ire in Babylon is a smash hit in England but not everyone connected to West Indies has actually been too amused. There is a school of thought that it is an inaccurate presentation of the country’s cricket history.
One dissenting voice is Rohan, son of legendary Alvin Kallicharran. He feels it is not the complete story of the rise of West Indies cricket. The film deals with the reign of West Indies cricket team during the turbulent ’70s and ’80s which also was the time of Bob Marley, anti-Apartheid movements and London riots.
“It is a one-sided and ‘politically romantic’ appraisal of how the West Indies rose to prominence, littered with inaccuracies,” says the 37-year-old Rohan, conversely stating that the film has failed to acknowledge his father’s contribution to the West Indies cricket. Kallicharran played in 66 Tests ending with an average of over 44. He also captained West Indies.
Rohan justifies his point by quoting Michael Holding and Colin Croft. “The film presents a team of predominantly black people trying to dominate a white world, and that wasn’t the case at all. You didn’t run up to bowl quickly because the guy on the other end was white. We bowled just as quickly to people from Pakistan or India as we did to England or Australia. It had nothing to do with race. It was about abilities and performance,” reads a quote from Croft in New York Times. link
