Filmmaker VIJAY SINGH discovers how Indian soldiers of the colonial British army found solace while being part of the Allied offensive in France and Belgium during WW1. He talks to ANANYA SHARMA
While The First World War, or The Great War as it was called back then, took Europe’s youth to their premature grave, it also involved soldiers from faraway lands whom many have forgotten about. Over one million Indian troops came to France’s defence against the invasion during WW1.
Farewell My Indian Soldier is the first ever film to be dedicated to these 140,000 Indian colonial troops and civilian workers and attempts to depict the experience of colonial troops during WW1 from a non-Eurocentric angle. The docu-fiction, titled Mademoiselle France Pleurein in French, looks at rescuing the Indian legacy from the folds of history. “This is the first time that such a film is being made on this subject.
Indeed, it would seem both unbelievable and intriguing how the experience of 140,000 Indian soldiers and civilian workers on the Western Front could have escaped the attention of any television in the world. In fact, even in terms of the contemporary WW1 film footage available in the archives, there is very little on Indian soldiers,” said filmmaker, Vijay Singh, who has written and directed acclaimed feature films like One Dollar Curry and India by Song. He presented his new film at the Embassy of France and was accompanied by his talented actress Paloma Coquant.
The filmmaker recounts the story of the Indian soldiers through the perspective of human affection and love. The movie tries to bring to the fore what Indian soldiers lived through on the Western front, how they fought in legendary Allied battles as members of the colonial British army, their languishing at English hospitals and the hospitality of the French hostesses, which won their hearts. During the furlough in French barns, some Indian soldiers and French women developed affection for each other and children were born. In that short time, they found hope in the despair of war and misery.
The film is inspired by the story of one such Indo-French child. In this film, a young girl (Paloma Coquant) is a descendant of an unknown Indian soldier and his French hostess, who journeys across France, Belgium, England and India to thread together a fascinating story of human drama and cultural confluence. The French title, which means “Miss France In Tears,” stems from a banner made by the French girls who were upset with the departure of the Indian soldiers from their country.
Asked what inspired him to make this film, Singh said, “Just one day. The Indian ambassador in France asked me to come with him to the Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial, which is the World War 1 memorial in France. I knew very little about it. However, I was later given a book in French to read which had a lot more information about the Indian soldiers at WW1. Even though the book was very factual, the letters written by soldiers were so fascinating. They got me teary-eyed and that’s when I knew these stories needed to be told,” answered the Paris-based Indian filmmaker.
However, filming was a real struggle as it took the director almost two years of efforts to track down the Indo-French descendants. “It was a most public story but it was difficult for me to run a linear narrative centering around one protagonist. I did not want to make it a full-fledged fiction. I wanted to put it all together,” said Singh.
The film uses rare archives, historical testimonies, 100-year- old Indian war songs and 600 insightful letters written home by soldiers, 10,000 of whom were never to return to their motherland. “The soldiers came from all over India. However, about 70 per cent of the colonial troops were Punjabi,” he added.
Farewell My Indian Soldier, co-produced by Silhouette Films and Rajya Sabha Television, is expected to travel to international film festivals worldwide, following its market screening at the Cannes Film Festival.