Princely Films: The Silver Jubilee Film of 1937 and the Princely State of Hyderabad

Abstract

Before 1947 India had more than 560 princely states. All these states were ruled by independent princes with their own systems and laws and were not directly under the control of British. There was a great fascination for the princely states in Britain, and the early films addressed this curiosity. Several travel films, instructional films and the Durbar films presented the princely states as exotic Oriental spaces. On the other hand, the princely states also actively patronized the audio visual technologies. This article examines the interrelationship between princely state of Hyderabad and non-fiction film. It locates this relationship in the broad history of Orientalist curiosity about princely states in Europe and the patronage to modern technologies in the princely states. It elaborates on the process of making of the Silver Jubilee film of the VII Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, and argues that princely films served different purposes for the European audience and for the princely state. The princely films played to the market for content on princely states in Europe but for the princely state of Hyderabad, films were a way to present itself as a modern state and enhance its stature.