One of the characters in Wes Anderson’s latest pastel-hued spectacle, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, is based on a real person.
A wealthy man named Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch) discovers a strange diary and learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes in this Netflix film based on a short tale by Roald Dahl published in 1977.
Henry Sugar has spent years perfecting the same talent, and now he wants to use it to cheat at gambling, which will inevitably lead to a crisis of meaning in his life.
After making its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, Wes Anderson’s newest film is currently streaming on Netflix to universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike.
It’s an accurate version of Roald Dahl’s narrative, which is fictional yet contains an intriguing bit of truth.
Does the narrative of Henry Sugar in The Wonderful Tale come from actual events?
The real-life tale of Pakistani mystic Kuda Bux, also known as The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, served as inspiration for Ben Kingsley’s role, Imdad Khan, in The Wonderful Tale of Henry Sugar.
Kuda Bux, whose birth name was Khudah Bukhsh and who spent years learning from a yogi how to see without his eyes, rose to fame in the early 20th century (via JSTOR).
As part of his magic act, he would place a ball of freshly kneaded dough over each of his eye sockets, then cover it with cotton or gauze.
When everyone had given up hope that Kuda Bux could see anything, he would demonstrate his abilities by copying pictures or reading words written on a chalkboard. He even attempted riskier stunts, such as walking along a cliff or shooting a rifle at an audience member’s designated target.
In 1950, Kuda Bux starred in his own TV series, Kuda Bux, Hindu Mystic, and became the subject of several documentaries and films.
Like Dev Patel’s character, Dr. Chatterjee, in Wes Anderson’s film, a large number of individuals eventually became interested in learning his secrets. The mystery surrounding him persists until now, despite the fact that many compelling explanations have been proposed (for example, that his nostrils are the secret to his success).
Perhaps we can credit Roald Dahl for his fascination with Kuda Bux. After meeting in person, the author was able to hear Kuda Bux’s account, which he then included in his 1953 essay The Amazing Eyes of Kuda Bux.
Due to the essay’s fictitious nature, Dahl renamed the mystic Imhrat Khan and introduced other characters.
This was the first manuscript for what would eventually become 1977’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. The same guy appeared in the narrative, this time referred to as Imdad Khan.
Kuda Bux passed away on February 5, 1981, after suffering from cataracts that caused him to lose most of his vision.
Wes Anderson, who is as fascinated with Roald Dahl as Dahl was with Bux, is responsible for his strange tale being reintroduced to a worldwide audience.
The director, who previously adapted 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, has assembled a Dahl anthology with four short films, including The Swan, The Ratcatcher, Poison, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, all of which are premiering on Netflix this week.
One may now watch Netflix’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
