This film is part of Rentals
Around India with a Movie Camera
Archive footage tells the emotionally-resonant story of life across India pre-1947.
Director: Sandhya Suri
Overview
Drawn exclusively from the BFI National Archive, Around India features some of the earliest surviving film from India as well as gorgeous travelogues, intimate home movies and newsreels from British, French and Indian filmmakers. Taking in Maharajas and Viceroys, fakirs and farmhands and personalities such as Sabu and Gandhi, Sandhya Suri's film explores not only the people and places of over 70 years ago, but asks us to engage with broader themes of a shared history, shifting perspectives in the lead up to Indian independence and the ghosts of the past.
Around India boasts a superb new score that fuses western and Indian music from composer and sarod player Soumik Datta. The full films selected by Sandhya Suri can be found in our collection India on Film: 1899-1947.
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