Rana Mitter

Rana Shantashil Rajyeswar Mitter FBA (born 1969) is a British historian who specialises in the history of republican China. He is Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the Institute for Chinese Studies at Oxford University, Director of the Dickson Poon China Centre, and a Fellow and Vice-Master of St Cross College. His 2013 book China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival, about the Second Sino-Japanese War, was well received by critics.

He is also a regular presenter for Night Waves (now known as "Free Thinking") on BBC Radio 3.

On 16 July 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).

Bibliography

Critical studies, reviews and biography

Rana

Rana (Sanskrit: राणा) is a historical title of Rajput origin, denoting the rank of an absolute Monarch.

Today, it is being used as a hereditary name in South Asia. Rani is the title for the wife of a Rana or a female monarch. Rani also applies to the wife of a Raja. Compound titles include Rana Sahib, Ranaji, Rana Bahadur, and Maharana.

Royal title in India

Rana was formerly used as a title of martial sovereignty by Rajput kings in India.

Rana title in Pakistan

Members of different Rajput clans use Rana as a hereditary title in Pakistan and their majority is Muslim. However Hindu Rajputs with this title also exist in Sindh.Umerkot was a state with a Hindu Rajput ruler using the title Rana in Sindh (presen-day Pakistan). In the 16th century Rana Prasad, the then Rana of Umerkot, gave refuge to Mughal prince Humayun and his wife Hamida Banu Begum, who fled from military defeat at the hands of Sher Shah Suri. Their son Akbar was born in the fort of the Rana of Umerkot.

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Kingdom of Nepal

The Kingdom of Nepal (Nepali: नेपाल अधिराज्य), also known as the Kingdom of Gorkha (Nepali: गोर्खा अधिराज्य), was a kingdom formed in 1768 by the unification of Nepal. Founded by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkhali monarch, it existed for 240 years until the abolition of the Nepalese monarchy in 2008. During this period, Nepal was formally under the rule of the Shah dynasty, which exercised varying degrees of power during the kingdom's existence.

Despite a humiliating defeat to China after a failed invasion of Tibet in the 1790s, which led to Nepal becoming a tributary state of the Chinese Empire, Nepal successfully consolidated its territories in the ensuing years. During the early-nineteenth century, however, the expansion of the East India Company's rule in India led to the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816), which resulted in Nepal's defeat. Under the Sugauli Treaty, the kingdom retained its independence, but became a de facto protectorate of Britain in exchange for territorial concessions equating to a third of the territory then under Nepalese rule, sometimes known as "Greater Nepal". Political instability following the war resulted in the ascendancy of the Rana dynasty, which made the office of Prime Ministers of Nepal hereditary in their family for the next century, from 1843 to 1951. Beginning with Jung Bahadur, the first Rana ruler, the Rana dynasty reduced the Shah monarch to a figurehead role. Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery, economic exploitation and religious persecution.

Rana (film)

Rana is a delayed historical action film co-written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar starring Rajinikanth, whose story the film will be based upon.Deepika Padukone has been signed as the female lead. The film will be jointly produced by Ocher Picture Productions and Eros International. The film will feature cinematographer R. Rathnavelu and music will be composed by A. R. Rahman.

Despite the occurrence of principal photography, which took place on 29 April 2011, casting includes Rajinikanth, Deepika Padukone among others. During the first schedule of filming, Rajinikanth fell ill on sets and was admitted to hospital for over a month, resulting in an indefinite postponement of filming. Further attempts for the film to continue production throughout the year failed.

In April 2014, it was announced that Rana's script would be written, and would be ready in six months

Cast

Production

Development

After the release of Enthiran (2010), Rajinikanth approached K. S. Ravikumar to help complete an animation feature that Soundarya Rajinikanth had begun in 2007. The project, titled Sultan: The Warrior, had run into problems with its production and Rajinikanth hoped that they could salvage the project by adding a historical back plot which would make the film partially animation and partially live action. K. S. Ravikumar then developed a story for fifteen days with his team assistants and after being impressed by the script, Rajinikanth felt that Ravikumar's story should be an entirely separate film. It was also reported that K. S. Ravikumar was signed up as co-director to direct "non-animated" scenes of the film, in which Rajinikanth would pair up with Trisha Krishnan. The reports were later falsified as several websites on 28 January 2011, claimed that Rana was a separate project, jointly produced by Eros International and Soundarya's Ocher Picture Productions.