What is it about?
This chapter explores how two films depict Alexander the Great’s invasion of India and the resistance he encountered from his Indian adversary King Porus. This invasion is the subject of the 1941 Indian movie 'Sikandar' and allows it to address indirectly two very current issues: Indian independence from British colonial rule and Fascist military aggression in World War II. Oliver Stone’s early 21st century Hollywood epic treats Alexander’ whole life with special focus on his psychological journey. The invasion of India is the culminating chapter in that story. This version of Alexander experiences battle in India and his own army’s mutiny in the shadow of his past traumas.
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Why is it important?
Both films marshal special technical resources in the depiction of the Battle of the Hydaspes -- the last pitched battle between two armies of Alexander’s life. This chapter offers the most extensive exploration to date of how and (I argue) why Sohrab Modi, director of 'Sikandar', incorporated battle footage from Carmine Gallone’s 1937 Fascist film 'Scipione l’Africano'. Oliver Stone uses both ancient coin iconography and infrared film stock to portray the battle simultaneously as an event of epic grandeur and – in Alexander’s personal experience of it – feverish, phantasmagoric intensity.
Perspectives
Writing this article reawakened my sense of wonder in studying what can happen when filmmakers undertake to bring the past alive to their audiences. It was perhaps the most interdisciplinary experience that I have had. The twists and turns in the stories of these films required that I seek advice from scholars of Italian cinema, Indian cinema, classical archaeology and more. I hope that I communicate through this chapter some measure of the excitement of studying the past in film.
Dr. Seán Easton
Gustavus Adolphus College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Porus vs. Alexander in Modi’s Sikandar (1941) and Stone’s Alexander (2004–2014), December 2023, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004686823_013.
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