Street Scenes in India (1935)

Wild Karnataka

An unprecedented UHD film on Karnataka's rich biodiversity narrated by David Attenborough. Portraying the state with highest number of tigers and elephants using the latest technology - a masterpiece showcasing the state, its flora, fauna.

Auroville: L'esquisse d'un monde

Plot unavailable

A Suitable Girl

A Suitable Girl follows three young women in India struggling to maintain their identities and follow their dreams amid intense pressure to get married. The film examines the women's complex relationship with marriage, family, and society.

Fascinating India

"Fascinating India" spreads an impressive panorama of India’s historical and contemporary world. The film presents the most important cities, royal residences and temple precincts. It follows the trail of different religious denominations, which have influenced India up to the present day. Simon Busch and Alexander Sass travelled for months through the north of the Indian subcontinent to discover what is hidden under India’s exotic and enigmatic surface, and to show what is rarely revealed to foreigners. The film deals with daily life in India. In Varanasi, people burn their dead to ashes. At the Kumbh Mela, the biggest religious gathering of the world, 35 million pilgrims bathe in holy River Ganges. This is the first time India is presented in such an alluring and engaging fashion on screen.

A Road in India

Life on the road in India, showing the traffic, people and animals.

Temples of India

Hindu temples at Benares and Belur and the mythologies associated with them.

Mind of Clay

In a poetic hour and a half, director Mani Kaul looks at the ancient art of making pottery from a wide variety of perspectives.

Machines

This portrayal of the rhythm of life and work in a gigantic textile factory in Gujarat, India, moves through the corridors and bowels of the enormously disorienting structure—taking the viewer on a journey of dehumanizing physical labor and intense hardship.

Arrival of the Earl of Lytton at Calcutta

Lord Lytton takes up the post of Governor of Bengal.

A Native Street in India

Early film of a crowded street scene in an unidentified Indian city.

Purdah

The inspiring story of a young Indian Muslim woman who trades her burka for dreams of playing on the Mumbai Senior Women's Cricket Team and how the harsh realities for women in her country creates an unexpected outcome for her own family, ultimately shattering and fueling aspirations.

Le Beurre : Du bonheur en motte ?

Plot unavailable

India on Film: 1899 – 1947

As part of the 2017 UK-India Year of Culture, the British Council and British Film Institute share a unique collection of films documenting the sights and culture of a bygone India. Filmed between 1899-1947, and preserved in the BFI National Archive since then, these rare films capture many glimpses of life in India, from dances and markets, to hunts and pageantry.

Delhi Durbar and Coronation

Jaw-dropping pomp and pageantry at the 1911 Delhi Durbar

Picturesque India or, In and About Calcutta

Botanical gardens in Bombay plus the highly decorative Jain Temple in Calcutta.

Dams: The Lethal Water Bombs

Documentary short about the disastrous dangers of aging, ailing dams.

India Cabaret

A documentary exploring the "respectable" and "immoral" stereotypes of women in Indian society told from the point of view of 2 strip-tease dancers in a cabaret house in Bombay.

Farewell, My Indian Soldier

A young woman researches the hidden story of Indian soldiers who came to fight in France and Belgium during the World War I. The presence of these 140,000 soldiers in Europe is a virtually unknown fact of history.

Maya, la tigresse du Maharashtra

Plot unavailable

Nehru

Divided into three parts — The Awakening, The Struggle, and Freedom — this is a biographical film on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India. Relying on Nehru's writings and speeches, the film traces the evolution of Nehru from his birth through his life. It also deals with the effect of history on Nehru and in turn his impact on the world.

India - Hardwar

Amateur shots of pilgrims and temples at Haridwar, followed by rural scenes and the Gorrie family at home.

An Eastern Market

Documentary detailing a farmer’s visit to the market in Rawalpindi.

Randolph Bezzant Holmes India Films

Military occasions around India and Pakistan, featuring the Khyber Pass, Srinagar, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

The Quetta Earthquake

Amateur footage of the devastation caused by one of South Asia's worst earthquakes.

Kolkata with Sue Perkins

Sue Perkins immerses herself in the complex life of Kolkata and sees how it is reinventing itself as a megacity with a reputation for eccentricity, culture and tolerance.

Home Life

Made by an English family living in north India during the heyday of the Raj, this amateur film reveals the grandeur in which middle-class English colonials lived.

Indian Wildlife Park

Accompany a couple on their visit to a local wildlife park.

Montreal and India

The Taj Mahal and shots of Jalandhar nestle between footage from Canada and Africa.

India

Amateur film of the passage to India - complete with guest appearance by Gandhi.

Native Life in Bundi

Amateur film showing daily life in Bundi, India.

Kagan Valley

Amateur travelogue of the Kagan Valley and Darband, Pakistan.

Simla and Lahore

Evocative observational scenes of Simla and Lahore, including the gorgeous Shalimar Gardens and Anarkali Bazar.

Delhi - Jubilee

Amateur footage of Delhi and Jaipur, from a military review to an atmospheric torchlit procession - and some armour-plated elephants.

Darjeeling

This amateur film gives us a fair idea of the opulent life enjoyed by members of the British government in India.

Boat Repairs - Sunderbans

Boats and steamers on the mud flats and lakes of the Assam district, India.

Delhi Durbar

Aristocracy, army, elephants and more mark the start of the 1903 Durbar.