Indian Background

Progress vs. tradition in India, comparing rural traditions to developments in industry and science.

This film compares the rural way of life in India to developments in industry and science, against the backdrop of the political climate in the country. Tradition and rural customs are presented as backward or even tyrannical. The same footage that was shown as representing the content and happy rural Indian in films such as Hillmen Go to War and In Rural Maharashtra are here presented as evidence of the squalor and poverty in which most Indians live. The change of tone is interesting in the light of increasing political upheaval in a country moving towards independence.