The evolution - part one

The Indian documentary could, more appropriately, be described as a war baby, conceived by the British and nurtured by the Indians. Till then the term "documentary" (used byJohn Grierson in 1926 in a review of Robert Flaherty's Moana, a film about the daily life of the South Sea Islanders) or its concept as creative interpretation of factuality "which strikes the imagination and makes observation a little richer than it was", was unknown to us. Earlier, there had been sporadic efforts at filming mostly private functions or an occasionat national event.

We know, for instance, that as early as 1897, Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatvadekar photographed a wrestling match at Bombay's Hanging Gardens and a little later, the training of circus monkeys. He is also known to have made the "first newsreel" in December 1901 - a public reception accorded to R.P. Paranjpye, an Indian student, who had won a special distinction in mathematics at Cambridge. Bhatvadekar's last (he gave up production in favour of exhibition of films) coverage was the coronation of King Edward Vll in 1903. Around the same time, Hiralal Sen photographed scenes from some of the popular plays at Calcutta's Classic Theatre. In 1905, Jyotish Sarcar filmed the demonstrations against Curzon's move to partition Bengal.

Perhaps the best known and hugely profitable (grossing three quarter of a million dollars) coverage of the famous Delhi Durbar, in 1911, was done by Charles Urban, an enterprising American who had settled in London. He came with special Crown sanction and shot his film in Kinemacolor, a process he had invented. Some of Urban's film is still extant and has found its way in recent Raj films.

Apart from this, the better known Indian film companies like Maharashtra, Hindustan, Madan, New Theatres, Prabhat, Wadia, made occasional short films. Though commendable, these efforts were mere photographic records without any special technique or social motivation. Consequently, they failed to generate much interest and impetus for regular production with an assured network of distribution. That was to come years later.

When, on September 3, 1939, Britain declared war on Germany, the same day Lord Linlithgow, the Viceroy, took India to war by a declaration without consulting Indian national leaders. In Linlithgow's view, the British were fighting for democracy and freedom. "Whose freedom?" Nehru demanded. The national mood was bitter and belligerent. On the other hand, Hitler's armies having controlled much of Eastern Europe, were sweeping through Western Europe. Then came the evacuation of Dunkirk and the fall of France. Threatened by Goering's Luftwaffe, England seemed on the brink of a disaster. In this critical situation, the British in India needed a device to persuade an antagonistic population into supplying men and material and generally supporting the war effort. War propaganda was of paramount importance, especially if recruiting were to be extended beyond the so-called "martial classes", the rest would have to be shown what life in the services was like. Film seemed a distinct possibility to a man called Desmond Young, who had come to India in the early thirties as editor of the Allahabad-based daily, the Pioneer. When war broke out, Young was appointed Chief Press Advisor to the Government of India.

Desmond Young soon found out that Indians were inveterate film goers and nothing would achieve his war propaganda purpose better than film. Since there was hardly any documentary film production activity in the country, Young enlisted the help of leading advertislng agencies on the assumption that though they may know nothing about filmmaking it t was their business 'to know about selling through pictures'. "It was a measure of my ignorance", said Young, "that I thought six weeks would be ample time to make a ten-minute short. It was a measure of theirs that in six weeks they produced them". These films covered various subjects such as life at the Military Training Centre at Dehra Dun in a film called School for Soldiers. Another film, Voice of Satan, showed how Nazis compelled Indian students living in Berlin to broadcast lies to India. Making Money showed how the rupee was meant for the purchase of essentials and not for hoarding. Though technically poor, these films served their purpose. According to Young, Making Money "successfully stopped a run on silver".

There followed, as expected, howls of protest from the big film producing companies, for not assigning these productions to them. The government thought it best to form a Film Advisory Board comprising representatives of the Indian film industry and American distributors. On July 1,1940, Desmond Young wrote to J.B.H. Wadia (a follower and friend of M.N. Roy [1886-1954, tra i creatori del partito comunista indiano, fondato a Kanpur nel 1925 ] and an anti-Fascist): 'The Government of India desires to form a Film Advisory Board to assist in all matters concerning film publicity, production and distribution, and it has been suggested that you, as a representative figure in the film industry in India, could greatly assist the government in this regard. I have come down from Simla for the express purpose of forming this Board and I should be very grateful if you could make it convenient to attend a preliminary meeting in the Committee Room, on the first floor of the Bombay Government Secretariat, at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, July 3".

Those who attended the meeting included Chandulal Shah, J.B.H. Wadia, Rai Bahadur Chunilal, Baburao K. Pai, M.B. Billimoria, Sohrab Modi, M.A. Fazalbhoy, Chimanlal B. Desai, C.B. Newbery (representing 20th Century Fox) A. RowlandJones (MGM), A.A. Waiter (Warner Bros.), Sir Richard Temple (B.T.) and H.W. Smith (of the Times of India, representing the Government of India on the Board). Thus the Board came into being on July 4 with the object of "putting before the Indian public, films of interesting war subjects and others of informatory value". The Board also resolved "to make every effort to see that all cinemas exhibit the films... When payment is made by the cinemas for exhibiting these films, the amount received will be sent to the secretary of the Board for credit to the government".

The FAB having been formed Young felt that what he needed most was a capable documentary filmmaker trained in that discipline. British documentary under the brilliant leadership of John Grierson had already made its mark. Surveying the early output of the British documentary filmmakers - Basil Wright, Harry Watt, Paul Rotha and HumphreyJennings, as well as Alberto Cavalcanti, W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten and John Betjeman - it is possible to discern individual styles and statements. Basil Wright's Song of Ceylon (1934-35) made with sympathy and compassion, was a poetic, lyrical film of a primitive people trying to grapple with the modern complexity of commerce and labour. In Housing Problems (1935-36), a film on slum clearance, based wholly on direct interviews, facts and people were made to speak for themselves. Enough to Eat ( 1936), a film on malnutrition, extended this method it included controversial discussions and statements by laymen and experts, on the subject. The result was a series of factual statements on many vital issues of public concern. I must also briefly mention Night Mail (1936) directed by Harry Watt and Basil Wright, a cinema classic of enduring interest. Its rhythmical narration written by W.H. Auden and scored by Benjamin Britten became a model for numerous imitations but equalled by none. Thus, the documentary film as guided by Grierson became Britain's most original contribution to world cinema.

When the war started in 1939, the British documentary movement had firmly established itself. The war afforded an opportunity for continuing this work on an extended scale. A recently reorganised Films Division, under the Ministry of Information, was made responsible for production and theatrical and non-theatrical distribution at home and overseas. In its work abroad, the Division relied mainly on the Ministry's contacts with the press advisors. It was natural for Desmond Young then to ask Jack Beddington, the head of the Films Division, in London, to send over to India a professional documentary film producer to set up a film unit. Alexander Shaw, who had started his career under John Grierson in the Empire Marketing Board film unit, and later worked as a producer with the Crown film unit, arrived in India at a time when Mahatma Gandhi had served notice on the Viceroy to launch a campaign of individual civil disobedience. The first war resistor was a little known man named Vinoba Bhave [1894-1982, uno dei seguaci più fedeli di Gandhi e leader del movimento del "bhūdān" o "dono di terra", che chiedeva ai proprietari terrieri un un appezzamento da donare ai braccianti senza terra].

Let Shaw describe the situation: "It was the end of 1940 and the world was occupied with other matters. The idea of setting up a film unit for the Government of India seemed almost frivolous. The fact that it was to be set up by the British to help create a favourable climate of opinion at a time when the Indian mind was entirely set on independence made it not only frivolous but irrelevant... as so often happens in Indian legend, we were saved by the unexpected. With their possibilities for the future that the idea of'a government film unit contained. Left-wing politicians, journalists, intellectuals, fighters for women's rights, decided to support our efforts to keep the unit going. The support could not always be open. It was a time when one's friends were in and out of prison, lying in the streets, in front of trams and generally committed entirely to the cause of independence".

Clearly, Shaw was no dyed-in-the-wool Sahib; he was the right man for the job, having arrived at the wrong time. Expectedly, his appointment sparked off a controversy between the Indian and Anglo-Indian press. Leading the attack was Filmindia. "It seems that this is one of those mysterious appointments which the rulers inflict on the ruled all over the world. And the ruled are not supposed to complain." The Times of lndia rejoined, "It is no disparagement of the Indian film industry - what must be admitted as a fact - that no one belonging to it has a thorough knowledge of the documentary film, mainly because this type has never been exploited for the commercial market here". The Illustrated Weekly was somewhat more blatant, "India, so far from resenting Mr. Shaw's presence here, ought to be grateful to him, because he will be teaching India something, about a vastly untouched field". Even on the f1oor of the Central Assembly, Sir Reginald Maxwell, the Home Member, came out with the statement "There are no Indian experts in this particular branch of film production".