Post by beverley61 on Jul 22, 2019 15:15:31 GMT
When you think of how many Indian people live around the world, especially in the US/Canada etc I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't pick up. It's not a history that is taught because this is apparently based on the life and descendants of a man who was always thought to be honest and trustworthy, who neither worked for the East India Company or the Empire but was an independent trader/merchant. I just don't think they captured that. There were moments when it almost did but I think it would have been better if they had started at the beginning instead of relying on flashbacks.
The first episode could have been his disgust at the way some of the EACompany were treating the locals, then his wandering around India learning the culture, trade and language interspersed with letters home, so that we learnt about his family circumstances (letters he could have picked up/sent on visits to Calcutta etc.). Then the second episode starts with the ambush in the carriage and subsequent him falling in love with, marrying and having a child and losing his wife (maybe two episodes)
Then the evil colleague comes back and the trading plan is hatched alongside the need to take August to a different part of India etc.
And so on.
Sometimes a flashback is just confusing because it tells you something but doesn't fill in the gaps. Had it been done in sequence albeit with a 6 months later tag line, I think it would have had time to develop in a more rounded way. There would have been time for comparison between one maharajah's court and anothers. We never really understood why August's aunt decided to move in, rather than just visit to see he was safe, other than a very short conversation about how it was cultural practice for them to marry and she would be a dutiful wife - which sort of came out of left field. Especially when he is supposed to have imbued the Indian culture and yet apparently none of this was even hinted at when he left with his son. Neither did it explain how August was safer when a princess and her entourage arrived in splendour in the city and paraded aorund his house - where was the secrecy and why was it not necessary once she arrived. Why wasn't she married already as the older sister?
Too many questions for me, but I loved the scenery and the sets and lighting.
The first episode could have been his disgust at the way some of the EACompany were treating the locals, then his wandering around India learning the culture, trade and language interspersed with letters home, so that we learnt about his family circumstances (letters he could have picked up/sent on visits to Calcutta etc.). Then the second episode starts with the ambush in the carriage and subsequent him falling in love with, marrying and having a child and losing his wife (maybe two episodes)
Then the evil colleague comes back and the trading plan is hatched alongside the need to take August to a different part of India etc.
And so on.
Sometimes a flashback is just confusing because it tells you something but doesn't fill in the gaps. Had it been done in sequence albeit with a 6 months later tag line, I think it would have had time to develop in a more rounded way. There would have been time for comparison between one maharajah's court and anothers. We never really understood why August's aunt decided to move in, rather than just visit to see he was safe, other than a very short conversation about how it was cultural practice for them to marry and she would be a dutiful wife - which sort of came out of left field. Especially when he is supposed to have imbued the Indian culture and yet apparently none of this was even hinted at when he left with his son. Neither did it explain how August was safer when a princess and her entourage arrived in splendour in the city and paraded aorund his house - where was the secrecy and why was it not necessary once she arrived. Why wasn't she married already as the older sister?
Too many questions for me, but I loved the scenery and the sets and lighting.
Really it was only the spectacle of the locations and the costumes that kept me watching to the end. I did like the music too.
Anymore to come?
