A list of curious facts

One: Did you know Captain Nemo—the iconic hero of Jules Verne’s novels—is an Indian? In fact, he was the son of a maharaja whose family was murdered by the East India Company:

In his 1870 novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” Jules Verne created Captain Nemo as an Indian prince consumed by hatred for the imperialist nation that destroyed his family—specifically, Britain. This identity was only hinted at in the original novel but made explicit in Verne’s 1874 sequel, “The Mysterious Island.” Nemo’s bitter enemy was the British East India Company, whose brutal suppression of the Indian Uprising of 1857 drove the submarine commander to a life of self-imposed exile aboard the Nautilus.

Of course, Hollywood entirely whitewashed Nemo in its movies—where he appears as an angry white gentleman battling a hated but unnamed nation of “warmongers.” Over the years, Nemo has been played by thespians such as Patrick Stewart, Michael Caine, and Robert Ryan.

The good news: The captain has finally reclaimed his Indian identity in the new AMC series ‘Nautilus’—where he is played by Shazad Latif (sorry, we’re pretending Naseerudin Shah in ‘The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ never happened). But brace yourself for outrage from the Hindutva camp—Latif’s dad is Pakistani. (New York Times, login, American Kahaani)

Two: Speaking of Indian heroes, everyone is excited that Deepika Padukone got her star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame. Nice but not quite historic. As splainer subscriber Sharath BS let us know, the first Indian to score the honour was Sabu Dastagir. He made his debut in 1937 in ‘Elephant Boy’—which “proved a big hit, with much of the praise reserved for Sabu, described by critics as a ‘complete natural’.” He followed it up with a string of hit movies in a variety of exotic (read: racist) roles. Dastagir even starred in a film with his name in the title: ‘Sabu and the Magic Ring’ (1957)—”where he plays a stable boy who befriends a genie, and speaks to elephants.” See the excellent movie poster below. Scroll has loads more on his fascinating career.

Three: Every year, The Louvre invites 100 artists and invites them to copy/reinterpret their chosen masterpiece—be it Delacroix, Goya or Vermeer. The tradition dates back to just after the French Revolution:

The Louvre opened its doors to copyists in 1793, just one month after Marie Antoinette was beheaded and Louis XIV's palace transformed into a public museum. It was then declared that any artist would be provided an easel free of charge to take up the challenge of painting a masterpiece. This still holds true today. But while the easels are free, artists around the world can wait for up to two years in order to be granted one of the limited permits. 

The roster of artists invited over the years is no less impressive—and include Dalí, Picasso, Chagall and Degas. More interesting than the faithful copies are the reinterpretations—like Madeleine Roger-Lacan's reinterpretation of ‘The Turkish Bath’ by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres—which replaces passive women with passive men. Smithsonian Magazine has more on this year’s exhibit. (ModernMet)

Bonus fact: We leave you with beatboxing Brazilian nuns—who are not, in fact, characters in a Wes Anderson flick. Think of it as a novel form of marketing for the Church—“part of a wider movement in the Catholic Church to let go, loosen up and meet younger audiences where they are — online.” You can see a fab music vid for their new hit song ‘Vocation’ below. (New York Times)