INDIA
II.3. INDIA. Back to Chapter II Back to Contents
Magadhan Kings (c. 1700 BC - 550 AD)
Shakya Dynasty (c. 650-500 BC)
Nanda Dynasty (424-321 BC)
Mauryan Empire: 321-185 B.C.
X Samrat Chandragupta (1958) -- Indian emperor befriends, but then defeats Alexander the Great, establishing the Maurya Empire (321 - 185 BC)
X Samrat Chandragupta (1945) -- ancient, pre-Islamic India; ruler from 320-298 BC
X Chandragupta (1934) -- founder of Mauryan Empire, originating from Magadha kingdom in modern Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bengal in e. India
Asoka (2001) -- India after the age of Alexander the Great, Emperor Asoka (273-232 B.C.)
Shunga Dynasty (185-73 BC)
Kanva Dynasty (73-26)
Western Kshatrapas
Gupta Dynasty (c. 240-550 AD)
Medieval Period: 711-1526
X Pritviraj-Samyukta (1946) – Prithviraj Chauhan (1168-1192), second-to-last Hindu to rule Delhi & unifier of Rajputs against Muslim invasions, & his wife Samyukta
Islamic Sultanates (1206-1596)
X Ambikapathy (1937) – 1083, story of the poet Kambar in the time of Kulothunga Chola (1070-1120) of the s. Indian Chola Empire (300s BC-1279)
Vijayanagara Empire (1336-1660)
X Sri Krishnadevaraya (1970) -- Krishnadevaraya (1509-1529); most famous king of Vijayanagara Empire, presided over the empire at zenith
X Joymati (1935) – in 17th century an Ahom princess is killed for refusing to betray her husband; film calls for cooperation between hills and plains people
X Khalsa (1999) -- Khalsa (Punjabi for "Pure") all baptized Sikhs; founding of the religion & Sikh history
X Anokhe Amar Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Ji (2006) -- based on Sikh history
The Mughal Period: 1526-1757
Humayun (1945) -- Mughal emperor Humayun (1530-1539), son of emperor Babar
Jodhaa Akbar (2008) -- Akbar the Great (ruled 1556-1619) and his Hindu wife Jodhabai
Mughal-e-Azam (1960) -- 16th century war between crown prince Saleem and his father, the great Moghul emperor Akbar (1556-1605), over a beautiful court dancer named Anarkali
Anarkali (1953) -- Shahenshah Jalaudin Akbar, grandson of Babbar and son of Humayun, rules Hindustan justly, but has big problems with a rebellious son in love with the gypsy Anarkali
X Akbar Saleem Anarkali (1978) -- story of Arnakali and Saleem
Noor Jahan (1931) -- a Mughal empress (1577-1645), 20th and favorite wife of Emperor Jehangir (1605-27)
Taj Mahal (2005) -- Moghul ruler Shah Jahan (1628-1658) builds a monument to eternal love in honor of his deceased wife
X Taj Mahal: A Monument to Love (2003) -- ditto
X Ranadheera Kanteerava (1960) -- Mysore kingdom was a golden age in Kannada .literature; Mysore royalty’s intrigues & Kannada national chauvinism; King Ranadheera Kanteerava Narasaraja Wodeyar (1638-1659), a devotee of music and literature
Maratha Empire 1674–1818
X Bajirao Mastani (1925) -- prime minister Baji Rao I (1719-17400) to the Maratha Empire; extended the empire
X Ghashiram Kotwal (1976) – story of Nanasaheb Phadnavis, the prime minister and real power of the Peshwa Maharaja, 1773-1797
IMPERIALISM: INDIA
British Period: 1757-1947
X Clive of India (1935) -- Robert Clive (1725-1774) who secured British rule in India
Jhansi Si Rani (1952) -- in the 1800s, first native revolt against the British in India
Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players) (1977) -- a classic in which the British seize the Indian kingdom of Oudh, one of the last independent kingdoms of India
Gunga Din (1939) -- 19th Century Punjab India, Thuggee cult (followers of Kali)
The Deceivers (1988) 1825 India, with Brosnan as British officer infiltrating Thuggee cult
Sunghursh (1968)) -- Indian film accurately depicting the Thuggee cult
Sabaka (1954) --
Kranti (1981) – an Indian family fights to drive the British out of India circa 1825 to 1875 AD
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) -- battles between British and Afghan guerillas
X The Bengal Brigade (1954) -- British work to thwart the Sepoy rebellion in India -- 1857
X King of the Khyber Rifles (1953) -- a native Afridi deserter from the Muslim fanatic Karram Khan attacks Capt. King & his escort on his way to the Northwest Frontier; later he gets the assignment to get Khan
X Storm over Bengal (1938) -- battles between the British and Indians in Bengal (currently unavailable)
X The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey (2005) -- hero of an uprising against the British, the Sepoy Mutiny c. 1857
X Brigand of Kandahar (1965) -- British army fights off an uprising in the 1850s
North West Frontier (a.k.a., Flame over India) (1959) -- 1905, fighting between Muslims and Hindus & trying to safe an important young Hindu Prince
A Passage to India (1984) - 1920's clash between English racist colonialism and the native Indians
Cotton Mary (1999) -- racism and its effects in post-colonial India
The Jewel in the Crown (1984) -- set against the final years before India gained independence
The Far Pavilions (1984) -- mini-series about forbidden love between a British cavalry officer and an Indian princess
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) -- Hindi movie about the effect of British injustices on a small Indian village of peasants
X Immadi Pulakeshi (1967) -- actor Dr. Rajkumar film
The Rains Came (1939) -- British colonial love stories set against floods in Boroda, India, 1938
X The Long Duel (1967) -- 1920s India where the British Raj still rules India; a British lawman squares off with a freedom-backing sultan
X The Drum (Drums) (1938) -- in the time of the British Raj, Indian Prince Azim tries to warn the prejudiced British about a coming revolt
INDEPENDENCE FOR INDIA -- 1947
Gandhi -- 1915 onward; arrested in 1922 for civil disobedience against British rule
The Making of the Mahatma (1996) -- Gandhi's politically formative years in South Africa
X Lage Raho Munnabhai ("Carry on, Munnabhai") (2006) -- to impress a woman a Mumbai thug pretends to be an expert in Gandhian philosophy
X Anand Math (1952) -- Indian resistance to colonial rule
Kisna: the Warrior Poet (2005) -- love story between British girl and Indian boy set in 1940s Indian Independence Movement
Lord Mountbatten -- The Last Viceroy (1986) -- helps bring independence to India
X Laaj (2003) -- Hindu girl with a Muslim boy equals problems; set in the 1930s; the Pashtoons of India's northwest frontier turned against the ruling British Raj
X Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005) -- Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945) a Bengali leader who favored violent means to liberate India
Shaheed-e-Azam (2002) -- Bhagat Singh; celebrated martyr of Indian independence movement; hanged by the British March 23, 1931
The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) -- Bhagat Singh
23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002) -- Bhagat Singh
X Pagadi Sambhal (“Hold fast to your turban”) (1992) -- Bhagat Singh
X Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (2009) -- fight for Indian independence
X Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000) -- leader of India's dalits ("untouchables")
Nine Hours to Rama (1963) -- events leading up to assassination of Gandhi in 1948
Staying On (1981) -- a British colonel and his wife decide to remain in India after the departure of the British in 1947
Jinnah (1998) -- Mohammed Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan
Earth (1998) -- love story set against religious violence following Indian independence in 1947
Train to Pakistan (1998) -- ethnic violence between Hindus, Muslims & Sikhs in Punjab after British left in 1947
Hey! Ram (2000) – bloody civil war between Hindus and Muslims that ultimately led to the neo-Islamic state of Pakistan
Shakespeare Wallah (1965) -- a fast fading family acting troupe reflects the loss of British influence in India
Sardar: The Iron Man of India (1993) -- a biopic of Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first home minister and deputy prime minister
Pukar (1983) -- after 1947 a boy who sees his father shot by a "revolutionary" fights to kill all revolutionaries in Goa, but earns the hatred of almost every Goan
Bandit Queen (1994) -- Indian film about female Indian outlaw Phoolan Devi (Seema Biswas), 1980s
X Last Day of the Raj (2007) -- dealing with the division of India into Pakistan and India
Matir moina (The Clay Bird) (2002) – set in 1971, India intervenes on the side of the Bangladeshis against Pakistan, whose forces surrendered and Bangla Desh ("Country of Bangla") was established
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