The Films Division of India, 1948–1964: The Early Days and the Influence of the British Documentary Film Tradition

This article investigates the Films Division of India from its creation in 1948 until the death of the country’s first independent prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1964. Nehru created the Films Division to lead the production and distribution of information films, enlisting documentary cinema for the larger project of nation building, integration, and development. The article examines the influence of the Griersonian documentary film tradition on the conception, creation, and early development of the Films Division and its films and shows the limits of this enterprise against the background of Nehruvian plans for the newly independent and democratic Republic of India.