Indian News Parade 135 is framed by items illustrating the end of the war with Japan and continues the extensive coverage of the liberation of Singapore, which had featured in the previous two issues. These items emphasise the ‘Japanese atrocities’ and the hardships experienced by POWs. They have a vitriolic tone, most notably in the final item in which the commentator watches the ‘Emperor worshippers…marched into the filthy prison camps, so recently occupied by British, Canadian and Indian soldiers’. ‘Sullen and dejected’, he adds, ‘humiliated by the jeers of the people of Hong Kong, these self-appointed world conquerors can now have a taste of their own medicine’. The item again highlights the differences between the Allied and Japanese forces and emphasises in particular the apparent Chinese support for the returning British.

The contrast between the British and enemy forces is further highlighted within the ‘News in Brief’ items. The film shows Indian POWs, who had been ‘starved and tortured by Germans’ now enjoying tea (the ultimate signifier of British ‘civilisation’) and ‘re-established here in peace time India’. The item highlights British support and recognition for those Indians who fought in the war, and, as with the earlier footage of Lady Hallett opening a new women’s hospital, stresses Britain’s ongoing social welfare plans in post-war India. Also included in the ‘News in Brief’ item is the opening ceremony of a new training camp for Fauji Sevadarnis. The Fauji Sevadarnis, described in INP 108 as ‘honorary women workers pledged to the service of India’s soldier families’ are, Jude Cowan noted, ‘particularly celebrated in Indian News Parade’. Serving to boost the morale of Indian soldiers, their presence on film underlines the care administered for the returning soldiers and their families and the broader popular support for the war effort. However, Cowan notes that in this issue, their visual appearance – wearing a sari uniform and forming a distinctive guard of honour in a ‘semi-civilian variation on the military parade’ – is more important than the commentary, as she argues that the ‘women’s costumes and gestures endorse the authority of the dignitaries who walk underneath their formal arch’ (Cowan, 2001, 33).

For all this continued emphasis on the war, the most interesting item within this issue is the one which makes no mention of the hostilities, but instead focuses on the impending political changes within post-war India. The Bombay Provincial Council Committee used the presence of cameramen from Indian News Parade – which it described as a ‘Government organisation’ – to illustrate that Congress was open to all film companies, yet the decision of Indian News Parade to film this event is equally interesting. In featuring, and indeed noting the popular support for the event– as it talks of the ‘record-breaking crowds’ – Indian News Parade seemingly acknowledges the widespread public interest in Congress. However, aside from a brief reference to Congress’ plans ‘to preserve Indian unity and to win Independence’, the item avoids reference to the specific aims and resolutions passed. The anti-colonial rhetoric of Congress is entirely absent, while the footage is still framed by items celebrating the war effort. Within the context of items commemorating Allied victory over the Japanese and showing British and Indian co-operation in welfare work, the antagonistic anti-British sentiments of the event are almost entirely overlooked.

Tom Rice (March 2009)