The Sound of Silent Film: Newsreels from Bombay, 1930-1931

The first phase of the Civil Disobedience movement precisely coincides with the ‘arrival’ of talkie technology. There is extensive film footage generated at the time of the Civil Disobedience movement, many by American and British companies, although there were many Indian filmmakers also taking footage during this time. Because much of this footage is generated in foreign news agencies, it is often cut and re-used in a number of contexts, and has come to lose its value as a primary source which provides insights to the movement and its dynamics. Focussing on silent film footage of Civil Disobedience in Bombay, this paper explores what silent film says about politics, and how this speaks to disobedient crowds.