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Maharani Prem Kumari aka Anita Delgado |
While there may be no direct desi connection to the Desi(red) campaign featuring Penelope Cruz that Ennis wrote about below, Cruz certainly has at least one strong connection to the Des. It turns out Cruz in her directorial debut, will put on celluloid the story of Anita Delgado, the flamenco dancer from Andalucia who created a stir when she agreed to marry an Indian king –Maharaja Jagatjit Singh Bahadur– in 1908. The film, based on the the book Pasion India by Javier Moro is tentatively titled The Princess of Kapurthala, and much of the shooting will reportedly occur in the congested and oh-so-regal streets of Old Delhi and in the palaces of Kapurthala in Punjab. Cruz will play the part of Delgado, while the rest of the Indian cast is scheduled to be finalized when she heads to India in January to scout for locations.
Sounds promising, right? Well according to the IBNnews website, the film project seems to have rubbed the Kapurthala royal family the wrong way, even before casting has begun. The website reports that…
“The heir of the [Kapurthala Royal] family, Tikka Shatrujit Singh, is ready to go to court over the issue to seek an injunction on the movie, which is based on his grandfather Maharaja Jagatjit Singh.”
The wiki suggests the family opposes the film because they feel Javier Moro’s novel, on which the film is based, distorts the truth, especially the allegations of the Maharajah forcing Anita to have an abortion. I don’t know what is going to happen, but if you think about it, the screenplay almost writes itself. An AndalucÃÂan flamenco dancer, after refusing the advances of an Indian Maharaja, finally gives in to his charms and shifts from Spain to live in India in 1908, during the heyday of British rule. I really hope the film gets made. Just think of the potential of some wicked latin influenced bollywood dance sequences, a la Shakira’s Bollywood-influenced rendition of Hips Don’t Lie from the 2006 VMAs.
Related: India in Andalucia
Whoah – am I actually going to be the first to comment on a thread? Wikipedia says her adopted Indian name was Prem KAUR not Kumari.
My bad…the entry on HER says Kumari, the entry on her husband says Kaur.
OK, sorry to keep posting relentlessly like this, but, Sajit, how could you leave out this detail?
I know, I know Amitabh, it’s a juicy detail, but we gotta have you guys read some of the links:)
Somewhat like Zubaida, eh?
Lots more juicy details here.
Maharajahs – Check. Indian palaces – Check. Andalucian Flamenco – Check.
Enough to keep me happy. I hope they do a good job with the movie.
Penelope Cruz – Check
=)
Did anyone see One Night With the King? http://8x.com/onenight/
It was filmed entirely in Jodhpur Rajasthan and most of the people who worked on the film are Indians.
I saw it last week and it held my interest, though I can’t say much for the acting.
From some website.
Re: “My bad…the entry on HER says Kumari, the entry on her husband says Kaur.”
My guess would be the wife of a Sikh maharaja would take the name Kaur, a Sikh name, not Kumari
If they need a Punjabi guy to star opposite her and pretend to have sex with on screen, I just might audition for that.
$100 says they get Russel Crowe to play the part of the King and just paint Macaca face on him just like they did Keanu Reeves when he played the part of Buddha in that one movie.
This maharaja had quite a fetish for white women. I read somewhere that he couldn’t even tie a knot. His servants had to tie up his pyjamas after he had taken a leak.
Anita Delgado the flamenco dancer from Andalucia who was queen of Kapurthala married to an Indian king -Maharaja Jagatjit Singh Bahadur- in 1908. The marriage caused outcry by the British Officials