Sir,
Reference screening of Gulab Gatha on birth anniversary of first Dogra ruler (Daily Excelsior Oct 16, 2019). Literally, it hardly matters who is the sponsor, the producer director or the capability of the actors and the technical crew in the making of a film. Most important is what has been produced and whether it, besides entertainment or the required lesson, enlightens the viewers with regard to their history or the cultural heritage etc. Last year, I got the opportunity to witness the premier show of this Gulab Gatha and my observations supported with proper reasonings, stand published in Daily Excelsior under heading “Gulab Gatha replete with inaccuracies” on the following day.
This year, the same film seems to have been screened twice on 17th Oct. 2019 in connection with the birth anniversary of Maharaja Gulab Singh Ji. Actually this declaration and other loopholes in this movie compelled me to say that “beyond history and a personally assumed play script lacks many aspects to justify Maharaja Gulab Singh as a great warrior and unmatching diplomat”. Even the write ups from other writers which are being published every year on birth anniversary of Maharaja Gulab Singh Ji, do not stand in line what is being publicised through the screening of this movie.
Now, if the sponsors (Maharaja Gulab Singh Memorial Trust) agreeing with this new research work that Maharaja Gulab Singh’s grand father Mian Zorawar Singh and his elder brother commonly known as Mian Motta whose Samadhi is still intact in the premises of Mubarak Mandi Palaces, were not the sons of Surat Dev, younger brother of the then Raja Ranjit Dev of Jammu, nobody is going to request them to maintain this historical lineage of royality or blood relation or stop them further screening of this mis-conceived play script.
But there seems no justification to shatter the faith of Dogras or the Jammuites, who revere these Dogra rulers and their history from the core of their hearts. So much so, the continuous impact of such type of historical distortions and mis-representations, will certainly confuse the coming generations or lead them nowhere. And there is a wise saying that any person or the community as a whole without any perfect knowledge of their history and the cultural heritage, is like a tree without roots.
Narsingh Dev Jamwal
Jammu
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