LONDON.- BFI, in partnership with British Council, today release India on Film: 1899-1947, Treasures from the BFI National Archive, providing access to viewers in the UK and across India to an unparalleled collection of extremely rare films of India, which have survived from the earliest days of cinema. The BFI National Archive holds and cares for the largest collection of early films of India, unmatched anywhere in the world. This extraordinary collection of massive international importance, follows on the back of BFI’s hugely successful Britain on Film digitisation programme one of the largest and most complex archival projects undertaken by the BFI making over 7500 films digitally available. Drawn from material held in the BFI National Archive in partnership with National and Regional Film and Television Archives across the UK, Britain on Film has seen over 30 million people to date access their country’s film heritage through BFI Player and social media channels in the last 3 years.
India on Film; 1899-1947 consolidates the BFI’s commitment to preserving and sharing world film heritage, by making these significant collections accessible for audiences globally. Although undoubtedly seen through British eyes, this visual record of early twentieth century offers a unique factual account of a place and time where virtually nothing else exists, giving new audiences an eye opening insight into the people, places, traditions and most famous landmarks of India.
Newly digitised specifically as part of UK/India 2017, a year-long celebration of the long-standing relationship between India and the UK, BFI are partnering with the British Council on the simultaneous online launch in UK and India, via BFI Player (for UK viewers) and the BFI YouTube Channel, enabling audiences in India and internationally, an opportunity to access and engage with the online collection online.
Highlights includes the earliest known surviving film of India from 1899, Panorama of Calcutta. Although the film’s title states that this is Calcutta, the footage in fact shows the ghats at the holy city of Varanasi. The collection is bookended in 1947 by Lahore – Refugees from India, a record of refugees arriving by train in the newly created Pakistan in the immediate aftermath of Partition. Experience Delhi with rare early stencil colour film of the city in Delhi, Great Capital of India (1909). India’s military contribution to the war effort in WW1 is recorded on newsreel in Gaumont Graphic No. 383 (1914). The unique intimacy of amateur home movies forms a major part of this new collection and includes previously unseen footage of Mahatma Gandhi filmed by his great nephew, during the Noakhali march of 1947, Mahatma Gandhi Noakhali March.
Films have been donated to the BFI National Archive from a variety of sources comprising travelogues, newsreels, educational films, ethnographic documentaries, missionary films and a wealth of home movies, many of which have never been seen before. From everyday scenes of domestic life to celebratory festivals, religious processions, and traditional ritual, these films span Indian society from the ordinary person on the street, rural labourers in the field and the families of the British ruling elite who made India their home, to the very top of Indian society.
Encompassing the India’s rich geographic diversity, audiences can explore the collection via region, from its Northernmost reaches to Southern tip, including films from what are now Pakistan and Bangladesh. Studies of rural village life and epic landscapes can be viewed alongside films exploring the bustling vibrancy of cities such as Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Mysuru and Hyderabad; offering a rare insight into the development of these major populaces as they were in the early twentieth century.
Commenting on the significance of these films, Prakash Magdum, Director, National Film Archive of India says, “These films are like a kaleidoscope of life in pre-Independence India, shedding light on day-to-day life as well as ‘exotic’ aspects of Indian society. They also take us back to the time when the freedom struggle movement gained momentum. Be it dance, sports, the bazaar, royal weddings, cuisine, festivities, this is a wonderful glimpse into the Indian ways of life.”
Robin Baker, BFI Head Curator adds “Cumulatively, these films offer an extraordinary social and political story of Indian history, seen through the eyes of the film-makers, and putting flesh on the bones of book facts with real people and very tangible places. The potency of the films is remarkable and undeniable. They are as close as any of us are going to get to time travel.”
On the partnership to make these films accessible, Briony Hanson, British Council Director Film says, “The whole ethos of the UK/India Year of Culture is to encourage new encounters, inspire creativity and ignite curiosity. Making this extraordinary collection of films available to a global audience means that more people than ever before will have the opportunity to learn about the history and culture of this fascinating country, and I’m delighted that we’re able to work with partners at BFI to do so.”
Other treasures that have been recently unearthed include Indian Durbar (1940), a travelogue shot in Alwar, Rajasthan by Oscar-winning cinematographer Jack Cardiff in glorious Technicolor. One of a series of films about India that Cardiff shot in the late 1930s and early 40s, Indian Durbar, has been made available here for the first time. The poetic Tins for India (1941) is an early documentary made by Bimal Roy, one of the greatest filmmakers of the golden age of Indian cinema (Devdas, Parineeta). Unseen for decades, Tins for India reveals Roy’s stamp as a master filmmaker and is an early indicator of the humanistic concerns that would become evident in his later work.
Talking on the discovery of this previously unseen film by her father, Roy’s youngest daughter Aparajita Roy Sinha says, “I was both surprised and intrigued. Imagine if one day a new crime story by Agatha Christie (my favourite author) surfaced that the world never knew she had written. We did not know of the existence of this film.” On having the opportunity now to watch Tins for India, she adds, “This helps greatly in showing that my father had a distinct oeuvre, a mastery of the medium and content. This short film, made early in his career, clearly demonstrates why he became the legend that he did, and why people still consider him a pioneer of Indian cinema.”
BFI has commissioned filmmaker Sandhya Suri (I for India) to direct Around India with a Movie Camera, a feature-length compilation drawn from this extensive collection of early film material from India held by the BFI National Archive. Woven together to create an emotionally resonant narrative about life across India from over 70 years ago, the resulting film will premiere in India as part of UK/India 2017 and will subsequently tour around the UK and internationally.
