History mauled to pieces
Let me start off by saying that I have studied History, in particular, the Mangal Pandey episode in our quest for independence. Having seen The Rising, I must say that I am incredibly disappointed at how historically inaccurate the movie is. Here is what actually happened:
As we see in the movie, the sepoys were rather concerned about the reports that they had heard about the Enfield cartridges being greased with Pig and Cow fats. This concern preyed on the minds of the sepoys (N.B: There was no planning of a rebellion and so forth). One day, Pandey, a Bhang (Opium) addict had his usual share of Bhang, maybe even more. One of the effects of Bhang is to intensify emotions. The discontent regarding the cartridges blew up in Pandey's mind and he marched off with his musket and shot a British officer dead. Later on, even Pandey admitted in his testimony that he was under the effect of Bhang. Thus, even had Pandey been thinking straight, admitting to taking Bhang makes it look like he was trying to wriggle out of the tight spot he was in...not quite martyr-like behaviour as portrayed in the movie. The Company decided to make an example of Pandey and hung him. That was the proverbial 'last straw on the Camel's back'. A revolt spontaneously sprung up in Barrackpore with Behrampur and Meerut following suit, as the news of Pandey's hanging and its subsequent events, spread. The rest, as they say, is history. The Nana Saheb and Jhansi ki Rani arms of the revolt were, in all likelihood, planned. However, the sepoy uprisings began spontaneously and then caught on.
Thus, we can see that the movie has painted a very different picture of the events that took place during that historic period. I agree that one has to use one's creative license and play around with some events to make them 'screen-worthy'. However, for a movie that is quite obviously based on a historic foundation, The Rising has mauled history to disgusting proportions. Maybe the public cannot handle the truth: That their hero was probably not such a big hero after all. Nearly all the events related to Pandey's defiant nature, as shown in the film, are completely fictitious. Of couse, the film makers have left themselves an escape hatch with the small note at the beginning. However, stating that 'some' of the depicted events may be fictitious is stretching credibility. Stating that some of the events depicted are factual would be closer to the mark. A very disappointing film which perpetrates a ton of lies.