Review of The Far Pavilions

M.M.Kaye's final novel is one of the greatest ever written about India, actually vying with masterpieces on the same scale like Tolstoy, Pasternak, Dickens and others, and the screening of it for television renders it full justice, although of course some adjustments had to be made together with some additions. Some who know India well would at first sight discard it as a postcard version of the novel, but it is not. All the characters are brought forth perhaps even more alive than in the novel, and the players have been chosen with perfect accuracy and sensitivity, especially of course Ben Cross and Amy Irving, but you find among the characters several old favourites, like Omar Sharif, Christopher Lee, Robert Hardy and other outstanding actors, making this TV series as prominent as Kipling's "Kim" of actually the same year, with Peter O'Toole as the lama. Also the music by Carl Davis is perfectly suited to this great romantic story, which actually is based on a true event: the great wedding march with hundreds of people through half of India did occur in reality, and that became the basis of M.M.Kaye's last and greatest novel and the central piece of the story. I was lucky enough to see it when it was new on television, but seeing it again after 35 years makes it even better, especially since I have been to India so many times since then, and if anything could make me long for a return, this film would be principal in inspiring and promoting the intention.

A few curious details: the mountains symbolizing "the far pavilions" that Ashok and Anjuli watch from their palace and constantly dream about are actually the Annapurna range (6 peaks) above Pokhara in Nepal. Ben Cross, who plays Ashton Pelhan-Martyn, passed away this year in August, only two months ago, at 72. He also made a fabulous lead as Barnabas in the TV series "Dark Shadows" 1991 among many other performances.