He is a thin , delicate man with wire-frame glasses , but neither his slightness nor his way of talking like a corny hollywood thug makes you any less afraid of him .
This mirrors the true story of captain meadows taylor who published " confessions of a thug " in 1839 , a bestseller based on a murderous highwayman named ameer ali .
His tactical nous and staying power have been consistently underestimated , perhaps because of the consensus characteristic that emerges from mr rogers 's biography : in the words of a western diplomat whom he quotes , than shwe is " a bit of a thug " .
In 1837 , the year of queen victoria 's coronation , amir ali , a " thug " , travels to london from the badlands of bihar with captain william meadows , a former officer of the east india company who is chronicling ali 's wayward life and the cult of thuggery .
But sarah wanted to avoid this , if she could . A tearful victim , bullied by the defence lawyer , would only turn the jury 's sympathies even more against her client , who was an unpleasant enough thug in the first place .