Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate’s life for me! If this piece of song lyric reminds you of pirate ships with black sails, Tortuga, rum and canon fire, then you’re indeed a true Pirates of the Caribbean fan! The successful film franchise, based on Walt Disney’s theme park ride of the same name, has gone on to span five films and become one of the highest grossing film series of all time.
It gave us the iconic character of Jack Sparrow—oops!—Captain Jack Sparrow, played by the incredible Johnny Depp.
One of the nine Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court, Captain Jack Sparrow is shown as a man of morally ambiguous character.
He can be described as a trickster, who will often use his wit and words to get out of sticky situations, as opposed to physical force. That being said, he is a skilled swashbuckler too, who might even win with some cheating! He enjoys his rum, revels in his womanising charms, and loves his ship—The Black Pearl—sometimes a little more than his own life. He ALWAYS survives, until he doesn’t.
The writers of the series have often been quoted saying that Jack Sparrow’s character is based on a combination of The Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards and Looney Tunes cartoon character Pepé Le Pew.
And of course, the eccentricity that Depp himself brings to every character he plays, making it phenomenally unique.
However, this new piece of info about Sparrow’s character might make Indian fans love him even more!
One of the screenwriters who created the character, Ted Elliott, has revealed that Captain Jack Sparrow’s character is inspired by shades of Lord Krishna!
Come to think of it, you can see some of those shades of similarity quite evidently!
Lord Krishna was also one to use his wit and negotiation skills to get himself and others (take any of the many instances from the Mahabharata) out of difficult situations. He would only use his might in dire instances, just like Jack Sparrow.
Sparrow’s obsession with rum as a pirate can be drawn as a parallel to Lord Krishna’s love for maakhan! And let’s not even get started on how they both managed to charm women! In fact, if you’ve noticed, while Lord Krishna wears a peacock feather in his crown, Jack Sparrow too wears beads in his hair always!
Well I, for one, can totally picture Lord Krishna saying, “But why’s all the maakhan gone?” if Disney were ever to make a movie about him! We’ve loved Pirates of the Caribbean, but we’ve always been fans of The Maakhan Chor of Vrindavan!