British Raj Movies

Scenes at a garden party given by Earl Lytton, Governor of Bengal, at Government House, Calcutta.

A trip to the spectacular city of Bundi and a Kathakali dance performance, filmed in vivid colour.

Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948. Why was he killed and what events occurred before and after his murder?...

Kathakali performance featuring the great Indian dancer Guru Gopinath.

Salvation Army General Commissioner Edward Higgins features in the this film of a brass band parade through a village.

Lord Lytton takes up the post of Governor of Bengal.

Girl guides on parade at a rally in southern India attended by Olave Baden-Powell.

Rare stencil-coloured images of early 20th century Delhi during a Muslim festival.

Romantic, atmospheric travelogue capturing some of northern India’s most iconic places – not least the Taj Mahal.

Film showing the Viceregal party entering Delhi on lavishly decorated elephants, as part of the Coronation durbar of 1903.

Dignitaries including the Nizam of Hyderabad gather to celebrate the Durbar in honour of George V, who arrives by boat in Bombay.

The race is on - for the Viceroy's Cup.

Amateur film of the passage to India - complete with guest appearance by Gandhi.

Actuality film showing a busy Salvation Army parade in a rural village under the British Raj.

Gorgeously dreamlike colour images of (then) French India – present-day Puducherry.

Fashionably attired folk attend the races in Kolkata.

Botanical gardens in Bombay plus the highly decorative Jain Temple in Calcutta.

Boats and steamers on the mud flats and lakes of the Assam district, India.

Attractive travelogue filmed in and around Delhi's Qutb complex.

From the arrival of a new viceroy to street markets, this amateur film captures the diversity of life in colonial India.