The British Raj. Film List

HIST 450 The British Raj: Film List 11/1/18 11:28 PM
LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE
Prof. David Campion
Royal Pavilion at the Coronation of George V as Emperor of India, Delhi, 1911 © Life
Magazine
MAIN PAGE SCHEDULE OF CLASSES COURSE REQUIREMENTS RESEARCH PAPER BRITISH RAJ ONLINE
BRITISH INDIA IN FILM
FROM romanticized stereotypes of exotic India to the most controversial policies of colonial rule, some of the
most enduring images of the British Raj in the popular imagination of Americans have come from films. Some of
these films are of average quality and imperfect in their historical accuracy, but many are excellent and effectively
recreate the environment and compelling issues that people living in British India faced at different moments in
their history. And since films are the media through which much of the general public gain their impressions of
British India and other parts of South Asia, they are worthy of consideration by historians for that reason alone.
Below is a selection of films useful for complementing our study of the history and culture of British India. Most of
these films can be obtained at Watzek Library. You can also find many of them on Netflix.
Some information courtesy of Internet Movie Database. Used with permission
THE GREAT GAME- INSIDE THE RAJ-

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) Black Narcissus (1947)
The Drum (1938) Jhansi ki Rani (1952)
Gunga Din (1939) The Long Duel (1967)
Kim (1950) Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
Northwest Frontier (1959) Shatranj ke Khilari (1977)
The Man who would be King (1975) Junoon (1979)
The Far Pavilions (1984)
INDEPENDENCE & PARTITION- The Home and the World (1984)
Bhowani Junction (1956) A Passage to India (1984)
Gandhi (1982) The Deceivers (1988)
The Jewel in the Crown (1984) Lagaan (2001)
Mountbatten, The Last Viceroy (1986) The Rising (2005)
Earth (1998) Before the Rains (2007)
Train to Pakistan (1998) Lokmanya: Ek Yugpurush (2015)
Jinnah (1998) Victoria & Abdul (2017)
Hey Ram (2000)
The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) POST-INDEPENDENCE-
Pinjar (2003) Autobiography of a Princess (1975)
Bose, The Forgotten Hero (2005) Staying On (1979)
Viceroy's House (2017) Heat and Dust (1982)
Cotton Mary (1999)
GUNGA DIN
Director: George Stevens, 1939
http://webhost.lclark.edu/campion/hist450c/films.htm Page 1 of 9
This classic film, starring Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks jr, was one of the very first
Hollywood depictions of India. Set in the nineteenth century, three British soldiers and a native
waterbearer must stop a secret revival of the murderous "Thuggee" cult before it can spread
across the land. The film is based very loosely on Rudyard Kipling's 1892 ballad of the same
name (though it is more like The Three Musketeers) and is interesting for its stereotypes as much
as for its story.
© RKO Pictures
THE DECEIVERS
Director: Nicholas Meyer, 1988
In 1825, Lt. William Savage, a reform-minded District Officer in the service of the East India
Company, undertakes to rid his district of what the British viewed as the two greatest problems
of Indian society: "Suttee" (widow immolation) and "Thuggee" (a secret cult of robbers and
murderers). Savage's actions are eventually thwarted by his profit-minded Company superiors,
but not before he attempts to infiltrate the cult and become one of the "deceivers." Based on the
1952 novel by John Masters.
© Warner Home Video
SHATRANJ KE KHILARI | THE CHESS PLAYERS
Director: Satyajit Ray, 1977
In 1856, officials of the East India Company move to consolidate their hold over North India by
annexing the wealthy kingdom of Awadh. The chief minister to the Nawab attempts to warn his
ruler and local landlords of the impending danger but they ignore him and instead indulge their
obsession with playing chess. The game becomes a metaphor for the larger game of politics
played by the British as they maneuver to capture Awadh's king. Based on the 1924 short story
by Premchand.
© Shemaroo
JHANSI KI RANI | THE QUEEN OF JHANSI
Director: Sohrab Modi, 1952
This epic film tells the true story of Rani Lakshmi Bai, ruler of the small princely state of Jhansi
in central India. The Rani of Jhansi struggled to save her state from British annexation and died
in 1857 while personally leading her soldiers into battle. Her heroism, leadership, and sacrifice
have been celebrated in folklore and repeatedly invoked by Indian nationalists. This was the first
Indian film in Technicolor and one of the first to enjoy distribution in the US under the title The
Tiger and the Flame.
© Geneon
THE RISING: THE BALLAD OF MANGAL PANDEY
Director: Ketan Mehta, 2005
This Bollywood epic is the first major film to focus on the 1857 Indian Rebellion—or "Mutiny"
as it is usually referred to in British history. The story follows the rebel leader Mangal Pandey,
an Indian sepoy in the service of the East India Company, and his friendship with a British
officer. Pandey was a real figure but one about whom little is known. Filming began in 2003 and
the opening scene was launched by Charles, Prince of Wales, during an official royal visit to
India.
© Yash Raj Films
JUNOON | THE OBSESSION
Director: Shyam Benegal, 1979
Set during the Uprising of 1857, this film focuses on three women of an Anglo-Indian family
who take refuge from the rebels with a local moneylender to whom they have a substantial debt
and who, thus, has a vested interest in their survival. When they are discovered, their lives are
spared as the rebel leader, Javed, wishes to make the youngest woman, Ruth, his second wife.
The plot is further complicated when British forces return seeking vengeance for the mutiny.
© Shemaroo
LAGAAN | TAX
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001
In 1893, the people of a small village in colonial India hope that they will be excused from
paying lagaan, the crippling land tax that the British have imposed. Instead, the capricious
officer in charge challenges them to a game of cricket, a game totally unknown to them. If they
win, they get their wish; if they lose, the increased tax burden will destroy their lives.
© Columbia/TriStar
LOKMANYA: EK YUGPURUSH | A MAN OF THE AGE
Director: Om Raut, 2015
A Marathi biopic of the fiery nationalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak, lionized as Lokmanya ("revered
by the people"), who advocated for a confrontational approach to ridding India of its British
rulers. Tilak's embrace of Indian culture and rejection of English education made him popular
among the Marathi-speaking peasantry of Western India and his writings and speeches gained
him a national following while leading to his imprisonment on charges of sedition. Tilak died in
1920, the year that Gandhi's first Non-Cooperation campaign began.
© Essel Vision
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
Director: John Huston, 1975
This adaptation of the famous 1888 novella by Rudyard Kipling tells the story of Daniel Dravot
and Peachy Carnehan, two ex-soldiers roaming through British India. They decide that the
country is too small for them, so they trek beyond the Northwest frontier to "Kafiristan" in order
to become kings in their own right. Kipling appears briefly as a character in his own fictional
tale.
THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER
Director: Henry Hathaway, 1935
The 41st Bengal Lancers are stationed on the Northwest Frontier of British India, guarding
against Afghan invaders led by the wily Oxford-educated Mohammed Khan. Experienced,
though insubordinate, Lt. McGregor (Gary Cooper) is joined by two younger officers through
various adventures and hardships. This film is a noteworthy period piece from the 1930s but is
less well known than Gunga Din, which was released a few years later and has become a cinema
classic.
© Universal
NORTHWEST FRONTIER
Director: J. Lee Thompson, 1959
This film takes place in 1905 in the Northwest mountain regions of India where a local Hindu
raja allied to the British is battling rebel Muslim tribesmen. In order to get his son—the crown
prince—and his governess to safety the raja entrusts them to the care of a British officer. The
film is a typical Saturday morning cliffhanger, but the direction is quite good.
© RCI Home Video
KIM
Director: Victor Saville, 1950
This adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's famous adventure novel from 1901 recreates the "Great
Game" of spying and surveying in British India's Northwest frontier. The title character is a
young British orphan who, like an Anglo-Indian Huck Finn, roams the bazaars and roads of his
adoptive country surviving through theft, begging, and being a messenger and spy for the British.
THE FAR PAVILIONS
Director: Peter Duffell, 1984
Based on the bestselling 1978 novel by M.M. Kaye, this miniseries is an epic of high adventure
in colonial India revolving around the romance between Anjuli, a half-caste Indian princess, and
Ash, a British officer raised in India. The Far Pavilions drew upon and helped perpetuate a
popular sense of "Raj nostalgia" in the early 1980s. As such, it offers a lavish, entertaining, but
highly romanticized vision of exotic India under British rule.
© Acorn Media
CONDUCT UNBECOMING
Director: Michael Anderson, 1975
The plot revolves arounds a scandal in a British regiment stationed in India in the 1870s. Lt.
Drake is from a middle-class background and is eager to advance himself by making the right
impression. Lt. Millington, the son of a general, is not keen on army life and desires to get out as
soon as he possibly can. When the widow of the regiment's most honored hero is assaulted,
Drake must defend Millington from the charges in an unusual court-martial. Based on the 1969
play by Barry England.
© Crown Films
VICTORIA & ABDUL
Director: Stephen Frears, 2017
In 1887, Abdul Karim, a young police clerk from Agra, is selected by the British colonial
goverment to travel to London to present a gift to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her Golden
Jubilee. Abdul strikes up an unlikely friendship with the "Empress of India" and stays on in
Britain to become her servant and, at her request, her munshi (teacher) of Urdu and the Qur'an.
When Victoria dies in 1901, Abdul returns to India. Based on the book by Shrabani Basu and
Abdul's diary discovered in 2010.
© BBC Films
GHARE BAIRE | THE HOME AND THE WORLD
Director: Satyajit Ray, 1984
In 1907, Nikhil—a wealthy yet enlightened and charitable Bengali landowner—encourages his
wife Bimala to emerge from the traditional female seclusion of purdah and introduces her to his
old friend Sandip, a radical leader in the Swadeshi movement. Bimala is deeply affected by
Sandip's revolutionary fervor and experiences a profound political awakening that draws her out
of her home and into the tumultuous world of Indian nationalism. Based on the 1916 novel by
Rabindranath Tagore.
© Columbia/TriStar
THE LONG DUEL
Director: Ken Annakin, 1967
Set in the 1920s, this film is based very loosely on the true exploits of the notorious Bhanta
dacoit, Sultana, and the colonial police officer, Freddy Young, whose mission it was to capture
him. Sultana (Yul Brynner) and Young (Trevor Howard) develop a strong respect for each other
during their game of evasion and pursuit across the hills and plains of North India. However, the
portrayal of Sultana as a nationalist rebel and Young as ambivalent toward British imperialism in
India is historically inaccurate.
© Rank Organisation
A PASSAGE TO INDIA
Director: David Lean, 1984
Tensions between Indians and the colonial British residents of the town of Chandrapore boil over
when a visiting Englishwoman, Adela Quested, accuses a young Indian physician, Dr. Aziz, of
rape during a tour of the local caverns. Based on E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, this film can be seen
as a study of colonial relations, perceived differences between East and West, and the nature of
memory and friendship.
© Columbia/TriStar
THE DRUM
Zoltan Korda, 1938
Set in the Northwest Frontier, the plot revolves around an uprising against the British and their
Indian allies. The film offers a gallery of imperial stereotypes: the gallant English officer and his
devoted wife, the plucky Scottish drummer, the treacherous Indian rebel, and the obsequious
loyal prince. Though popular with British audiences, The Drum caused protests in Madras and
Bombay, where it was viewed—not unreasonably—as pro-British propaganda. Some filming
was done in the princely state of Chitral, now the province of Khyber-Pakthunkhwa, Pakistan.
© United Artists
BEFORE THE RAINS
Director: Santosh Sivan, 2007
Set in 1937 in the Malabar District of the Madras Presidency, this film focuses on an affair
between an English spice plantation owner and his Indian housekeeper that ends tragically. The
central character is T.K., a servant on the plantation, who discovers the affair and is torn by
loyalty to his employer, village politics, and the rising tide of Indian nationalism. Among other
things, the film captures well the beauty of the Indian state of Kerala in which it was filmed.
© Lions Gate
GANDHI
Director: Richard Attenborough, 1982
This epic film portrays the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi from his days as a young lawyer in South
Africa to his death as the spiritual leader of the Indian nation shortly after independence. It also
provides a vivid account of the Indian nationalist movement from its beginnings through the
independence and partition of the Indian subcontinent. This critically-acclaimed film took
decades to produce and won eight Academy Awards in 1983.
© Columbia/TriStar
BLACK NARCISSUS
Directors: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1947
This strange and haunting film focuses on a group of Anglican nuns who arrive in a remote
location in the Himalayas to set up a school and clinic for the local residents. The fragmentation
and collapse of their own community force them to abandon the mission. The film was released a
few months before India’s independence and some critics speculate that the plot is an allegory
about Britain’s retreat from India. Based on the 1939 novel by Margaret Rumer Godden.
© Criterion
THE LEGEND OF BHAGAT SINGH
Director: Raj Kumar Santoshi, 2002
This film portrays the controversial life and death of Bhagat Singh, the Punjabi revolutionary
who took up arms against colonial rule in India. Condemned by the British as a terrorist and
hailed by many Indians as a freedom fighter, Bhagat Singh was initially inspired by the
Gandhian example of non-violent non-cooperation but later rejected it after growing frustrated at
its apparent ineffectiveness.
© Tips Films Pvt. Ltd.
THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN
Director: Christopher Morahan, 1984
This fourteen-part miniseries originally produced for Granada Television in Britain tells the story
of a small group of Britons and Indians from the middle of the Second World War to the
independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. The historical authenticity of the plot and complex
characters provide an excellent glimpse into the psyche of the British in India during the final
days of the "Raj." Based on Paul Scott's Raj Quartet novels published between 1965 and 1975.
© A&E Home Entertainment
BOSE, THE FORGOTTEN HERO
Director: Shyam Benegal, 2005
This film focuses on the final years in the life of Subhas Chandra Bose, one of the most
controversial figures in Indian nationalism. A rising star in the freedom movement, Bose fell out
with Gandhi and was pushed to the margins of Congress politics. At the outbreak of war in 1939,
he fled to Germany and later conspired with Japanese forces to lead an army of Indian soldiers
against the British during the Burma campaign. Bose remains a hero to many Indians, especially
in his native Bengal.
© Sahara Media
MOUNTBATTEN, THE LAST VICEROY
Director: Tom Clegg, 1986
This TV miniseries traces the events and experiences of the last viceroy of India, Lord Louis
Mountbatten, and his wife Lady Edwina. In early 1947, Mountbatten arrived in India to oversee
the transfer of power to independent India and Pakistan. The film captures well the challenges,
dilemmas, and tragedies involved in the British withdrawal and the partition of the Indian
subcontinent.
© Bonneville Video
JINNAH
Director: Jamil Dehlavi, 1998
Muhammad Ali Jinnah being judged in the afterlife is the premise of this controversial film
about the founder of Pakistan. The story traces Jinnah's political development from champion of
Hindu-Muslim unity to his demand for a separate Muslim state. The film was meant to revise the
largely unflattering portrayal of Jinnah presented in earlier films such as Sir David
Attenborough's Gandhi. Yet the casting of an Englishman (veteran English actor Sir Christopher
Lee) in the title role was criticized by many Pakistanis.
© Dehlavi Films
EARTH
Director: Deepa Mehta, 1998
The movie opens in the city of Lahore in Punjab in 1947 before India and Pakistan became
independent. Lahore is a cosmopolitan city, depicted by a group of working class friends from
different religions. The rest of the movie chronicles the fate of this group and the maddening
religious conflict that sweeps across Punjab as the partition of the two countries is decided and
Lahore is given to Pakistan. Based on the 1988 semi-autobiographical novel The Ice Candy Man
by Bapsi Sidhwa.
© New Yorker Films
TRAIN TO PAKISTAN
Director: Pamela Rooks, 1998
Tensions run high in a Punjab village in the run-up to partition between independent India and
Pakistan. Sikhs living in this border town have heard rumors of Muslims assaulting, killing, and
raping other Sikhs and Hindus—many of whom are their friends and relatives. Enraged at the
breakdown of civil order and eager for revenge, they plan their own attack upon a crowded train
full of Muslims headed to Pakistan. Based on the 1956 novel by Khushwant Singh.
© Video Sound
VICEROY'S HOUSE
Director: Director: Gurinder Chadha, 2017
The transfer of power and partition of India and Pakistan told largely through the experiences of
the house staff at the stately New Delhi residence of the viceroy following the arrival of Lord
and Lady Mountbatten in early 1947. As the clock ticks down to independence, the servants must
prepare for an uncertain future for themselves and their families. The film had been lambasted by
historians for the unsupported premise that partition was conceived as conspiracy by Churchill's
wartime government to contain postwar Soviet expansion into the oil-rich Middle East.
© Pathé
PINJAR
Director: Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, 2003
Lajjo is a recently married Hindu woman abducted by Muslims during the chaos of partition and
taken to Pakistan. There she is forced to become the second wife of an abusive and controlling
alcoholic. Her determined sister-in-law, Puro, sets out to search for her, encouraged by her
brother, but cautioned by her parents who would prefer not to lose another child. A compelling
story that deals with abduction, a widespread and largely overlooked aspect of partition violence.
© Lucky Star Entertainment
BHOWANI JUNCTION
Director: George Cukor, 1956
In the summer of 1947 the British are on the verge of finally leaving India. Among the few sorry
to see them leave are the Anglo-Indians—half British and half Indian. They are going to miss the
patronage of their white cousins, the job reservations, and the important status and positions they
currently hold. This film revolves around Victoria, an Anglo-Indian woman and her relationships
with British, Indian, and Anglo-Indian men. Based on the 1954 novel by John Masters.
© MGM
HEY RAM | OH GOD!
Director: Kamal Hasan, 2000
This film traces the descent of an Indian archaeologist from moderate politics into Hindu
fundatmentalism after the murder of his wife in the Calcutta riots of 1946. Although produced as
a commercial Hindi film, it boldly addresses the communal violence that accompanied the
partition of the subcontinent and the reaction of the Hindu right to Gandhi's pleas for communal
harmony. Some "disturbing" portions were cut by the Indian film censor board.
© Blue Mountain Digital
COTTON MARY
Directors: Ismail Merchant and Madhur Jaffrey, 1999
In 1954, seven years after India has gained independence from Britain, many Indians still feel
like second-class citizens in their own country, as the nation's sovereignty has not immediately
erased the perception that the British are superior to Indians. An example is Cotton Mary, an
Anglo-Indian nurse in the employment of the wife of a BBC correspondent. Mary claims she is
the daughter of a British army officer (although she has no firm evidence) and views herself as
more British than Indian.
© Universal
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A PRINCESS
Director: James Ivory, 1975
On the anniversary of her father's death, an exiled Indian princess (Madhur Jaffrey) celebrates
his memory in her London flat by serving tea and showing a selection of 16mm home movies to
her guest, her father's secretary, Cyril Sahib (James Mason). A wistful look back at the princely
states of British India featuring rare archival film footage from the erstwhile states of Jaipur,
Jodhpur and Bikaner.
© Criterion
STAYING ON
Director: Silvio Narizzano, 1979
Based on Paul Scott's Booker Prize-winning novel from 1977, this film tells the story of retired
colonel Tusker Smalley and his wife Lucy who made the decision to "stay on" in India after the
British withdrew in 1947 and as most of their friends returned home. Now retired, Tusker and
Lucy are the only remaining British residents in a once-busy hill station. Problems arise when the
Indian owner of their bungalow plans to change the one corner of India in which they hoped to
preserve their Anglo-Indian life.
© HBO Films
HEAT AND DUST
Director: James Ivory, 1982
Anne, an Englishwoman, is investigating the life of her great-aunt Olivia whose destiny had
always been shrouded with scandal. The search leads back to the early 1920s, when Olivia,
recently married, came to live with her civil servant husband in an Indian princely state. Slowly,
Anne discovers, upon getting pregnant by an Indian local in the early 1980s, that she and Olivia
have more than a little in common. Based on the 1975 novel by Ruth Prawar Jhabvala.
© Home Vision Entertainment
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HIST 450 The British Raj: Film List 11/1/18 11:28 PM

LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE

Prof. David Campion

BRITISH INDIA IN FILM

Some information courtesy of Internet Movie Database. Used with permission

THE GREAT GAME- INSIDE THE RAJ-

Director: George Stevens, 1939

Director: Nicholas Meyer, 1988

© Warner Home Video

SHATRANJ KE KHILARI | THE CHESS PLAYERS

Director: Satyajit Ray, 1977

JHANSI KI RANI | THE QUEEN OF JHANSI

Director: Sohrab Modi, 1952

THE RISING: THE BALLAD OF MANGAL PANDEY

Director: Ketan Mehta, 2005

© Yash Raj Films

JUNOON | THE OBSESSION

Director: Shyam Benegal, 1979

Director: Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001

LOKMANYA: EK YUGPURUSH | A MAN OF THE AGE

Director: Om Raut, 2015

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

Director: John Huston, 1975

© Warner Home Video

THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER

Director: Henry Hathaway, 1935

Director: J. Lee Thompson, 1959

© RCI Home Video

Director: Victor Saville, 1950

© Warner Home Video

THE FAR PAVILIONS

Director: Peter Duffell, 1984

Director: Michael Anderson, 1975

VICTORIA & ABDUL

Director: Stephen Frears, 2017

GHARE BAIRE | THE HOME AND THE WORLD

Director: Satyajit Ray, 1984

THE LONG DUEL

Director: Ken Annakin, 1967

Director: David Lean, 1984

Zoltan Korda, 1938

BEFORE THE RAINS

Director: Santosh Sivan, 2007

Director: Richard Attenborough, 1982

Directors: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1947

THE LEGEND OF BHAGAT SINGH

Director: Raj Kumar Santoshi, 2002

© Tips Films Pvt. Ltd.

THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN

Director: Christopher Morahan, 1984

© A&E Home Entertainment

BOSE, THE FORGOTTEN HERO

Director: Shyam Benegal, 2005

MOUNTBATTEN, THE LAST VICEROY

Director: Tom Clegg, 1986

Director: Jamil Dehlavi, 1998

Director: Deepa Mehta, 1998

© New Yorker Films

Director: Pamela Rooks, 1998

Director: Director: Gurinder Chadha, 2017

Director: Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, 2003

© Lucky Star Entertainment

Director: George Cukor, 1956