The British Council Movies

Kathakali performance featuring the great Indian dancer Guru Gopinath.

Luscious colour photography of the Taj Mahal and a Mediterranean cruise to Port Said.

Indian high society enjoy themselves at a Calcutta garden party held to welcome the new Viceroy, Lord Irwin.

Made by an English family living in north India during the heyday of the Raj, this amateur film reveals the grandeur in which middle-class English colonials lived.

A doctor and party visit the villages of eastern Manipur in India's far north east.

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

Indian elephants in action as working animals and in hunting.

A motorist's excursion captures a world made by hand in the environs of Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi.

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

Millions of Muslims flee to Lahore in the newly created state of Pakistan, prompted by the partition of British India.

The future Edward VIII enjoys receptions, playing polo and hunting tigers on his royal tour.

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

Film of local events in Ajmer province including the fair at Pushkar.

King George V and Queen Mary hold ceremonial court in Delhi.

Amateur film showing daily life in Bundi, India.

Amateur film of a road trip through northeastern India, showing traditional dances and a gigantic flower float.

A look at the work of the Scottish artists John Maxwell, Joan Eardley and Robin Philipson.

The Maharajah of Jind inspects the guard of honour.

Anti-Congress propaganda film made by a District Officer in India.

Motorcars take shape - outdoors in a Kolkata yard.