Victor Bulwer-Lytton, the second Earl of Lytton, was Governor of Bengal from 1922-27. His time in office was recalled in his autobiography, Pundits and Elephants, where he speaks confidently of oriental characteristics and is convinced of the Indian’s difference from the Englishman. He states that ‘there are certain features which broadly differentiate Orientals from those who in India are called “Europeans”’ (Lytton, 1942, 1). Moreover, he argues that Indians and Europeans should retain this difference: ‘On the whole, the best rule for an Englishman when dealing with Indians is never to be other than English and not to expect an Indian to be other than Indian, and vice versa the same rule applies to the Indian when dealing with the English’ (Lytton, 1942, 4-5).

Politics in India during the mid-1920s have sometimes been regarded as a period of stagnation; the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, even talked of them being ‘in suspense’ (Brown, 1994, 231). This was not the case in Bengal, however. Here Lord Irwin had tried to implement the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919, which allowed for a degree of Indian rule in local government. Nevertheless, having invited the nationalist leader C. R. Das to become a minister, Das and his party refused to vote on the budget, with the result that Lytton suspended the reforms and governed without ministers for three years (Tomes). The most serious threat that Lytton faced during this period came from a resurgence of terrorism in Bengal. This concerted campaign involved attempts to murder the Police Commissioner and to blow up Lytton’s train (Lytton, 1942, 6). Consequently, Lytton campaigned for the instatement of emergency powers in Bengal. These were granted in late 1924, leading to the imprisonment of over 50 nationalist leaders, including Subhas Chandra Bose (The Times, 29 October 1924, 15).

Lytton did not particularly enjoy his period in office. He wrote that ‘Had I known then what I came to know later – that the discontented Indian Nationalists, whom I hoped to win by sympathy, did not want a sympathetic Government, but either a Government of their own making or one which they could abuse as tyrannical – I would never have gone to India’ (Lytton, 1942, 9). He also complained about the climate and its effects on his family’s health; about the lack of intellectual life in India; and about the level of entertaining he had to do (Lytton, 1942, 10-11). Lytton believed that during the 1920s Indians still lacked the ability for self-rule – ‘Politicians claimed that the people were ready to govern the whole of India, though they had never even tried to govern a village’ – his one positive achievement, he felt, was to ‘sow the seeds of a spirit of self-help’ (Lytton, 1942, 12). His critics argued that during his period in office he ‘spent too much time at Darjeeling [one of the hill towns that provided a retreat for British officials], pondering on the glory, mischief, and pity of it all’ (Tomes).

The actuality Annual Inspection of the Bodyguard by His Excellency the Lord Lytton was shot in 1925. Although produced by a British company, this film also constituted part of a ‘Calcutta Topical’, released in 1926 by the Indian company, Madan Theatres, which was at this time the largest distribution chain in India (Rajadhyaksha, 1986, 51). Madan Theatres was responsible for the first Bengali feature film Billwamangal (1919), the first Bengali talking picture Jamai Shashhi (1931), and was also the largest importer of films into the country (Sharma, 2004). During the silent era many of the leading Indian studios produced ‘topicals’, short films featuring recent events, which would be shown as an added attraction to the main feature film (Gautaman, 1996; Garga, 2007, 40). Although these companies documented some of the nationalist political events that were happening in India, their topicals were also preoccupied with ‘Social engagements, royal visits and arrivals and departures of the governors and viceroys’ (Garga, 2007, 40). Madan Theatres’ Calcutta series aimed to show ‘all the leading events of the season’ (Baker, 2009).