Mumbai, Nov 04: Prince Charles, on a nine-day trip to India, sounded a clapperboard Tuesday to launch the filming of a Bollywood movie on the first major Indian uprising against British rule. "Mahurat (auspicious opening) shot, take one," said Charles as he launched the period film, "The Rising," in Bombay, the heart of India's film industry which churns about nearly 1,000 films a year. Bollywood's glitterati was out in force for the "mahurat," held in a local five-star hotel. Later, the film's two lead actors, in red and gold military uniforms, performed a scene in which a British officer pleads with an Indian soldier not to rebel.
"The Rising" is based on an 1857 uprising by Hindu and Muslim soldiers in British colonial India who believed the cartridges they had to bite before loading their guns were greased with the fat of cows and pigs, which is forbidden by their religions.
The uprising, which the British called a mutiny and the Indians the first war of independence, resulted in Britain taking over rule of the country from the East India Company.
The movie is the story of an Indian revolutionary, Mangal Pandey, and his friendship with a British commanding officer, played by Hollywood actor Toby Stephens.

Pandey, played by India's top star Aamir Khan, was executed for leading the revolt that killed many British officers.

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"The film is essentially sending a message. It's a struggle for India's freedom," Stephens told a news agency .

Charles, on the penultimate day of a trip that has taken him to New Delhi and the desert cities of Jaipur and Jodhpur, also met Bombay's legendary "dabbawallahs" or lunch-box delivery boys, known for their clockwork precision in supplying meals across the city.

The heir to the British throne seemed enthralled as he quizzed the delivery men, clad in white baggy pajamas, on the intricacies of the system, which is being used by the corporate world to teach the basics of management and planning.
Bureau Report