Romantic India

1936

2h 41min

Exotic adventure drama juxtaposing feudal pleasures with a new world imagery represented by American modernity. Heroine Chandrakala (Nurjehan), daughter of the dewan of a native king, is educated in England and lives in America. She refuses to marry the prince of her ancestral state, an insult that causes her father to be dismissed. She makes amends by disguising herself as a man and becoming the prince’s secretary. A noted sequence set in America features an Indian pilot, Premsingh, who loves Chandrakala and offers to fly her entourage back to India in a Zeppelin, but a mid-flight drama forces the passengers to parachute to safety.