Wandering Tigers in North India (1935)

Indian Wildlife Park

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

Native Life in Bundi

Amateur film showing daily life in Bundi, India.

Simla and Lahore

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

Darjeeling

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

Procession of Elephants with Howdahs - India

An elephantine spectacle, likely part of the celebrations for the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to India.

Procession at Gangtok

Traditional games, dancing and music among the people of Sikkim - in vivid colour.

Edward Prince of Wales' Tour of India: Calcutta and Delhi

The future Edward VIII opens a durbar and enjoys a day at the races before inspecting the fire brigade in Calcutta.

Delhi Durbar

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

Calcutta Pageant

Scenes from a lavish pageant held during the royal visit to India, celebrating King George V’s coronation.

By the River

Varanasi is the Indian city where Hindus go to die. Stretching along the Ganges, Varanasi holds great spiritual significance because Hindu scriptutres say that anyone who dies there will attain moksha—liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Berlin-based director Dan Braga Ulvestad captures life and death in India’s heartland in this moving documentary filled with exquisite cinematic moments. By the River starts its narrative journey with the city’s “death hotels,” dedicated apartments where people wait to die, sometimes for decades, so they can be cremated on the banks of the Ganges.

Emmalou's First Year

A lovingly crafted home movie charting the maiden voyage of the Brown family's new yacht.

Veteran Car Rally, Brighton

Vintage vehicles on parade in this amateur film record of the longest-running motor event in the world.

Canoe

Boys’ canoe trip on the Thames in London.

Arrowhead

Learn how to climb Great Gable in the Lake District, via the Arrowhead ridge climb.

Edward Prince of Wales' Tour of India: Peshawar, The Khyber Pass and Rawl Pindi

The future Edward VIII enjoys stunning mountain scenery on a visit to the Khyber Pass during his royal tour

Khyber Pass; Kashmir; Agra

Romantic, atmospheric travelogue capturing some of northern India’s most iconic places – not least the Taj Mahal.

Dancers at Trivandrum Gopinath

Kathakali performance featuring the great Indian dancer Guru Gopinath.

Our Greatest Ambassador

Richly detailed record of the Prince of Wales' Indian tour.

Edward Prince of Wales' Tour of India: Madras, Bangalore, Mysore and Hyderabad

This official travelogue of a royal tour follows the Prince on a series of regimental displays and a tiger hunt.

Imphal Bazaar

A scenes from a tour of Manipur State and a women's bazaar in Imphal.

Duke of Connaught's Indian Tour

The Duke rides an elephant as he ventures on safari in Bengal.

Procession of Elephants at Jaipur; Galta; Raj Mahal

Armoured elephants, sacred monkeys and a camel carriage from Rajasthan.

Land of the Elephants

The timber trade calls on animal help.

Delhi and The North

Grand buildings and missionary work come together in the 1947 Indian tour of construction magnate John W. Laing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sports in the Indian Army

A demonstration of sport and fitness by members of the Indian Army.

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.

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.

Rajputana, Jhalawar, Bundi & Katakali Dancers

A trip to the spectacular city of Bundi and a Kathakali dance performance, filmed in vivid colour.

L'âme indienne Martiniquaise

Plot unavailable

Marching in the Dark

In a drought-struck region in India, suffering from climate change and a high suicide rate amongst farmers, a group of resilient women farmers, who recently lost their husbands, is coming together with a local psychologist to learn counselling and help others in grief.

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.

Picturesque India or, In and About Calcutta

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

The Golden Thread

In the heyday of the jute industry, millions of people in Bengal made their living doing this laborious work, which has hardly changed since the industrial revolution. The 100-year-old machinery has been endlessly repaired. State aid kept this sustainable alternative to plastic going, but its future looks bleak.

Edward Prince of Wales' Tour of India: Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior and Delhi

The future Edward VIII enjoys a stately procession and visits the Taj Mahal before meeting senior Indian royalty.

5th Calcutta Battalion: Presentation of Colours by H.E. The Viceroy

The inauguration of a unit of the Indian Defence Force in Calcutta.

The Quetta Earthquake

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