A further instalment for 'So This Is India' sees Aircraftman Flower arrive at RAF Redhills Lake, Madras (Chennai) India.

Aircraftman Flower looking out from an aircraft (an RAF Consolidated Catalina) in flight. Air-to-ground view of coastline with moored Catalina flying boats. Air-to-ground view of Madras (Chennai). At an RAF station an man raises a barrier for a Chevrolet CMP lorry. Shot from inside a small office looking out through a window. Flower hands his papers over. Interior shot of airmen's quarters. Flower arrives with a local Indian bearer carrying his kit. The bearer puts Flower's kit down on an empty charpoy (a bedstead with interlaced strings rather than slats). Flower struggles to put up a mosquito net. Close-ups on other amused airmen watching Flower struggle. Several comic takes of Flower getting into bed only to have his mosquito net collapse on top of him. External view of Flower's billet. Flower sits outside eating a banana; he goes to take a bite but discovers he's already finished it. He tosses the empty skin aside and reaches up to pull another banana from a nearby tree. A char wallah ('tea man') approaches, and Flower hands him his mug to be filled with tea. Flower doing his ablutions outside his billet. He bends down to fill a mug with water from a small 'chatti' or spherical earthenware urn before going back to brushing his teeth. A local Indian man energetically shines a shoe. Locals mending clothes. Flower gets measured up by a tailor. Exterior shot of shower block. Flower taking a shower. The water cuts out and Flower leans out of the cubicle to berate an Indian boy working a stirrup pump. Flower meets a very tall, turbaned Sikh airman, who offers to show him around. On a promenade by the sea a sign reads 'Danger Sharks'. A close-up of the sign shows smaller text legible with the rather alarming message that 'Persons bathing in the sea risk being eaten by sharks'. The message is repeated twice below in different languages (Tamil (?) and Urdu). Flower and his Sikh companion walk along a riverfront and stop outside a small, five-tiered temple covered in intricate carvings. The Sikh airman points out a taller tiered building in the distance. Indian women washing in the river. Flower passes a cinema with hoardings advertising 'Kadambari' (director Nandlal Jaswantlal, 1944). A small roadside hut. Flower arrives and a barber begins cutting his hair with clippers. The barber administers a vigorous scalp massage, eliciting a less-than-relaxed expression from Flower. Flower walks along a road; a passing lorry kicks up a cloud of dust and Flower coughs. Repeat view of guard raising barrier for lorry at RAF station. Flower approaches a window at the station's RAF Police guard room (reverse angle to earlier interior shot of Flower approaching window). Airmen board a lorry. Flower watching a game of tennis in progress.

Notes

This film forms part of a series of instalments for a multi-part film entitled 'So This Is India'. See related items below.

Dopesheets for this film quite detailed but it would seem that not all rolls shot appear in the viewing copy.

Dopesheet names Squadron Leader Chapman and Corporal Dalrymple as appearing in this film, though they are not apparent in the viewing copy.