A Passage to India (1984)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

E.M. Forster (novel)
Santha Rama Rau (play)

Release Date:

25 January 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History

Tagline:

David Lean, the Director of "Doctor Zhivago", "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai", invites you on . . .[A Passage to India]

Plot:

Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | India | Magistrate | Mosque | English

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 24 nominations

Cast

Judy Davis	...	Adela Quested
Victor Banerjee	...	Dr. Aziz H. Ahmed
Peggy Ashcroft	...	Mrs. Moore
James Fox	...	Richard Fielding
Alec Guinness	...	Professor Godbole
Nigel Havers	...	Ronny Heaslop
Richard Wilson	...	Turton
Antonia Pemberton	...	Mrs. Turton
Michael Culver	...	Major McBryde
Art Malik	...	Ali
Saeed Jaffrey	...	Advocate Hamidullah
Clive Swift	...	Major Callendar
Ann Firbank	...	Mrs. Callendar
Roshan Seth	...	Advocate Amrit Rao
Sandra Hotz	...	Stella

Runtime:

163 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Hindi

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Norway:12 | West Germany:6 (f) | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | Ireland:PG | UK:PG | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:AL

Filming Locations:

Bangalore Palace, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Company:

EMI Films

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "A Passage to India" by Santha Rama Rau (born in Tamil Nadu, India) opened at the Ambassador Theater in New York on January 31, 1962 and ran for 109 performances.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When Stella gets out of the car to view the Himalayas, she turns her head slowly from left to right to view each summit, then finally looks in the middle. However, each summit that she looks at has a shadow on a different side, and the final shot of a summit has no shadow at all.

Quotes:

McBryde: [at the trial] Before we begin, I'd like to state what I believe to be a universal truth: the darker races are attracted to the fairer, but not vice-versa.
Advocate Amrit Rao: Even when the lady is LESS attractive than the gentleman?
[court breaks out in laughter]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Hill Street Blues: Passage to Libya (#5.17)" (1985)

Soundtrack:

Tea For Two

There'll Always Be a Raj-------NOT

A Passage Through India tells a story about the radicalization of a native Indian who happens to be a Moslem. This was in the days before the idea of a separate Pakistan took hold in the independence movement.

Victor Bannerjee plays Dr. Aziz Ahmed and as you see by his title he's a professional man. But he's still looked down upon by most of the British who are ruling India. He's befriended by Peggy Ashcroft who is visiting India with her daughter-in-law to be, Judy Davis. Peggy's son is a magistrate. Bannerjee is also friends with James Fox who is an administrator at a local college.

He's warned against fraternizing with the British by his friends and family, but Bannerjee goes on a picnic with Ashcroft and Davis and Davis has a horrifying experience in the historic caves at Marabar. It's only her claustrophobia acting up, but Bannerjee winds up accused of rape. And his trial becomes a cause celebre for the Congress Party. Note that Bannerjee has two defense attorneys, a Moslem and a Hindu.

E.M. Forster who wrote A Passage to India brought two elements of his background to the writing of this novel. He served as a private secretary to a local maharajah so he knew the customs of India as well as the political scene. Most in the United Kingdom wanted to see India free after World War I. A few very powerful folks like Winston Churchill and some influential press lords, most prominently Lord Beaverbrook did not. There opposition kept India a British colony until after another World War.

Secondly Forster was a closeted gay man. His homosexuality was not publicly revealed, he wasn't 'outted' until after he died in 1970. One of his relationships was with a Moslem Indian who died at a young age. He's the model for Dr. Aziz. The India Forster writes about is not Rudyard Kipling's India. A place where the native population is made to feel like outsiders. Forster identified with them in a way Kipling could never conceive.

Peggy Ashcroft won a Best Supporting Actress Award for her role as the kindly Mrs. Moore. I've got a sneaking suspicion that Forster modeled her character on his own mother who lived with him until she died in 1945. Judy Davis got a nomination for Best Actress and A Passage to India was nominated in a whole bunch of technical categories.

A Passage to India is a disturbing look at a bygone era in a place where you can see a lot of the problems we face today being nurtured.