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ABSTRACT
This article explores the debates on film exhibition and censorship during the war years in India. The First World War (1914–18) was a watershed moment for the rapidly burgeoning cinema exhibition business in India. During the war, the government of India was caught by surprise at the pace with which the business had spread in the country. When the need for cinema propaganda arose in India, the government began to assess the nature of commercial networks the cinema exhibition companies had been able to build. Throughout the war years, the Government of India debated ways of intervening in the cinema business either by competing with the monopolistic cinema companies or by introducing censorship laws to control exhibition spaces and content. At the behest of the war propaganda department in London, the government of India found itself playing a reluctant arbitrator in a bitter competition between two influential cinema companies – Madan and Bandman – for the exhibition of Britain Prepared. This article further draws attention to the continuities between pre-war censorship debates and the war-year debates that led to the enactment of the first Cinematograph Act (1918) in India. By exploring the pre-war censorship debate about the exhibition of Johnson-Jeffries film, this article reviews a commonly held assumption in Indian film history that film censorship began in the country during the war years.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Enquiry from the Secretary of State as to what Steps have been taken to Censor Exhibitions of Cinema Films in India, Jan 1917, National Archives of India (NAI)/Home Political/PR000003002151/ File No 233–234.
2 Measures to be taken for the Pre-Censorship of Cinematograph Films and Prohibition of those which are Objectionable, Feb 1917, NAI/ Home Political/ PR 000003004117/ File No 82–110.
3 Burns, Cinema and Society, 54–58.
4 Ibid, 79–85.
5 Rajadhyaksha, Indian Cinema: A Very Short Introduction, 16–17.
6 Ibid, 18–20.
7 Sarkar, Swadeshi Movement in Bengal.
8 Moledina, History of Poona Cantonment, 111–112.
9 Barnouw and Krishnaswamy, Indian Film, 6–10.
10 Balme, ‘Managing Theatre and Cinema’, 11–12.
11 See Sarkar, Sumit. Modern India 1885 – 1947. Delhi: Macmillan India Limited, 1959.
12 Chatterjee, ‘Cinema in the Colonial City’.
13 Burns, Cinema and Society, 78–92.
14 Woods, ‘Film Propaganda’, 548.
15 Sharma, Censoring India, 51–52.
16 Bhowmik, ‘From Coercion to Power Relations’, 3148–3149.
17 Ibid, 3149, Bhowmik, Censor and Cinema, 24–26; Sharma, Censoring India, 53.
18 India’s first full-length feature film Raja Harischandra was made by Dadasaheb Phalke and screened in Olympia Theatre in Bombay in April 1913.
19 Letter from Col A. Pinhey to Mr A. Earle, 19 July 1910, p. 1, NAI/PR000005014401/File No 43–45, NAI.
20 Letter from E. V. Levinge to the Secretary to the Government of India, 27 July 1910, p. 6, NAI/PR000005014401/File No 43–45.
21 Niemi, History in the Media: Film and Television, 192–193.
22 Letter from E. V. Levinge to the Secretary to the Government of India, 27 July 1910, p. 6, NAI/PR000005014401/File No 43–45.
23 Letter from J. L. Jenkins, 30 July 1910, p. 3, NAI/ Home Political/ PR000005014401/File No 43–45.
24 Balme, ‘Managing Theatre and Cinema’, 8–10.
25 Insurance-Premium Receipts and Insurance policy papers of V. J. Kirtikar and M. R. Jayakar, 11 Dec 1923, p. 165, NAI/Private Papers/000000010375/Roll 00048/File No 344.
26 Alleged Growing Nuisance of Cinematograph Shows, Jame e Jamshed, p 21, 23 Oct 1912, NAI/Home Political/PR00000301582.
27 Maidans were open spaces generally adjacent to esplanades in colonial metropolises in India.
28 Alleged Injustice Done to the Cricket Clubs, Sanj Vartaman, p. 22, 15 Oct 1912, NAI/Home Political/PR00000300160.
29 Letter from John Nixon, Commanding Southern Army to the Adjutant General, p. 77, 29 Jan 1915, NAI/Home Political/PR000002999752.
30 Measures Proposed by the European Association Calcutta Messrs. Vernon & Co, p. 2, Jan 1915, NAI/Home Political/PR000003003646.
31 Balme, ‘Managing Theatre and Cinema’, 10.
32 Woods, ‘Film Propaganda’, 544–545.
33 Bush, ‘Williams Back from India’.
34 Madan, ‘Denies India is Backwards’.
35 Hurd, Britain Prepared, 48.
36 McKernan, ‘Propaganda, Patriotism and Profit’, 373.
37 Balme, ‘Managing Theatre and Cinema’, 12–14.
38 Proposed Purchase by Madan & Co. of the War Film Entitled Britain Prepared, Jun 1916, NAI/Home Political/PR000003002007/File No 416–420.
39 Correspondence Regarding the Purchase of War Cinematograph Films for Exhibition in India, March 1916, NAI/Home Political/PR000003003929/File no 671-676.
40 In January 1916, as the negotiations for the screening of Britain Prepared were on, Madan and other theatre house owners responded to an appeal by Miss Dorris Phillips to raise Rs 60000 for relief efforts in Mesopotamia. ‘Audacious Appeal for War Fund’. The Straits Times, 20 Jan 1916: 7.
41 Correspondence Regarding the Purchase of War Cinematograph Films for Exhibition in India, p. 4–6, March 1916, NAI/Home Political/ PR000003003929/File no 671–676.
42 Ibid, 10–11.
43 Negotiations with Mr. Bandmann, Manager, Empire Theatre, Calcutta, Regarding the Exhibition of the Film Entitled Britain Prepared, p 29, Sept 1916, NAI/ Home Political/PR000003002094/File No 168–181; Proposed Purchase by Madan and Co of the War Film, p. 14–15, June 1916, NAI/Home Political/PR000003002007/File No 416–420.
44 Censorship of Cinematograph Films in England, p 2, 9, Jul 1917, NAI/Home Political/PR000002999877.
45 Negotiations with Mr. Bandmann, Manager, Empire Theatre, Calcutta, Regarding the Exhibition of the Film Entitled Britain Prepared, 29, Sept 1916, NAI/Home Political/ PR000003002094/File No 168–181.
46 Woods, ‘Film Propaganda’, 546–547.
47 Ibid, 548–550.
48 Bhaskaran, ‘Cinema, Censorship and Political Power in Colonial India’.
49 Question and Answer in Parliament Regarding the Censorship of Objectionable Cinematograph Films and Measures for the Prevention of the Exhibition of such Films, 1, NAI/ Home Political/PR000003003814/File No 263–271.
50 Ibid, 8.
51 Ibid, 10.
52 Ibid, 16.
53 Ibid, 19–20.
54 Proposed Amendment of the Dramatic Performances, p. 47–48, Feb 1917, NAI/Home Political/PR000003004117/File No 82–110.
55 Question and Answer in Parliament Regarding the Censorship of Objectionable Cinematograph Films and Measures for the Prevention of the Exhibition of such Films, p 20. March 1915, NAI/Home Political/PR000003003814/File No 263–271.
56 ‘Censorship of Films in India’. Censorship of Cinematograph Films in England, p. 7–9, Nov 1917. NAI/Home Political/PR00000299987.
57 Legislation for the Control of Cinematograph Exhibitions, Nov 1917, NAI/Home Political/PR000003002133/File No 779–791.
58 Bill to Make Provision for Regulating Exhibitions by Means of Cinematographs, 6–7, Sept 1917, NAI/Home Political/PR000003004365/File No 139.
59 Ibid, 15–20.
60 Ibid, 114–116.
61 INA: The Cinematograph Act 1918, p. 18. NAI/Home Political/ PR00000300003.
62 Ibid, 23–24.
63 Ibid, 46–48.
64 Ibid, 122, 123.
65 Ibid, 126.
66 Ibid, 124.
67 Woods, ‘Film Propaganda’, 449.
68 Sharma, Censoring India, 61–62.
69 Rajadhyaksha, ‘The Phalke Era’.