A car chase in Bombay climaxes in a cold-blooded street murder and a foiled abduction. A cornered potentate, chastened by a scandal, agrees reluctantly to abdicate. Amid the power play of dangerous liaisons, this episode of The India Project packs it all in.

After our exploration of the fraught politics of The Princely States in Episode 1 and the mutinous designs of Travancore to renege on the Union in Episode 2, we journey to Indore, a princely state in present-day Madhya Pradesh, where palace intrigues deepen the Maharaja’s decision — accede to the Union of India, or secede and face the consequences. After the abdication of Maharaja Tukoji Rao III Holkar XIII, scion of the Holkar dynasty, his young happy-go-lucky heir Yashwant Rao Holkar II has been installed on the throne, a move that marks the beginning of British control of Indore. Years later, barely weeks from August 15, 1947, the flamboyant ruler is in the crosshairs of a crisis as he tries to assert his dominion’s independence.

Acknowledgements:

Audio excerpts in this episode are drawn from the following sources:

Lord Louis Mountbatten at New Delhi talks (1947) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUWNDK6ZDt4

Thief Of Baghdad- 1940 ( Hindi) 1:16:19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBorHUADApc&t=4578s

Sazaa Full Movie - Dev Anand - Nimmi - Shyama | Old Hindi Movies | Classic Bollywood Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-sE_SUrH40

Sheesh Mahal (1950) Full Movie | शीश महल | Sohrab Modi, Naseem Banu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HeeJCq0XPY&feature=youtu.be

Raj Nartaki 1940 Hindi Classical Full Movie || Prithviraj Kapoor, Sadhna Bose || Hindi Movies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d43ZbFo39s&t=2079s

AI voices from Murf.ai

Credits:

Akshay Ramuhalli, Bijoy Venugopal, Bruce Lee Mani, Narayan Krishnaswamy, Prashant Vasudevan, Sananda Dasgupta, Seema Seth, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi and Velu Shankar