted site. We were hoping to witness heaven of sea-view in Masturah but happened contrary. It was unexpectedly a very dull and boring place with no life at sea. Not a single human existed on the beach and it was understood.
Masturah is not only a beach under the surface of Red Sea but carries historic significance. Islamic geographers and travelers in old times have mentioned few way stations and one of them existed long time ago in Masturah where water was abundant. It also was a small sea port in early Islamic period. Masturah today is differed with new and old areas divided by old road that leads between Makkah and Madinah. The old Masturah was a station as mentioned above, and there were huts and plenty of wells. Each well was 8 meters in depth and its wall 1 meter thick.
Anyhow we left the spot with no change in emotions. While returning back, I was driving and my fellows were extremely tired and taking a nap. It was a wonderful trip and folk yeahhh!! we did miss Friday prayer lol.
Sami Naik | Film Critic 