Bassein: An Indian Fishing Village, a documentary shot towards the end of British rule in India, harks back to the beginnings of European colonisation of the sub-continent. Bassein is located on the western coast of India in the stretch that was first colonised by the Portuguese in the 15th century. The film features one of the forts that the Portuguese built to protect their trading interests in the area. It also takes note of the Catholic religion still practised by the villagers, a remnant of this first period of European influence.

The film was released in 1946, the year before Indian independence. It was one of the last films produced by the Government of India body, Information Films of India (IFI). IFI had assumed responsibility for propaganda films in 1943 in response to two main threats: the growing seriousness of the war in South-East Asia, and the unrest in the sub-continent caused by the nationalist Quit India movement (Garga, 2007, 97). Its aims were furthered by the Defence of India Rule 44A, effective from September 1943, which required that every cinema in India show at least 2000 feet of Government ‘approved’ film at each performance.

Despite its political motivations, the IFI made some positive contributions to Indian filmmaking.  AAlex Shaw, the British film director and producer, had been executive producer at its independent forerunner, the Film Advisory Board. In contrast, the IFI  was headed by Ezra Mir, an Indian filmmaker. Alongside the war propaganda films, Mir encouraged the production of documentaries that would depict aspects of Indian culture and industry. It was his belief that as Indians approached independence they needed to be made aware of their heritage and of their arts (Garga, 2007, 108-09). While IFI’s military films had been shunned by both audiences and critics, Mir’s documentaries of national life gained greater popularity and acclaim (Garga, 2007, 110-11; Holmes, 1946, 44).

The constitution of IFI began to reflect these national interests. Winifred Holmes, who worked for the organisation during 1945, noted that IFI ‘became more and more all-Indian during its years of growth, until when I worked in it last year, all but three of the production and administrative staff were Indian’ (Holmes, 1946, 43). Bassein: An Indian Fishing Village is nevertheless a combined Anglo-Indian production. The film was directed by the Bombay-native Krishna Gopal, while the sound recording and commentary were handled by British employees, Ken Cameron and Peter Madden. The music for the documentary was shared between Indian and British composers. The film was also shown in both countries. The British journal Monthly Film Bulletin reviewed Bassein: An Indian Fishing Village, stating that it is ‘a pleasant and interesting film’ that ‘would be of interest to Geographical societies’ (MFB, 1947, 147).

The British government had been keen to see the work of IFI continue after the war. However, despite the changed emphasis in its filmmaking, IFI remained unpopular with the independence movement; its image tainted by its association with Britain’s military aims. The interim post-war Indian government, dominated by nationalist leaders, brought an end to IFI. They cut its funding and withdrew the Defence of India Rule 44A (Garga, 2007, 114-15).