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India - NE and NW Frontiers

Gritty images of India's northerly frontiers

Amateur film 1945 17 mins Silent

Overview

The amateur film, shot by British political officer H.A.N. Barlow, offers a rare insight into the living conditions of remote tribes scattered throughout the vertiginous hills and open plains of India's northerly frontiers. Barlow's expedition needed a small army of porters (paid in tea and cigarettes) to transport their supplies across often formidable terrain. However, the villagers appear to greet their strange visitors with warmth and hospitality.

H.A.N. Barlow was a political officer for the British government in the Indian state of Rajputana, now Rajasthan, and an enthusiastic amateur filmmaker with his 8mm camera. Barlow took this footage while on tour in the Quetta region accompanied by Forestry Officer William Meiklejohn (who made his own films during the same period).