£1mn heavenly showers on Koti Women’s College

When all seemed to have been lost as far as the various proposals to restore the historically-rich Residency building (what came to be known as the Osmania College for Women or the Koti Women’s College) is concerned and the majestic building has been falling apart in ruins, hope came in the form of an anonymous donor who donated one million pounds for the long overdue restoration work, after reading the book, ‘White Mughals’.

Writer, historian and author of ‘White Mughal - Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth Century India’, Sir William Dalrymple is in Hyderabad for a BBC documentary being done on the building and the story of James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa. Speaking in an exclusive interview he shared his happiness that finally something good will come to the building.

“I have given so much of myself to the book and got so much in turn that it makes me extremely happy that the book has been instrumental in bringing the donation. The restoration will be done by the World Monument Fund and National Culture Fund in association with ASI and I think the work will start by the end of this year. One can call this a last minute savior; otherwise this would have been the last of what we see of this magnificent building,” he shares.

It all began in 1997, when Dalrymple came to the Residency building during a visit, heard about James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa. Years of research and rummaging through old manuscripts and libraries in London, Delhi, Hyderabad, Dalrymple had ample information that he needed to write the story of an interesting period in history (early 18th century) when one in three white men would marry an Indian woman, yet when 14-year old princess Khair-un-Nissa married the Englishman it created such a scandal that the family did not want the episode to be mentioned in their family history.

It was also heartbreaking to read about the plight of the children born out of inter-racial marriage especially in post-First War of Independence days, especially when Evangelism prevented any more such alliances in British India. He took five years to write the book. What probably makes the story even dearer to Dalrymple is that in discovering the story of love and hatred, he chanced upon his ancestral ties with India.

“When I first wrote the book, I was not even known as much as I am today. In fact not many read the book and once I saw they were not even available on stands. Today many know the story, my books are read and I hear there is even a boat on Hussain Sagar named after Khair-un-Nissa. The University informs me that they plan to introduce the story in their curriculum. Many times, I had tried to influence BBC to make a film on the story in the past, but never succeeded. Now, after 17 years of writing the book here I am helping producer of the film Lydia Conway and the wonderful director Spike Gelinger to make the documentary on the extraordinary story.”

Spike shares, “I feel honoured to be working with William. He knows the story so well. All we are doing as all television guys do is make the most of the other person’s hard work (smiles). We have been shooting for a few days here and I have enjoyed every bit of it. What makes it exciting is that the story actually happened here, in this building; the zenana, the gardens are all here.” Speaking about the experience of working on the production, the producer Lydia Conway, “We wanted to work with William and thought the story of the wonderful period of healthy East-West relations makes more sense today.

And, with so much of evidence available - the pictures of Kirk wearing Indian clothes and so many documents, the story of William discovering his legacy and also the Million Pound donation makes it all very interesting. We shot in the Old City, near the Mecca Masjid, Charminar and all the other areas that are related to the story. It is an interesting way to discover Indian art and heritage. We will also be meeting Jagadish Mittal to look at his collection of miniature paintings.”

‘White Mughals’ film adaptation back on track

Interestingly, the documentary comes at a time when the script for the much touted Hollywood film on ‘White Mughals’ is in its final stage. Directed by the Lord Voldemort of Harry Potter, Ralph Fiennes, and the rights have gone to Indie Rainmark Films led by ‘Game of Thrones’ producer Frank Doelger and former BBC Films executive Tracey Scoffield.

Dalrymple relates, “Nick Drake is writing the script. The way he wrote the end is amazing. I and my wife broke into tears reading it. You write a book and forget. When I revisited it, I realised it is a complex book with many characters and storylines. For a 90-minute film you might just need a 100-page story, and so the film will focus on the story of Kirkpatrick. In fact I wonder if I should publish a leaner version of the book too and may be it will be another best seller.” (smiles)

While the lead actor is not yet finalised, Dalrymple tweeted once that Aditi Rao Hydari will be perfect for the role. “That is what I think, however I have no control over the selection,” he clarifies. “What makes the story fascinating is that it has a love story, there is so much drama and emotion and a tragic end and above all the building where it all happened is right here, standing,” he adds. “The production house is planning to shoot the film in the autumn of 2016.”

Meanwhile, there is also an Indo-British production – a play adaptation of ‘White Mughals’ for the Westend being made by British theatre director Tim Supple on the cards. Shall we say ‘Jab deta hai tho chappar phad ke’?

“Hyderabad’s heritage has been the most abused in Asia. It is unarguably the greatest.

The unfortunate events post independence led to neglect and destruction of several palaces and the most of the loss happened between 1950s-70s. Even now, we can say that except for Chowmahalla Palace and Falaknuma and now Osmania College, the rest of the heritage structures are poised to be erased in no time unless acted upon,” Dalrymple warns as he had during many other previous occasions.

By Rajeshwari Kalyanam