Reception
Critics viewed the casting of the white actor Michael Bates as the Indian bearer Rangi Ram as an example of blackface, a perception that may have contributed to the programme being infrequently repeated on British television. The show's producers had been very averse to the idea of casting a white actor to play one of the Indian characters, but were forced to relent owing to the lack of high-profile Indian actors available at the time. Since the Anglo-Indian Bates, a popular actor of the day, was born in India and spoke Hindi before learning English, he was cast in the role as a trade-off between giving the series greater credibility and giving the character a degree of Indian authenticity.
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