Wedding of Maharaj Kumar Shri Meghrajji Shaeb of Kutch and Maharaj Shri of Kishangarh (1933)

Part of India on Film: 1899 – 1947
This collection of newly digitised films is part of the BFI’s contribution to the UK-India Year of Culture 2017, in partnership with the British Council. View more films on BFI Player http://player.bfi.org.uk/collections/india-on-film-1899-1947/ (UK only)

Record of a lavish royal wedding – Fireworks, illuminations and traditional dance all feature in a stunningly opulent royal wedding at Kundla, Gujarat.

‘Lavish’ doesn’t begin to describe this royal wedding at Kundla (now Savar Kundla) in Gujarat, uniting a prince of Kutch, in northern Gujarat, with a princess of Kishangarh, in the neighbouring state of Rajasthan. Guests, drawn from the very top of Indian society, arrive by yacht, train and carriage and are given a military welcome before enjoying a performance of Dandiya Raas, a traditional ritual sword dance performed with sticks. The celebrations apparently go on for days, and include feasting, elephants, dancing horses and spectacular firework displays before the guests go their separate ways.

This three-part film, one of a handful shot around Gujarat by amateur filmmaker Colonel V.C. Steer-Webster, an officer in the Royal Engineers, gives us exceptional images of the almost-impossibly opulent proceedings.

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