This film is part of Free
India
Amateur film of the passage to India - complete with guest appearance by Gandhi
Overview
After a slightly disorientating shot of a European cathedral, we’re off along the Suez Canal and heading to India, via a rather half-hearted game of musical chairs. Frustratingly, we have no documentation about this film. However, its series of snapshots of rural and city life in India are fascinating. The highlight is a brief sequence featuring a political rally attended by Gandhi. By the time our amateur filmmaker arrived, however, a slightly taciturn-looking Gandhi was already sitting in the back of the car reading his newspaper and ready to leave. The film ends with a sequence of what appears to the Kolkata or Varanasi ghats. It is interesting to compare this footage with Panorama of Calcutta (1899), also available on BFI Player.
If you have any further information about this film or can identify any of the people, locations or events, please let us know.
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