Page 89 - EducationWorld June 2022_Neat

Books

seized from merchants and There is much more in
traders in Canton (latter this absorbing and curi- THE THREE KHANS & THE
day Guangzhou) and pub- ously ignored history of the EMERGENCE OF NEW INDIA
licly burnt. hypocrisy and cruelty of Kaveree Bamzai
The massive loss the first global drug wars WESTLAND BOOKS
suffered by mercantile and epidemics. In several Rs.599
communities in Calcutta, other interesting chapters, Pages 233
Bombay, London and the author draws parallels
Hong Kong and their between the opium and
demands for indemnity, concurrent global trade in
prompted deployment of cotton, sugar and slavery. the journey of Bollywood’s A compelling
the British navy and the The demand for cheap three Khans — Aamir, narrative of
first Opium War of the cotton in Britain and Shahrukh and Salman the careers of
19th century resulting in Europe prompted the — major figures in the Bollywood's three
the humiliating Treaty of capture and export of black Hindi film industry and a Khans — major
Nanjing in 1842. The im- slaves from Africa to work globalising India. Not only figures of the Hindi
perial Chinese government without pay on American has Hindi cinema pro- film industry
was forced to pay the price cotton plantations, and the duced a shared vocabulary
of the opium destroyed, demand for sugar resulted of visual aesthetics, music
war reparations and cede in the export of Indian in- and aspirations, but its The rise of the brooding,
the island of Hong Kong to dentured labour devastat- evolving ideas of hero- angry hero Amitabh Bach-
the British. ed by the end of the opium ism are embodied in the chan’s persona reflects the
Subsequently after the trade, to sugar plantations person of male protago- angst of India’s troubled
Second Opium War (1879), around the world. nists who have given form 1970-90 era.
the Chinese were forced to O p ium I nc is yet an- to the deepest desires of a In the mid-eighties,
legalise import of opium other brilliantly researched generation. Bamzai engagingly writes,
in the cause of “freedom of and detailed history of un- Bamzai cites scholarly a beleaguered nation
trade”, interference with restrained avarice and cru- studies on subjects of poli- rediscovered youth and as-
which was severely pun- elty of British imperialism tics, economy and culture, pirational desire in prime
ished by British warships and colonialism, buried deftly marshalling her minister Rajiv Gandhi.
raining heavy artillery fire all these years under the resources as she negotiates Political and economic
on the country’s ports and sanctimonious hypocrisy the complex political ter- reforms resulted in the
riverine cities. of the white man’s civilis- rain of recent history from technology boom that
Meanwhile the atroci- ing mission and burden. 1980 to the present, fore- changed the shape of busi-
ties of the two Opium Wars DILIP THAKORE grounding the three Khans ness and communication,
in China and menacing as they emerge from these and marked the heady
opium addiction in Britain times and go on to rede- beginnings of conspicuous
turned public opinion in History fine stardom, each in his consumption in sync with
Britain against the trade. own unique fashion. globalisation.
Curiously, fearing wide- Bollywood style That Hindi films are The films of Shahrukh,
spread bankruptcies and an accurate guide to the Aamir and Salman during
loss of business, public nation’s changing political these years define expecta-
opinion in India was AMACHANDRA contours is a thesis made tions of the times, as well
lukewarm about declaring Guha is one of few conclusively in several as the imminent disap-
trade in this debilitating Rhistorians to have studies. Stars double up as pointment and eventual
narcotic illegal. India’s considered with any degree characters in films and as lost sheen of these prom-
Congress party passed its of seriousness the role of embodiments of the most ises. Woven into the narra-
first resolution against Hindi cinema in keeping desirable political qualities tives of several characters
the opium trade as late as India’s chaotic diversity current for the times. If Raj enacted by these stars is
1924, 11 years after 13 na- together. Kaveree Bamzai’s Kapoor and Dilip Kumar the subterranean story of
tions signed the Interna- engaging book extends were distilled expressions the times told through the
tional Opium Convention Guha’s basic premise by of Nehruvian socialism unfolding events of their
(1913) banning cultivation examining the creation of a and secularism, Rajesh films.
of poppy and outlawing the shared cultural space, even Khanna represented the Though the three Khans
opium trade. as it compellingly traces romanticism of the 1960s. are assessed collectively,

88 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2022