The Black Prince

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The last King of Punjab, Maharajah Duleep Singhs kingdom was one of the most powerful and prosperous kingdoms of the 19th century before it was annexed by Britain. Placed on the throne at the age of five, he was robbed of his legacy by treason at the hands of trusted courtiers.

In 1843, five-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh sat on the throne of the Sikh kingdom.

The Punjabi boy had ascended due to the death of his father, the Lion of Punjab, a.k.a. Ranjit Singh.

The boy ruled (sort of, he was five after all) for five years until war broke out and Britain got involved. The result was in 1849 Punjab was annexed to British India, and the boy was removed from the throne thus becoming the last ruler of the Sikh kingdom.

Duleep Singh’s mother (who was pretty much in charge) was imprisoned and Duleep Singh ended up in the guardianship of a British army surgeon and his wife. From tea and crumpets to Christianity, the couple taught him the way of the English.

In 1854, Duleep Singh and the doctor’s family went to England, and Duleep Singh met and charmed Queen Victoria. He was such a hit he became a kind of brother from another mother in the royal household: everybody wanted to hang with him, and he even went on holiday with the Queen and Prince Albert.

If you stopped the tale there you would still have a really good story, but an incomplete one.

A new film The Black Prince picks up the ball and completes the play, delivering the full story of Duleep Singh.

In the Kavi Raz written and directed movie, Duleep Singh’s story continues with the adopted Brit reuniting with his mother, and in turn reigniting his Sikhism. Soon he begins to question his own story and wants to connect with his roots. He makes financial demands, and faster than you can say ‘I’m not amused,’ he went from prince to pariah.

Duleep Singh’s plan was to return to the old country and set up royal shop again, but the English didn’t want trouble in the colonies and stopped him en route, putting him under house arrest. He eventually went to Paris, where he died penniless.

And to add a bit more meat to the story there is the question of the ownership of a big diamond called the Koh-i-noor (Mountain of Light).

“Everything is in there,” said Raz about Duleep Singh’s story. “Like I say, it is a Shakespearean tragedy that was just waiting to be told. There is just so much going on.”

The story is packed, but it has been parsed over the years leaving many Sikhs with that incomplete tale of a boy abandoning his homeland in favour of British finery and fancy parties.

“The general perception in the Sikh community was he betrayed the Sikh nation, he became a Christian of his own will, and he never looked back. What we try and portray in the film is ‘no, no that’s not true,’ ” said Raz during a phone interview from Toronto recently.

“I think a lot of Sikhs will be surprised when watching this film. I think it will correct a lot of the wrong notions that are out there. Maybe even start a debate, which is always a good thing.”

Executive producer Jasjeet Singh, who began researching the story back in 2011, says the story was given a British spin.

“People in Punjab didn’t know much,” said Singh who calls Freemont, Calif., home.

“Most of the news that came to them was from the British, who said he was ‘a spoiled kid now. He doesn’t care about Punjab.’ The people were like, ‘OK he’s gone.’ The Indian historians were using the same historical documents that the British established.

“It’s a new story for everybody.”

Excited about what he found in his research and the information given to him by 10-plus historians, Jasjeet Singh outlined the story, then reached out to Raz.

“It is a story I connected to personally, because it is part of my personal history as well. Punjab was a place that I was born,” said Raz.

“I come from a Sikh background, I grew up in England, I didn’t know anything about him (Duleep Singh).”

The film, which has collected several film festival awards, has an international release that includes Vancouver on July 21.

Aside from the powerful historical and cultural weight of the story, the film is not strictly a Sikh thing. At it’s heart it is a broader story about a man’s personal struggles and need for redemption.

Cast to portray the man at the centre of this film is first-time actor Punjabi poet and music star Satinder Sartaaj, who was eager to break into another creative field.

“It was a beautiful experience,” said Sartaaj about his acting debut. “I’m from the performing arts, it felt similar but entirely different. It went very well. I met a new world of people.”

Raz liked a lot about Sartaaj — he liked that he looked like Duleep Singh, and that he liked that he was a fresh face when it came to Indian cinema.

“I wanted to cast an actor who wasn’t going to bring his own persona, his own screen value, to the role. I didn’t want to see an actor in the role I wanted to see the role in the actor,” said Raz, who is also an actor.

“After I had meetings with him, I could see there was the emotional well there to draw upon.”

Keeping with the movie business neophyte theme, Surrey businessman Gurpreet Badhan Singh made his first foray into the movie business earning a producing title under the main producers of Brillstein Entertainment.

“The reason to be involved in this movie, first and foremost I am from India and I belong to the Sikh family, and this is the last kingdom of our Sikhism, and when I heard the story and I was so inspired by it. It was a really touching story, and I wanted to be part of it,” said Badhan Singh, who admits until he got involved in The Black Prince he had little knowledge of Duleep Singh.

Badhan Singh, who has a construction and food businesses, and has promoted many concerts and special events, helped to fund the film and worked on other areas of the production.

The movie was shot over 58 days in the U.K., India and the U.S., and comes with a grand, lush mise-en-scène. Plenty of the film was shot on location, including 12 days at Althorp House, the childhood home and the final resting place of Diana, Princess of Wales. This production was the first feature film allowed to shoot there.

It’s not hard to imagine this film doing very well, so well that maybe Duleep Singh’s origin story will get some updating.

“We Sikhs unfortunately never considered Maharaja Singh a hero, because in Sikhism there is many stories of bravery, but if Maharaja Duleep Singh had died with a sword or a gun or bullet we would have probably considered him a hero, a warrior,” said Sartaaj.

“He did a lot. He sacrificed a lot. Because he died, paralyzed, single, alone in Paris people thought he did nothing for his country.”

SOURCE: goo.gl/mpr3Fd