BHOWANI JUNCTION

US, 1956, 111 minutes, Colour.
Stewart Granger, Ava Gardner, Bill Travers, Abraham Sofaer, Francis Matthews, Freda Jackson, Lionel Jeffries, Marne Maitland.
Directed by George Cukor.

Bhowani Junction is a romantic drama set in India at the time of the British withdrawal after World War II. It touches on the major political issues of the time - the Congress Party, Ghandi's non-violent campaign, the communist agitators, the place of the Anglo- Indians and the feelings of the British themselves. The story is fairly run-of-the-mill, but in setting and with the location photography and some spectacle, the film is of more than passing interest.

1. Were you impressed by the atmosphere of authenticity about this film - the mass of Indian people, the Pakistan scenery?

2. How effective dramatically was the flashback technique? The audience thought that the beginning was a final parting, but only at the end was it seen to be a beginning.

3. Did the film help you to understand the political background of the British withdrawal from India and the variety of Indian attitudes to this withdrawal - relief, nationalism, the Congress Party and Ghandi's pacificism, the communists, the inciters to violence?

4. What was the place of the Anglo- Indians in this kind of society? Looked down on by the Indians as English, not accepted as fully English. What were their prospects after the withdrawal?

5. How were the railway and the junction used in the film as partly symbolic - communication, movement, connections as well as for disruption: demonstrations, stoppages, destruction?

6. Discuss the personalities of the principal characters. How were their personalities subordinated to their duties and the circumstances of the times?

7. How did Victoria see herself as an Anglo-Indian? How were her horizons widened during the war? Why did she differ in views from Patrick?

8. Why did Victoria, in her attempt to find her Indian identity, turn away from her friends and join the Sikhs? Why did she fail?

9. How did the violence and the murder of the sentry bring the awareness of violence closer to the audience?

10. Did those who favoured violence have any justification for the dynamiting of rails and trains and the murder of civilians?


11. Was the climax of the film with the train carrying Ghandi and the shooting in the tunnel effective or too melodramatic?

12. What did the film offer on racism, prejudice, fanaticism, peace, violence and non-violent protest?