Although David Lean's Oscar winning film version of A Passage to India is better known. This BBC version from the 1960s had an Indian director in Waris Hussein.
He filmed Santha Rama Rau's adaptation of EM Forster's novel. Hussain mentions in his introduction to a repeat showing of the play that he would contact Forster by phone to discuss aspects of the novel.
Hussein is also proud that all the main Indian roles are played by Indian origin actors. The only notable exception is the role of Professor Godbole played by the Anglo Indian Michael Bates. The same role was played with uncertainty by Alec Guinness in the film version. At least Hussein had the excuse that there were few older Indian actors around in 1965 in Britain. David Lean had no such excuse.
The story concerns an overeager Indian doctor falling foul of British colonial rule. Dr Aziz (Zia Mohyeddin) invites two women who have only recently arrived to the Marhaba caves. Only to be accused of raping Adela Quested, who is due to marry the city's magistrate.
The case arouses racial tensions. The local Brits want to make an example of Dr Aziz. His defence team sees this as an unjust persecution of Indians. Miss Quested has no idea what happened to her, it seems Dr Aziz was not even accompanying her as she explored the caves.
Rau's play which was performed on stage. So it fits well for television. It is all interiors as Dr Aziz meets Mr Fielding, another recent arrival and wants to impress him. The new arrivals are open to the experiences of India and its people.
Not so friendly are the Brits who have been in India for some time. They have come to despise the locals or at the least feel superior to them.
Waris Hussein did go for a holiday to his hometown. He took a film camera with him and managed to shoot some exterior shots. The scenes of the cave were shot in Tunbridge Wells. Hussein got the information from a production crew from Black Narcissus.
Mohyeddin has performed Dr Aziz on the stage. He is very much an eager to please puppy, always talking about passion from the heart. By the end he is bitter and cynical after his encounter with British justice.
