Indian News Parade 139 is framed by the arrival and departure of boats into India. The opening item shows the arrival of the Australian cricketers – marking the resumption of civility after the war – while the film concludes with the departure of African soldiers, seemingly highlighting the end of this military presence within India. The items themselves have much in common, with a particular emphasis on Commonwealth unity. This is especially important in this post-war moment as India prepares for independence, and Britain seeks to maintain and re-order this imperial relationship. These messages of unity and camaraderie are interspersed with a series of items displaying the diversity of Indian domestic life that inadvertently reveal the broader problems facing post-war India.

These broader problems are most clearly evident in the fourth item entitled ‘Calcutta tramway strikes called off’. Despite the overall gravity of this issue, this is presented as an upbeat news item, celebrating the resolution of the strike and using, without a hint of irony, The Marriage of Figaro for its musical accompaniment. The newsreel makes no attempt to address the causes of the strikes, instead using them as an opportunity to present Calcutta as a dynamic, vibrant city, in which the citizens still ‘managed to get around even if they had to fight for a seat or a toe-hold in a lorry or bus’. The commentator celebrates the efforts of the Provincial Government and concludes that ‘the situation was handled with considerable tact’. The final lines suggest, as the title does, that the problems are now completely resolved – ‘soon Calcutta’s trams were rumbling through the streets packed to capacity’ – yet further violent strikes would follow very shortly after the release of this newsreel. These subsequent strikes would not be reported within the newsreel.

The coverage of the strike highlights Indian News Parade’s continued promotion of a colonial rhetoric in the face of growing worker unrest. The newsreel’s dislocation from much of its Indian audience certainly motivated the later item celebrating the new premises for Information Films of India. Once more, this item offers no information on the reason for Sir Sultan Ahmed’s resignation – the subject within the title – but the inclusion of this item, and many like it over the next few months, attests to the virulent opposition and antagonism directed at the IFI, as it again seeks to defend and justify its continued existence. It is also interesting to note the manner in which the government sought to define and promote film after the War, with the commentator talking of ‘visual education’, ‘a network of mobile cinemas’ and noting that film would play a ‘revolutionary part in moulding the future of India’.

The newsreel concludes with a message of imperial unity – ‘the people of many far-off lands united in the war against fascism’ – as it celebrates the efforts of West African troops, who ‘took part in the most difficult of campaigns’. The Africans are represented in familiar terms – ‘from the jungles of Burma’, ‘they were masters of jungle warfare’ – while the newsreel notes the ‘debt of gratitude that India owes to the African men’, adding that ‘many a gallant soldier of Africa fell defending the frontiers of India’. This reiterates a hierarchy in which the Africans served to protect India, while the film also highlights, to Indian audiences, the departure of African troops. Yet, this certainly did not mark the complete return of West African troops, as it was not until April 1946 that units of 82 (W.A.) division began to board for home. Haywood and Clarke in their history of the Royal West African Frontier Force acknowledged that ‘the long time awaiting shipping was very trying to the division’, as the division did not complete embarkation until September 1946 (Haywood and Clarke, 1964, 473).

Tom Rice (February 2009)