I watched "Stone Tables" because the book of the same title by the writer Wojciech Zukrowski was a huge hit in the Polish People's Republic. Zukrowski also served for several years as a diplomat in India, which gave him enough knowledge to convincingly outline the background of the novel. The original was about a Hungarian diplomat and the Hungarian embassy, but for the film these background elements were changed to Polish ones. I watched the film with interest, although I must admit that it disappointed me. The love story was weak for me, and the main character, Jan Tokarski (played by Krzysztof Chamiec), seemed somewhat immature for his age. More interesting were the subplots related to the life of diplomats and their relations with the natives, although some of it looked outdated by today's standards. But for me, the most interesting thing about this film was the portrayal of India, even though it is a large country and difficult to understand. Personally, in my youth, I really liked the books "A Passage to India" by E. M. Forster and "Burmese Days" by George Orwell, as well as the British series "The Jewel in the Crown" from 1984 with Charles Dance. Over the years of working in IT, I also had many Indian colleagues with whom I always got along well. All this made my wife and me decide to visit India recently. It is definitely not enough to have deep insight into the country, but I certainly feel genuine sympathy for India and understand people like the long-time BBC reporter Mark Tully, who decided to stay in India after finishing his professional career. That's why the movie "Stone Tablets" didn't bore me, but my assessment was probably influenced by the fact that I like the country.
