Bikaner - Secrets of India - 1934

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Title: Bikaner Series Title: Secrets Of India Technical Data --------------------- Year: 1934 Running Time: 8 minutes Film Gauge (Format): 35mm Film Colour: Black/White Sound: Sound Footage: 733 ft Production Credits --------------------------- Production Countries: Great Britain Producer: CONS, G.J. Photography: VEEVERS, Victor Production Company: Gaumont-British Instructional Genres: Travelogues Production Organisations: Gaumont British Instructional Synopsis ------------- INSTRUCTIONAL. Opening shot of a map of India. An arrow indicates the Deccan States and then the Rajputana States and Thar desert where the town of Bikaner is situated. Bullock carts and camels make their way across the desert to Bikaner. A map shows how the town is protected by walls from the desert sands. Shots of the walls from outside and inside the city. At the gates of the town, traffic is continually coming and going - bullock carts, camels, motor cars, bicycles. A sacred cow crosses the road. Shots of Hindus worshipping in the courtyard of the temple. The Indian schoolchildren are shown sitting on the ground doing their lessons on slates. A snake charmer and an animal imitator perform in the street (365). Water is obtained from wells outside the town. The water is pulled up in large leather bags by ropes attached to oxen. It is then poured into a stone channel which carries it to the town. Outside the town is the palace belonging to the maharajah of Bikaner. The Maharajah drives in procession through Bikaner (733ft). Context ----------- The film Bikaner formed part of the 'Secrets of India' series, produced by the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation in 1934. These films were the by-product of the company's involvement in a filmed flight over Mount Everest, footage of which appeared as Wings Over Everest (1934) (Low, 2005, 61). Among the crew were the cameraman S. R. Bonnett and V. Veevers, who were also responsible for filming the Secrets of India shorts. Some of the films in this series were assigned to the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation while others, such as Bikaner, appeared under the Gaumont-British Instructional division, which specialised in producing documentaries for the educational market. Bikaner was one of the films for which V. Veevers was responsible, receiving 'supervision' from G. J. Cons, who was then head of the Geography Department at Goldsmiths College. Bikaner is a city situated in the Thar Desert, now in the state of the Rajasthan. It was formerly the capital of the Princely State of the same name, and was founded by the Rajput prince Rao Bika in the fifteenth century ('History of Bikaner'). Known as the 'Green City', Bikaner has been defined by its relationship with water. Its location in the barren desert provided its rulers with a safe haven, protecting them from having to pay tribute to more formidable Marathas (Ramusack, 2004, 23). Drought has been a common occurrence, however, with a severe famine occurring in 1899-1900. The ruling prince at the time that this documentary was made was Ganga Singh. His long period as ruler, lasting from 1898 to 1942, witnessed many advances. He oversaw the construction of the Ganga canal, which brought water to his rain deficient state. He also introduced a number of welfare schemes; developed hospitals and schools; introduced the first Chief Court in Rajasthan; and created a Representative Legislative Assembly for his state. Ganga Singh was one of the most politically active of the Indian Princes. He was the first chairman of the Chamber of Princes, a body formed in 1921 to discuss issues of princely concern. He was also one of the principal spokesmen at the Lord Irwin's Round Table Conference of 1931, during which the princes proposed the formation of a Federation between the Princely States and British India as a solution to the constitutional issues that were then engulfing the sub-continent. Ganga Singh was well known to British dignitaries and politicians. He attended King Edward's coronation in 1902; was the only non-Anglo member of the British War Cabinet in World War I; and represented India at the Imperial War Conference in 1917. His commitment to the British raj was displayed by the adoption of their favoured Indo-Saracenic style for his Lalgarh Palace in Bikaner (Ramusack, 2004, 148). His brusque manner was nevertheless not always welcomed by the British authorities (Copland, 1997, 48-49). Moreover, his advanced statesmanship should be balanced against a punitive and authoritarian mode of rule. Civil liberty was severely restricted in his state, culminating in a notorious case in which seven people received long sentences for daring to criticise the administration (Singh, 1970, 48-51). He also possessed overriding powers that curtailed the usefulness of his Representative Assembly (Singh, 1970, 90-92).