A forgotten kiss: Indians doing it for themselves

Early British filmmaking was enriched by Asians working in the industry as new radio programme discovers…

MOST people imagine British Asian films started in the 1990s, but there was a group of pioneering filmmakers whose odyssey began more than 60 years earlier.

The names of Niranjan Pal, Himansu Rai and Devika Rani have virtually disappeared from the annals of British film history and so too has the longest kiss in Indian cinema.

But new scholarship and a radio documentary, Lights, Camera, Akshun! this Sunday (November 24) on BBC Radio 4  93.5FM opens the lid on a remarkable group of filmmakers who made waves and broke down racial barriers in Britain in the 1920s..

In the programme, actor and comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar explores their legacy and uncovers an incredible story about two very determined men and one ravishingly beautiful woman.

Bhaskar told www.asianculturevulture.com how he came to be involved in the radio programme, made by production company Culture Wise, and producers Mukti Jain Campion and Suman Bhuchar.

“I liked the idea, it’s a fascinating story, and film is a passion of mine. Here were such interesting stories, about such interesting characters, and I wanted to know more,” Bhaskar said.

He got to delve deeper into the motivations and experiences of these enterprising figures.

“These are kind of untold stories, and not just for their creativity – but at a time when people may have regarded these individuals as ‘subjugated characters’ – their ingenuity and persistence is admirable.

“In fact, their lives read like a plot of a film, full of highs and lows and drama and struggles, joy and laughter. Add a couple of songs and it could be a Bollywood film!”

Suman Bhuchar*, associate producer of Lights, Camera and Akshun! told us more in a written Q&A…

1 ACV: Was it difficult researching the figures of Niranjan Pal, Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani? Was there much to go on?

Suman Bhuchar (SB): I was aware of these names as they are in the history books, Indian film encyclopaedias (I have some old books) but perhaps, new histories of cinema do not take cognisance of the past in the same way – focussing as they do on the future.
Having said that, over the last 20-30 years research into this area has grown and since it is part of the cinema studies in many universities in the UK – students, academics, film-historians are interested in this subject.
Some sterling work has been done by the Lalit Mohan Joshi & Kusum Pant Joshi  at the South Asian Cinema Foundation.
They produced a book – ‘Niranjan Pal: A Forgotten Legend’, which incorporated essays and Pal’s own autobiography, ‘Such is Life’ into one book.
I have also come across the name of Niranjan Pal in relation to my other passion which is Asian theatre, and which is where Pal began his artistic life in London.
We (Mukti Jain Campion and myself) also undertook some of our own research talking to academics, Professor Ian Christie, at Birkbeck College; Dr Stephen P Hughes, at SOAS – also interviewed in programme  – for background of early cinema as a global industry, as well as Luke McKernan of The British Library, (though he is not in the programme). There was also the Newspaper Library in Colindale to look up cuttings, and the Windsor Castle archives.
We have also talked to in the programme – people such as Cary Sawhney and Kishwar Desai, who know about Himansu Rai and Devika Rani (the celebrity couple of their day), so these are the sources.
As I said, there is information out there but you have to know how to find it and sift it as well be able to put it together and hopefully tell a good story!

2. In the programme, you explore why London was such a convivial place for filmmakers at the time, why?

SB: London was the capital of the British Empire, so it was natural that many young Indians would come here came to study.  Some like Niranjan Pal were fired up with the idea of ‘revolution’ as they came here, but they soon discovered that the ordinary English man was not like the officers who ruled them back home. Niranjan Pal, was the son of the moderate nationalist independence leader, Bipin Chandra Pal.
They were surprised and gratified to discover that ‘ordinary Englishmen’  took them to their bosom – so they had to alter their views.
In fact, it was Charles Urban, an Anglo-American film mogul of the silent era, who gave Niranjan Pal his first break by buying his script for Light of Asia – around 1912 –  paying him the princely sum of £500 at the time – probably around £48,000 now, so for a first time fledgling scriptwriter who was basically sending out a cold call letter and an unsolicited script, so this sum was not be sniffed at!
Urban also invited Pal to come to his studios in Surbiton to learn the craft of film-making, because as he wrote to Pal and as Pal puts it: “He wrote that the story showed I had good ideas but was totally ignorant of the limitations of the movie camera.”

3. There is evidence that their work crossed boundaries or race and gender and appealed to a wider community, how did they manage to do this?

SB: These people were making ‘crossover’ films well before the term was even invented and the Indian film industry got obsessed with it. They did this through their sheer charm and personality – by all accounts – they were figures to be reckoned with and although they may have been ‘subjects’ their tenacity and motivation was strong. They did face some barriers, but their ingenuity was what got them through – for example, after they made The Light on Asia – they decided the best way to get the film promoted was to get a Royal Command Performance and Pal wrote to the King’s household, badgered the then Indian High Commissioner, Sir Atul Chatterjee to put in a good word. The film was shown at Windsor Castle on April 27, 1926.

4. The film ‘Karma’ featuring Devika Rani and Himanshu Rai features the longest kiss in Indian cinema, but hardly anyone knows about this now…

SB: ‘Karma’ made in 1933 was made in English as well as version in Hindi (Nagan Ki Rani) the kiss is four minutes long and she is kissing her real life husband (Rai), so perhaps that was okay.
Indian cinema industry probably became more puritan post Independence so under played things like ‘lip locks’, and focussed more on developing things like running around trees.

5. Finally, what do you think we can learn from these remarkable figures who seem to have been erased from British film history?

SB: Keep calm and carry on – however, I am all for setting up the Niranjan Pal Award (in the model of the Dada Saheb Phalke award) but it should go to someone with tenacity and perseverance.

*‘Lights, Camera, Akshun!’ BBC Radio 4, Sunday, November 24, 1.30pm and available on i-player in the UK for a week after. See link below.

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03j8srj/Lights_Camera_Akshun!/

*Suman Bhuchar is a freelance arts producer and also writes for www.asianculturevulture.com

Picture: Seeta Devi and Himansu Rai in ‘Light of Asia’ (1926)

Useful links

• http://www.southasiancinema.com
• ‘Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: A History’
  http://www.hive.co.uk/search/Black+and+Asian+Theatre+in+Britain%3A+A+History/mediatype/all/
• http://www.charlesurban.com