Film showing the Viceregal party entering Delhi on lavishly decorated elephants, as part of the Coronation durbar of 1903.
Delhi (1938)
Filmed in 1938, less than a decade before Indian independence, Delhi has a curious tale to tell. ‘Delhi’, the viewer is informed, ‘is the cockpit of the Indian Empire’, it provides the ‘gateway to the riches of the south’. The opening sections of the film focus upon those who have tried and failed to establish a lasting power in the capital. ‘At Delhi’, the commentator states, ‘successive cities have been built by conquering invaders – each has fallen into disuse and decay’. The camerawork focuses on the ‘impressive ruins’ of these earlier invaders. Although the film also depicts the enduring architecture of Muslim rulers, such as Akbar and Shahjahan, it is stressed that their power has been superseded. Legend has it that it will be the ninth city of Delhi that ‘will endure and will rule forever’. Shahjahan had built the eighth.
Duke of Connaught's Indian Tour (1921)
The Duke rides an elephant as he ventures on safari in Bengal.
Procession of Elephants at Jaipur; Galta; Raj Mahal (1933)
Armoured elephants, sacred monkeys and a camel carriage from Rajasthan.
From England to India by Air (1917)
A state welcome for a Handley Page aircraft arriving in Kolkata.
Her Excellency Lady Lytton At The Victoria Memorial (1922)
Lady Pamela Lytton, wife of the Governor of Bengal, visits the grand marble Victoria Memorial in Calcutta.
Between the Lines: India's Third Gender (2005)
Repping best view to date into the world of the Indian eunuch, “Between the Lines: India’s Third Gender” may not answer all the questions it poses, but helmer Thomas Wartmann provides an intimate glimpse at a community whose members are considered pariahs and conduits of supernatural force. Following shutterbug Anita Khemka in her quest to discover why these castrated men fascinate and repel, docu concentrates on three personalities and uses them as guides to their highly stratified world. Under its nautch skirts, film has strong enough legs to step out into international arthouses.
The Ramayana (1965)
The Little Ballet Troupe of Bombay performs a "puppet ballet" of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana.
The Last Days of the Raj (2007)
Lord Louis Mountbatten arrives in India in March 1947 as Britain's Last Viceroy. He is committed to transfer administrative and authoritative power to an independent and sovereign India. Six months later India indeed was set free, but it had also been partitioned and overwhelmed by an orgy of sectarian violence involving Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.
Temples of India (1938)
Hindu temples at Benares and Belur and the mythologies associated with them.
James Bond in India (1983)
The making of the James Bond movie Octopussy (1983) in Udaipur, India during 1982.
Maharajah of the Road (2012)
A Dream Trip Across India Some kilometers from Bombay, the Indian megalopolis, lost on a hill of Bollywood, is the grandiose set of a vast temple with a magical touch, reminiscent at the same time of an Indian shrine and an ancient Inca temple. Inside, Ten Ford Mustangs are waiting. Ten Ford Mustang with an incredible pedigree: Bullitt GT390, Shelby GT500, Shelby GT500 KR 1968... the deep sound of a gong resounds, the doors of the templeopen launching the first edition of the Maharajah of the Road. At the wheel of the ten Ford Mustang, passionate people coming from all over the world: Indian, French, American, Italian, Lebanese... they are business men, automobile designers, manufacturers, artists… From Mumbai to Jodhpur, a 2.000 kilometres tour will lead our Mustangs through India. From the Rats Temple in Deshnoke city to the thousand-and-one palaces, the two princesses will show the Rajasthan to the adventurers of the road in an eventful trip...
A Punjab Village (1925)
Richly detailed amateur ethnographic film on the agrarian economy and society in rural Punjab.
Traceable (2014)
Traceable follows Laura Siegel, a fashion designer who takes a critical look at the fashion supply chain and fast fashion industry, travels through India in order to meet and work together with the artisans who create the majority of the clothing that we wear. The film explores our growing disconnect of how and who makes our clothing, thus instilling a need for traceability in the fashion industry.
The Warp and the Weft (2015)
Set in Varanasi, an ancient city of India, Tana Bana offers a rare look at the hidden world of Moslem weavers and Hindu traders and how their lives are interwoven through the production of the silk and the beauty it creates. However, as the technology advances, the trade is threatened by computerization and globalization.