The Black Prince and the Kohinoor
Hollywood, CA, June 16, 2016 (Newswire.com) - 'The Black Prince’ is the saga of the last Maharaja of the Punjab, 8-year-old young Prince Duleep Singh, upon whom destiny has bestowed the heavy burden of a vast empire that his father, Maharajah Ranjit Singh, had built. Ranjit Singh was an able and secular leader, whose rule included all of Punjab, only part of an empire that spanned from the south into the deserts of Multan; to the north, into Tibet; to the east, into Ladakh; and to the west, into the Khyber Pass. Upon his death, the treason committed by his trusted courtiers, namely the Dogra brothers and infighting among his Sikh lords lead to the murders of two of his sons and a grandson, all heirs to the throne, left young Duleep Singh as the new Maharaja of Punjab and his mother, Maharani Jind Kaur, as regent.
Duleep Singh at 10 years of age had lost the empire his father had built. The Dogra brothers had traded freedom and a vast empire for ruler ship of Jammu and Kashmir under the British. The empire of Ranjit Singh was no more.
"Kohinoor, the most expensive diamond in the world is indeed priceless. So is it's history!"
Kavi Raz, Director : The Black Prince
Stripped of his kingdom and the priceless jewel, the Kohinoor (light of the mountain), and separated from his mother, the young Maharaja faced yet another tragedy. He lost his faith and been a Sikh no more. His hair was shorn, and he was baptized as a Christian. His British tutor, Walter Guise, began his indoctrination, from a Maharaja of a great empire into a gentleman of the British Empire and henceforth known as the Black Prince.
However with time, Duleep Singh went through an internal struggle of reconnecting with his faith and reclaiming his empire. This is an extraordinary story of a boy prince and his struggle to reclaim his faith and empire.
‘The Black Prince’ has a great display of English and Indian artists including Jason Flemyng, Amanda Root, Shabana Azmi, Sophie Stephen, Rup Magon and a known name in Sufi music Satinder Sartaaj as debutant in the Title role. This film is written and directed by Kavi Raz, an Indian-born British actor, writer, director and producer. Raz was a founder and artistic director of the Wandering Players’ Theatre Company. The company staged several World and US premieres of plays from India.
This movie is raising interest as the curious case of Kohinoor made the headlines in the recent times and both the Britain and Indian (even Pakistan) governments claiming the precious Diamond as theirs, there are several theories of how the diamond traveled from India to Britain. One such theory is that Lord Dalhousie forcefully acquired it from the young king Duleep Singh in 1849 when the East India Company annexed Punjab. Dalhousie compelled Singh to gift the diamond to Prince Albert and Queen Victoria as a “memorial of conquest”. However, the real story behind the Kohinoor is still unknown and hence the mystery. Few people even say that the diamond is cursed and calls it as a ‘Blood Diamond’, which led to many battles.
The Facebook page for ‘The Black Prince’ already has over 225K likes which is a great start for a movie yet to be released.
Find more information about the film go to www.theblackprince.com
or Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheBlackPrinceFilm/
Source: Mega World Media