The contribution of Mysore Lancers, the personal army of Mysore Maharaja, in helping the British to capture Israel's Haifa by winning a battle against Ottomans is unknown to many, except a few history aficionados. The reasons are unending but in an interesting turn of events, the great grandson of Rajkumar Desraj Urs has recently made a significant connection with the current conflict-ridden country, by making a hard-hitting documentary, after a century from the victory of Mysore lancers against Ottomans.
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Rajkumar Desraj Urs was a command-in-chief of Mysore Lancers during the battle with Ottomans, and was also the son-in-law to Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar. Pranav Pingle, the great grandson of Desraj Urs, directed a documentary film called ‘Occupied’ and captured the stories of love, hope and creativity amid the uncertainty of life in war-hit Israel and Palestine.
“The Israel-Palestine conflict has always kept me on toes, with surreal goals of making a documentary film around it. We managed to travel to the conflict-ridden zone and there were so many stories which might go unknown in the lap of forever-burning geo-politics. We wanted to capture those stories, which are majorly about love and hope amid uncertainty and destruction", Pingle told Hindustan Times.
‘Occupied’ is a five-episode documentary series that mainly focuses on youngsters, who use art form — music, calligraphy, street art, poetry, dance, etc as an expression of resistance and live life to the fullest within the restrictions that are imposed on them.
{{/usCountry}}‘Occupied’ is a five-episode documentary series that mainly focuses on youngsters, who use art form — music, calligraphy, street art, poetry, dance, etc as an expression of resistance and live life to the fullest within the restrictions that are imposed on them.
{{/usCountry}}It took 35 days for the documentary crew led by Pranav to shoot the whole series in Israel-Palestine and the director called it a ‘lifetime experience.’ “Not very often, the risk of our lives feels worthy enough and undoubtedly, shooting occupied the war-hit West Bank was one such event. It is sad to see such unfortunate things happening to such calm and composed people. Hope normalcy restores in the area,” Pranav added.
This five-part docu-series was also the only Indian film selected for the Athens International Film and Video Festival which took place in Ohio of the United States.
As Israel is once again hit by a conflict and making headlines across the globe after its war with the Hamas, the docu-series is being planned to screen across India.
Last week, a screening happened in Hyderabad and Pranav said that the team is also planning to arrange screenings at Bengaluru and Mysore as well.