| “ | Bullshit! What happens to your ridiculous avatars when they defy our mighty empire will be written down in our history! Soldiers! For the queen! Crown! And the country! | „ |
| ~ Lord Cochrane |
| “ | Prepare yourself, cut his body to four bloody pieces! His body, arms, and legs must be thrown into the ocean. The fourth is his head, and I must see that! | „ |
| ~ Lord Cochrane instructing Daniel on how to kill Reddy. |
| “ | You Indians are are bloody barbarians, Madhavayyar, always resorting to believe in myths and stories. We don't need a collector for that area, but a hunter! | „ |
| ~ Lord Cochrane to his tax manager Madhavayyar. |
Lord Cochrane is the main antagonist of the 2019 historical epic movie Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy.
Based off of an real historical figure from the 1840s who has been lost to records, Cochrane is the self proclaimed Governor of Madras and the primary opposition to the resistance built by rebel warrior Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy.
He was portrayed by Henry Maynard.
Biography[]
Ever since the 1700s, the British Empire has started it's conquest on the Indian subcontinent, known as Bharatha to it's natives. They had targeted the nation for their wealth, resources, and cultural advancements and despite claiming to want to trade, they made efforts to overthrow the native's monarchs and rule the nation. By the 1830s-40s, the empire had a grip on the nation and Cochrane has been tasked to oversee the Southern regions of India as he himself destroyed tens of kingdoms, thus leading to their leaders and people fleeing. However around that time, a warrior named Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy would stand to oppose him by gathering the fallen chiefs and organizing a guerilla resistance in the city of Renadu, consisting of districts in what is now Andra Pradesh. This has been Reddy's objective since youth when he took it upon himself to learn combat under sage Gosayi Venkanna, with the sole purpose of countering the empire.
By the time Reddy has reached his forties, he had declared to his people and the fallen chiefs that since they were in the middle of a drought, Renadu would refuse the British empire's unfair taxation on the people. In order to export food supply to London, Cochrane had been taxing the regions around Renadu to give up half their supply of crops. When Renadu defies him he sends in a general named Jackson to forcefully pillage the villages Reddy watches over. The chiefs don't resist since he threatens and kills the civilians. Jackson takes it too far when he burns a child named Bhasavia, whom Reddy knew, for attempting to take back some grain.
Reddy responds by massacring all of Jackson's troops and eventually beheading him. Reddy sends his head to Cochrane, which frightens the governor initially but only makes him more motivated to annihilate Reddy and his people. He proceeds to send his man Daniel to attack Reddy, who holds himself and many civilians down in a fort. Reddy overpowers all three hundred of Daniel's men using traps and strategy.
Cochrane decides to take matters into his own hands and responds to Reddy's declaration of war. He manages to abduct Reddy's loved ones, including his wife Siddama and his baby son Subbaya and hold them hostage, as well as the dancer Lakshmi, Reddy's estranged lover. He loads a raft full of explosives and is accompanied by 300 more soldiers, all to lay waste to Renadu's center. Cochrane forces Lakshmi to dance nude for him, but she takes advantage of it by catching her clothes on fire and blowing up the raft with the explosives.
Cochrane escapes the explosion, and he and his army confront Reddy's army, consisting of Renadu civilians. In the battle he kills Vadde Obanna, Reddy's deputy and Raja Pandi, a Tamil chief and one of Reddy's friends. Reddy fights him in rage and scars his eye, and his army retaliates, brutally leading to the deaths of ten thousand British soldiers. Cochrane retreats but not before wounding Reddy's arm.
He and his bosses proceed to make an ally of Veera Reddy, a fellow chief of Reddy's resistance who survived the battle. Cochrane had initially paid Reddy's brother Basi, and Veera's son Narsi to turn on the resistance, which had been unsuccessful. Basi had betrayed them twice and so Reddy has his fellow chief Avaku Raju execute him. He also executes Narsi, and to Veera's disappointment he isn't given pardon like with Basi. Cochrane and his peers convince Veera to get revenge, and so Veera drugs Reddy's tea in order to make him easy to apprehend. However it turns out that Reddy had convinced Narsi to turn on the British for redemption, but without knowing this Veera commits suicide in grief for his betrayal. Cochrane and his troops manage to chain up Reddy and arrest him.
Death[]
Cochrane is present at Reddy's trial, and is visibly angered when Reddy demands him and the British to leave Bharatha. He declares Reddy to be hanged for his rebellion, however Reddy manages to escape the noose and assaults Cochrane. One of the soldiers beheads Reddy, but even afterward Reddy's body manages to stab Cochrane through the heart, killing him.
Personality[]
Cochrane has demonstrated devotion and loyalty to his position, and takes his duties of serving the empire extremely seriously. He sees anyone who defies the empire's rule as an enemy and goes through strategic and malicious lengths to make them suffer for it, using bribery to turn friends against each other and resorts to killing anyone who doesn't obey him. Cochrane may acknowledge how wrong it is to exploit and take advantage of whom he believes to be lesser to him, but as he is paid and has a reputation for it he doesn't care and expects the citizens of Renadu to follow him without question. Reddy's resistance drives him to a breaking point and thus he devotes his career to demolishing it. Cochrane and his armies have overthrown multiple kingdoms in South India with ease, most likely with his leadership skill in commanding armies and troops. He manages to bribe and trick Reddy's own allies into weakening him, and thus has made his capture easy. He also enjoys seeing Reddy hanging before his karma sealed his fate.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Leadership and cunning- Cochrane has managed to overthrow multiple kingdoms, and gets his way through bribery or brute force using the numbers and technology of his troops.
- Multilingual- Cochrane can fluently communicate with the Telugu natives.
- Swordsmanship- Despite mostly using warfare strategy to accomplish colonialism, Cochrane is competent with sword combat and responds to even the hardest and fastest blows with graceful and swift counters. He and the other Brits fight without armor and minimal weapons against Renadu's troops. He kills Raja Pandi, a Tamil chief and experienced, agile combatant. He also stands off against Reddy, whom has managed to kill nearly fourty-fifty British soldiers all by himself, despite this he disarms Reddy and wounds his arm. However he's forced to retreat when Reddy's rage pins him down.
Victims[]
- Countless Indian natives (raided, enslaved, tortured, and murdered over the course of years of colonialism, including those ordered to be by Jackson)
- Narasimha Reddy (assaulted and injured, attempted murder, unjust execution)
- Laxmi (attempted sexual assault)
- Raja Pandi (murdered)
- Vaade Obanna (murdered)
- Bhasavaya's mother (unjustly executed)
Trivia[]
- Cochrane is one of the few characters based off of real people, the other four known being Reddy, his wife Siddama, his son Subbaya, and Cochrane's tax officer Raghavachari.
- Cochrane and other tax governors like him have been remarked as "Asuras" by Jhansi Lakshmibai, a common form of demonic beings in mythology, further adding to the reputation of how the natives saw the British rule.