When Maharaj started steaming on Netflix in June 2024, some Parsis may have been excited to see political thinker Dadabhai Naoroji portrayed in the film directed by actor/director Siddharth Malhotra. Naoroji was a contemporary of the protagonist, Karsandas
Mulji, a journalist and social reformer. The movie is based on the 1862 real life historic Maharaj Libel Case which questioned a revered religious leader’s allegedly immoral behavior. Junaid Khan, son of veteran actor Aamir Khan, stars as Mulji.
"History buffs, and we are sure even the Parsis, are miffed at (Naoroji’s) portrayal in the film who, as the founder of the Anglo-Gujarati newspaper Rast Goftar (RG) is hesitant to publish incriminating articles against Jadunath Maharaj (the antagonist) because he fears that the publication could lose its Vaishnav (a major Hindu denomination) readership,” reported mid-day (MD) of June 9.
Historian and Naoroji’s biographer Dinyar Patel (see "Narrative on Naoroji,” Parsiana, February 7-20, 2022) told MD, "First of all, there’s no surviving evidence for this. Secondly, Naoroji had already attracted controversy and vituperative opposition for his progressive religious views within the Parsi community; it is a complete misreading of history to cast him as a cautious figure when dealing with a fellow reformer’s views.” The biographer added that by 1861 Naoroji was settled in London and his association with RG was, obviously, quite limited. "Also, I don’t think RG would have had particularly wide circulation amongst Vaishnavites — its target audience would have remained Parsis — and it had already established a reputation for attacking religious dogma and orthodoxy, whether Zoroastrian, Hindu or Muslim. A devout Vaishnavite would be reading something else, and the RG wouldn’t have compromised its reputation for social and religious reformist views.”
Dadabhai Naoroji: depicted in film (above)
The movie makes no mention of another Parsi, Nanabhai Ranina, Mulji’s co-defendant in the 1862 case. The newspaper in which Mulji wrote about the revered religious leader’s actions, Satya Prakash, was printed at Ranina’s 1857-established Union Press. A 1908 publication, A sketch of the life and writings of Nanabhai Rustamji Ranina, available on Internet Archive.org and generally ascribed to a family member states, "all honor to Nanabhai Ranina who had much to lose and comparatively but little to gain, for having stood by and supported (Mulji) to the end… It was a refreshing spectacle, that of two men, representing two different nationalities, working harmoniously on a common platform in a common cause.” An email to the director, Malhotra, seeking clarifications did not receive a response before going to press.
The venerable Union Press still stands at Bombay’s Horniman Circle. Business owner Meher Jesia confirmed to Parsiana that a Ranina had indeed established the printery.
Farrokh Jijina