Around India With a Movie Camera

Award-winning filmmaker Sandhya Suri (I for India) skillfully weaves together archival footage—including hand colored sequences—with a new score by composer Soumik Datta to create an emotionally resonant story about life across pre-independence India from 1899 to 1947.

Drawn exclusively from the BFI National Archive, Around India features some of the earliest surviving film from India as well as gorgeous travelogs, intimate home movies, and newsreels from British, French, and Indian filmmakers. Its wide gaze takes in Maharajas and Viceroys, fakirs and farmhands, and personalities such as Sabu and Gandhi. The film explores not only the people and places of over 70 years ago, it also 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.