The Indian epic film "Baahubali", which was heavily promoted last year, has been confirmed to be released in China in May this year. If you feel that you can't wait, you might as well take a look at this "Imperial Double Wall" first. Known as "The Legend of Bagilao", this film is also an epic blockbuster integrating history, war, and love. It won the best film, best director, best actor, Nine awards including Best Supporting Actress are the big winners. At the same time, last year's popular film "Little Lori's Monkey God" only won the best screenplay award.
If you want to interpret such a work, you have to start with the historical background.
First, let’s talk about history.
Compared with China, the history of India is much more complicated, because the Indian subcontinent is mostly divided, and it is difficult to apply the concept of Chinese dynasties to divide. In addition, India is an ethnic museum, it is not like China. More than 90% of the Han nationality is the main body, so the history of India is messy and fragmented. I will try to explain it clearly with simple sentences as much as possible.
Before the modern British colonization, the Indian subcontinent was ruled by a great empire called the Mughal dynasty. Its ruler was a descendant of the Turkic Mongolian Timur. They believed in Islam and spoke Persian. This empire was easy for us. Think of China's Yuan Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, both of which were established by foreign forces (nations).
Before the Mughals settled in India, the local residents believed in Hinduism, a religion that was very different from Islam and also had a long history. It is not difficult to imagine the expected cultural conflict between the ruling class and the local residents. friction. Fortunately, when the Mughal Empire was passed on to the third generation of monarchs, there was a brilliant king Akbar the Great. He was wise and resourceful. He implemented a fairly tolerant religious policy and treated Muslims and Hindus equally and made them harmonious. Getting along, national power has also entered its heyday, and his sons and grandsons have inherited his legacy and created the Indian version of the Kang-Qian heyday.
But by the sixth generation of monarchs, everything changed. The then monarch Aurangzeb was an out-and-out tyrant. He imprisoned his father, usurped the throne, and began to implement harsh racist policies in an attempt to forcibly Islamize India. This brutality caused fierce resistance from the local people. , One of the nations called Marathi has risen.
A Marathi warrior named Sivaji actively rebelled against the Mughal rule. After many fierce battles, he repelled the Mughal army and established the Marathi Empire, a large empire that believed in native Hinduism. Its territory once covered the entire Northern india. Although the Marathi Empire has never been able to completely overthrow the Mughal Empire, even before its demise, its tenacious existence for more than 100 years has defended the continuation of the indigenous culture of India. If it were not for the British invasion in 1818, Marathi It is really unknown who the empire and the Mughal Empire will die.
The story of the film takes place in the Marathi Empire, when the monarch was Sivaji's grandson Shahu. Shahu pioneered the establishment of a system called Peshwa, that is, to establish a post equivalent to the current prime minister in the country’s administrative system to ensure the normal operation of the entire empire. This post takes over political and military power. , It can be said that under one person, over ten thousand people, his first role is the protagonist of the film Bagilao.
Baji Rao is a famous god of war in Indian history. He has fought 41 games in his life without fail. At the same time, he is regarded as a Hindu against the Mogul due to his frequent battles with the Mughal army. National hero of the dynasty.
Then, I have to mention the Raziputs, a tribal people located in the north-central part of the Indian subcontinent. They entered India later than the Aryans, the creators of the modern Indian civilization, and more than the Mughals. Much earlier, after coming to India for a while, they converted to Hinduism, and because of their bravery and martial traditions, they became the Kshatriya in the Indian caste system and officially became a high caste. The Raziputs subsequently established several small kingdoms in the present-day Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India. During the Mughal Empire, the Laziputs were still unable to be conquered. The brilliant Akbar the Great adopted a policy of tenderness and granted these little Rajput princes as Mansabdar (similar to a feudal king). Let them claim and pay tribute to the Mughal, but retain a high degree of autonomy. In Aurangzeb’s period, the tyrant changed his gentle policy and repeatedly attacked the Laziputs in an attempt to force them to convert to Islam, but he never succeeded. Like the Marathis, the Laziputs are also A heroic nation who guards Hindu civilization. The heroine Mastani is a Laziput, and the battle at the beginning of the film is the Marathi assisting the Laziput and repelling the attack of the Mughal army.
last thing I want to say is that before the British colonization of the Indian subcontinent, the southernmost part of its continent was never unified. Therefore, even in the period when the Mughal Empire was the largest, there was another in its southern part. In the film, Nizam is the representative of the southern forces. In the film, there were two attempts to attack the Marathi Empire. The first time was tricked by Bagillao, and the second time it was solid. Repulsed by Bagillao's army.
So far, the historical background of the film is fully explained. (Let me drink water ......)
Indian-style Qiong Yao film
now, I want to tell you ill, in fact, the proportion of historical factors in the whole movie is minimal, even if you do not know history are also fully capable of Understand, because this is a story about a man looking for a little wife and causing the elder wife to be jealous. The only thing you have to do is to distinguish who is the eldest wife and who is the little wife... History is just a cosmetic, there is With it, the story becomes spectacular, without it, the story is still complete.
The context of the story is easily reminiscent of the classic Qiongyao film "Crescent Moon Grid", from the man meeting the little wife, to the combination of the man and the little wife, and even the final ending of the two people are exactly the same! And the theme of the story is also praising the great love between the man and the little wife, which is really amazing. Of course, you can't say that they are exactly the same story, after all, too many details are different.
Before this film, I always thought that only Aunt Qiongyao had the courage to sing this kind of love that is not in line with modern marriage morals. I didn't expect Indians to have such a concept. I never expected that India is a rather conservative country! For this, I greatly appreciate it, why? Please see the next dialogue:
——I love you, but I hope I am your lover, not your wife.
--Why?
——The marriage relationship may be deep, but the world always remembers the lover.
This brief conversation reveals a reality that modern people don’t want to admit, but they cannot avoid it. The marriage that used to be born in the name of love has long been far away from the essence of love with the passage of time. More often, it is. A very deep relationship of interest.
We are accustomed to assess the quality of marriage through the stability and durability of marriage, and it is not love that keeps marriage stable and lasting, but rather economic, cultural, religious and other very realistic factors. The reality is not romantic. The world always praises romantic love, but does not praise the actual marriage. In fact, many times, the actual marriage is criticized.
The contradiction of human beings is that they always want to unify actual marriage and romantic love, but reason tells us that this possibility is really very small, because even lovers who enter marriage in the name of love will eventually have to face and deal with it. It is life, not love, and life is inherently reality. Marriage and love are originally two different things. They can be converted and transitioned, but they cannot be unified. As a result, we found that in those conservative countries, marriage is very reliable, but love is rare, because there, the marriage of two people is originally aimed at a stable marriage, but in an open country, love blossoms everywhere, and the divorce rate But the high is outrageous, because once the lovers who are married in love cannot adapt to the reality after marriage, the marriage will be broken.
Bagilao’s wife, Cash, represents a real marriage. She and Bagilao share the same religious beliefs. This guarantees that she has all the rights and the support of everyone, but she does not have the favor of her husband. Bagilao’s The little wife Mastani represents romantic love. She and Bagillao come from different countries and believe in different religious beliefs. This prevents her from being accepted by her in-laws and even threatens her life, but she enjoys her husband's life exclusively. Admiration. Kash and Bagillao are a community of interests. They may have had love before, but at this time they have been replaced by real marriages. It is religion, law, children and other interests that bind them, not love, Masta Ni and Bagilao are the two people who love each other. They abandon all interest considerations, and even do not pursue legal marriage approval. The film extols the love of Bagillao and Mastani, which is actually provoking the contradictory values of human beings about love and marriage, and it separates romantic love from real marriage.
Bagilao’s little wife Mastani (Dipika Padukone)
However, this kind of love is immoral after all, even though we can admit its truth and its inevitability, so the film, like "Crescent Moon Grid", ended the whole story in a tragic and aesthetic way, and completed the love. , And confessed morality.
We can't help but think of Hollywood's classic film "The Bridge of Madison County", which also discusses the separation of marriage and love, but the film has no courage to fulfill love, but firmly upholds morality. I remember that after watching this film, I even had some disputes with a netizen. He believed that such a story seriously undermines morality, but I want to tell him that this story is not a discussion of morality, but a statement of reality. Reality is not. Morality, I'm sorry, but you can't deny the fact that it exists, can you?
The epilogue
film is very well-made, magnificent palace, gorgeous costumes, superb singing and dancing, this is definitely a visual feast, not to mention the super luxurious cast, the male protagonist is Ranville Singh (he was selected by me Ranked the tenth among the top ten handsome guys in India, the heroine is Deepika Padukone (she was voted the eighth among the ten most beautiful women in India by me), and the supporting actress is Payaka Chopra (she was chosen by me) It is the tenth place among the ten most beautiful women in India), they are all famous characters in Bollywood, and their appearance is absolutely guaranteed.
Of course, it is a pity to tell a story with a rich historical background as a pure love story. In fact, this is not the first time that this situation has occurred. Recall that the epic blockbusters in India, "Ashoka" and "Akbar the Great", are all the main love cards, even the "Baahubali" released last year also used A considerable proportion of love is described, which reflects the considerations of Indian film production for the market. After all, for a country with a high illiteracy rate, the deep historical themes are thankless, and talk about love. By the way, fighting a battle can better meet the tastes of the market.
——————————————————————————————————————
Want to see more reviews about Indian movies, welcome to subscribe Public platform "Indianmovie".
View more about Bajirao Mastani reviews
