Britishers ashamed of their deeds- says Satinder Sartaj

'The Black Prince', Maharaja's Duleep Singh's tryst with his destiny tries to break the stereotypes against what we know from History books. Punjab's last prince's character is played by the sufi voice of Punjab, Satinder Sartaj. He is proudly sharing the big screen and that too for the first time with Amanda Root (Queen Victoria), Shabana Azmi (Maharani Jinda), Jason Flemyng (Dr Login) and many more actors. Directed by Kavi Raz and produced by Brillstein Entertainment, this is Hollywood's effort to pick up the story and reveal the truth behind Duleep Singh's true identity and life.

In a press conference in Chandigarh, Sartaj did the promotion in an unusual way. Instead of showing the trailer, Sartaj put down many facts from the research done before the movie. Himself being a history enthusiast, Sartaj addressed, "Since the immemorial times as we know Duleep Singh, his personality and his work, the facts have all been distorted by the Britishers and created a false image that Ranjit Singh's son, Duleep Singh was a womaniser and never fit for his kingdom. But, when the research work was done, there were many facts that have been tampered with like his birth date, relationship with his mother and Kohinoor diamond's real deal with the Queen. I myself worked upon the movie for four years before starting on to act. The film media has been a medium that can showcase a reality beyond the history books and that is what 'The Black Prince' has aimed to achieve."

Why the movie has been named The Black Prince specifically? To this Sartaj says, "Well, this is the most frequently asked question. Actually, when Duleep Singh was taken to Birmingham Palace in his childhood, he had become the sweetheart of Queen Victoria. She lovingly used to call Duleep as her 'Black Prince'. It does not promote any racism, just a name lovingly given to the prince."

Hollywood reached out this unusual topic before Pollywood or Bollywood, Sartaj explains why Hollywood seemed to be the best medium, "Hollywood makers are the perfectionist. They give justice to the autobiographies as such. They do not work in days or months, they are quick, work in seconds. I did not act over there, I had to live the character. The research done was also sharp and to the point, some major historians helped us out to list down the unknown facts that helped us make this brilliant film. Although, as per Hollywood guides, the movie's timeline has been kept under two hours (1.57 hours) but the original was created for four hours. Some of my favorite scenes had to be cut down, but they would be hopefully, later on released in a four part documentary series."

The 'Sai' singer shares his acting experience and the appreciations he received worldwide already, "Working with names like Shabana Azmi was an immaculate experience. I felt overwhelmed when I shared the same screen with her. She has been all praises for me. Like in an interview with BBC, she said that 'Satinder was the perfect face for Duleep Singh as he also resembles him a lot in his personality as well as persona. Also, when I walked the red carpet for Cannes, every camera turned towards me. I was again overwhelmed when there were gorgeous actresses walking on the carpet. It was a proud moment for me."

The film has been shot in some of the iconic locations to give it a real touch, Sartaj enthusiastically added. "I am myself a history lover and love to go to such locations. Some of the shoot happened in Princess Diana's parental home, Althorp. It is a huge palace where everything is lavish and we weren't even allowed to touch the switches (that used to be done by their servants with gloved hands). Also, we were not allowed to sit on the royal furniture, we were given some other chairs to sit. But, we were fortunate enough to shoot on such a beautiful and realistic location."

How Britshers reacted to this film? Sartaj retorted, "Well, you won't believe we made many British mayors and people from that time watch the film. In fact the younger generation of the Britain came to me and said, we are ashamed to be Britishers if they did this deed. We faced no retaliation from the Britishers at any point till now. They have welcomed the truth."