A Passage to India (1984) Director: David Lean; Script by David Lean Based on E

A Passage to India (1984) Director: David Lean; script by David Lean based on E. M Forster's Novel.

Book: 1984 ed, NY, Harcourt Brace.

The novel, with its critical depiction of English snobbery and attitudes towards their Indian subjects, created a stir (1924). It was enthusiastically received by Indians but condemned by British officialdom in India. However, it sold very well, reviving Forster's own flagging reputation. Forster had worked in an Indian Princely State and was very knowledgeable about Indian cultures and religions, contributing 'a number of articles to periodicals' on related topics. He wrote, says Das, in 'a direct and interpretive style' (1977 p 90). In the book and film, the relationship between Fielding and Aziz is based on Forster's own friendship with an Indian contemporary at Cambridge. The question whether English and Indians could be friends is posed throughout the narrative. Some of the descriptions of Indian life, including religious life, are more detailed in the book than in the film. A humanist and a liberal, Forster found Islam's simplicity and rationality appealing; "more than a Faith; ... Islam, an attitude towards life both exquisite and durable, where his body and his thoughts found their home' (p 16). Later, Aziz is scandalized by the "idolatrous" mixing of Hinduism and Islam in Mao; "But soon he didn't mind, like Akbar" (p 332). In fact, Aziz decides to see more of Indians who are not Muslims (p 298). However, while Forster found Hinduism too "disorderly" (see p 319, "a muddle, a frustration of reason and form" describing a Hindu festival) he also appreciated its stress on individual self-awareness, its affirmation of our humanity (see Das, 1977 p 108; 112).

Nonetheless, in the film the following are noteworthy: the first meeting between Aziz and Mrs. Moore, in the Mosque; the garden tea party at Government College where Aziz talks about his peoples love of fountains and water (p 75); Godbole, the Brahman, speaking about re-incarnation and karma. He suggests that Mrs. Moore may have been an Indian in a previous life. Mrs Moore, he says, is "an old soul". Later, before Aziz's trail, he speaks about destiny. Nothing we do, he says, can alter what will happen. Speaking with her son, Ronnie Heaslop, Mrs. Moore seems to echo this. Rather mysteriously, when Mrs. Moor departs from Chandrapore by train, Godbole appears to bid her a silent farewell. Does he sense that she is to die, en route to England? Somehow, Indians seem to see Mrs Moore as their friend.

There is also a scene when Quested finds herself in the grounds of an abandoned Hindu Temple, surrounded by erotic statues of the deities, some in positions of obvious sensual enjoyment. This had a profound impact on Quested, who begins to think about her own sexuality (this happens later in the book; see p 155). Lying in her bed, she visualizes one of the images she had seen. This scene derives from Forster's visit to the Khajuraho Temples. Hinduism's inclusion of sensuality within religion somehow hovers in the background of the film. Forster himself, who was homosexual, was actually put off by the heterosexuality of Hindu images (see Beauman, 1993 p 268). In the film, monkeys startle Quested and she quickly beats a retreat. In the book, she sees a snake, or something that looked like one, "the confusion about a snake was never cleared up" (p 155). Is this a reference to how chaos, or disorder (adharma) can intrude uninvited, destroying out enjoyment or serenity? At the end of the film, there are brief glimpses of the festival of lights, Diwali, with Godbole officating. The book has a detailed description, too, of Krishna's birthday. This is based on Forster's own experience, described in 1983, p 63 - 68. There is a lot of similarity between these two accounts. Also, note Aziz's dilemma about how he would feed his guests on the trip to the Marabar caves - a Brahman who would only eat food prepared by a Brahman, and English ladies who might expect ham and wine.

Aziz is a Muslim. This does not feature all that much in the film but in the book we learn that Aziz liked to hear his religion praised (p 113) and on one occasion falls asleep thinking of the "eternal garden and of the ninety nine names of God" (p 132). One another occasion, he reflects on Islam's past "glories of Cordoba and Samarcand" and asks what help they are now that the "English occupy Delhi and exclude us from East Africa. Islam itself", he continues, "though true, throws cross-lights over the path to freedom". "The song of the future", he eventually concludes, "must transcend creed" (p 298). The film brilliantly captures some of the sights and sounds of India, if not its smells. The journey to the Marabar caves is beautifully filmed. There is a superb shot of the moon above the hills. Later, we see spectacular shots of the Himalayas and of lake Srinagar.

The narrative is centered on Miss Adela Quested's and Mrs. Moore's visit to Chandrapore, where Mrs. Moore's son, Ronnie, is the Magistrate. Quested is engaged to Ronnie but wants to see him in his Indian context before making up her mind whether they should be married. On the train from Bombay, the two ladies meet the Turtons, the District Collector and his wife (he is the highest official in Chandrapore; Mrs. Moore thinks he is the ticket collector. Even at this stage, something of the Turton's attitude towards Indians discomforts the newcomers, who think the Turtons are quite dreadful. When the ladies say that they are looking forward to meeting Indians, the Turtons respond by indicating that this is not the done thing! Later, when Miss Quested comments that she had hardly spoken to an Indian, Mrs. Turton tells her she has been lucky. The British travel in luxury, in contrast to the overcrowded carriages of the Indian passengers. Mrs. Turton declares that Ronnie is just the type needed in India, "a proper Sahib". In the book, she refers to Fielding as "not pukka" (p 27). Mrs. Moore meets Aziz, a Cambridge educated Indian medical doctor and assistant to Major Callendar, in the courtyard of a Mosque. He knows she is newly arrived in India because of the polite way she greets him. Earlier, Aziz stated that he gave Englishmen two years, English women six months to become arrogant and rude (p 7). We see Mrs. Callender commandeering Aziz's tunga, and bad mouthing its driver. Aziz does not attend the Bridge Party organized by Turton, to "bridge the gulf between East and West" (p 26), which Turton believed unbridgeable.

At the Party, Mrs. Turton speaks appallingly bad Hindi and declares that she had not expected so many Indians to attend, since they too detested this type of mixing. Mrs. Moore is further offended by the way the Indian guests are treated. Why invite people, she says, only to treat them badly. Quested felt ashamed to be part of such bad behavior at least by association. Ronnie responds by saying that being pleasant had nothing to do with it. India was not a "drawing room" and his job was to "do justice and keep the peace" in "this benighted country". Later, at the Club, when the ladies express interest in meeting Indians, Turton describes them as "Ayran brothers" and suggests that Fielding would be the man to help, since he fraternized with Indians. Although Aziz escorts Mrs. Moore to the Club, he is unable to enter. Indians cannot be members. Fielding invites the ladies to his College (he is Principal of the Government College) to meet Professor Godbole, a Hindu who could tell stories and even sing. Aziz is also invited. All get on well and end up soaking their feet in the water tank - Fielding and Mrs. Moore were touring the College, so only the two Indians accompanied Quested (ankle showing!). Ronnie arrives. Appalled at this breach of decorum and etiquette, he marches Quested away. He criticizes Aziz for his sloppiness in wearing his Sunday Best yet forgetting his collar stud. Actually, ever eager to please he had lent his to Fielding, telling him he had as spare in his pocket. Earlier, as the four joked about India being such a "muddle", Aziz declared that when they came to his house, there would be no muddle. To his dismay, the ladies ask when they ought to visit him. Aziz's quarters are extremely modest, unlike the very comfortable houses of the British officials. Panicking, Aziz suggests instead a trip to the famous Marabar caves. These caves sound somewhat dull as described by Godbole yet also have a mysterious attraction.

We saw a picture of them at the start of the film, in the ticket office of the shipping company when Miss Quested was booking passage. Fielding follows up his tea party by visiting Aziz at his home. Unwell, Aziz is surrounded by Indian friends. One, a lawyer, Mahmoud Ali, asks Fielding what justified the British staying in India? These Indians all support the Nationalist movement. From various faiths, they unite in their opposition to the English though "if the English were to leave India", their committee and cooperation "would vanish also" (p 115). Is Forster agreeing with the view that India needed the British to unify its peoples and to prevent communal rivalry? Fielding answers that he had come to India for a job; Mahmoud Ali says that educated Indians also wanted jobs. This scene introduces, as a sub-plot, the quit India theme. Fielding is anxious about the wisdom of the trip. However, helped by his friends, Aziz proceeds with its planning. On this occasion (in the book) Fielding and Aziz become not only friends but "brothers. That part was settled" (p 132). Warned to be punctual, which the British expect, Aziz sleeps overnight on the platform. They are to travel by train, then by elephant. The ladies, eager and enthusiastic, arrive. Quested sends her servant home, suspecting that he is Ronnie's spy. Anyway, she does not like him. Aziz tips him as he reluctantly leaves, having been instructed to stay with Quested. Then the train starts to leave. Aziz is frantic. Fielding and Godbole have not arrived. Just as they do so, the barrier falls and prevents them from boarding the train. Azis cries out that Fielding has "destroyed him". No one was there to chaperon the ladies. They, however, remain in high spirits. In the book, they have long since lost real interest in the trip but go along because they had given Aziz their word. Fielding arranges to catch up at the caves; Mrs. Callender's car was heading off in that direction. The unfortunate delay had been caused by Godbole's prayers, which had gone on forever. The impression given, perhaps, is of a typically botched Indian job at arranging the trip. Later, though, Aziz is credited with having planned the whole incident, deliberately setting off alone with the ladies.

In the first cave, Mrs. Moore has a panic attack, caused by the overcrowding and the loud echo. Aziz also calls out her name, which becomes another device in the narrative. Leaving the cave, she sits down to recuperate and suggests to Aziz and Quested that they continue on by themselves, with the guide. They do so. Quested begins to ask Aziz about his wife, whether he loved her, had he more than one wife? Aziz explains the "arranged marriage" system. In fact, he had fallen deeply in love with his wife, who died during the birth of their son. At one point, Aziz offers Quested his hand to help her climb. A moment of intimacy passes. Aziz then leaves Quested, saying he will return shortly. He hides and smokes a cigarette. Alone, Quested is a little frightened. She enters one of the caves. Meanwhile, Aziz is looking for her, entering various caves and shouting her name. He stands in the mouth of her cave, calling out. Quested experiences what appears to be a panic attack similar to Mrs Moore's. Exactly what happens is vague but she runs from the cave, drops her binoculars (borrowed from Ronnie) and scrambles down the hillside, suffering scratches from cacti. Callender's car arrives. Mrs. Callender bundles Quested into the car and drives her straight back to Chandrapore. Fielding joins Mrs. Moore and Aziz, who return together to Chandrapore.

Back in Chandrapore, Quested accuses Aziz of attempted rape; at least, an accusation against Aziz emerges, perhaps helped along by the zealous Superintendent McBride. The dark races, he says (during the subsequent trial) are attracted to the fairer, never vice versa. This, he declared, is a universal rule. Attorney for Aziz, Amritrao gets a laugh when he comments, what, even if the dark man is more attractive than the woman is. In the book, McBride declares that all Indians are liars. In the film, he suggests that the psychology of Indians, especially criminal, is different from that of the British. Finding a picture of Azizï's wife, as well as a letter fixing him up with a visit to a Calcutta brothel, he deduces that Aziz is a sexual predator who had masterminded the whole affair with the explicit intent of raping, or of seducing, Quested. "Another of them found out", he says (p 184).

Rape featured prominently in the British imagination in India. It represented their worst nightmare, the violation of their women, disorder, the transgression of the East-West divide. After the events of 1857 (Indian uprising) there were many reports of the rape of British women. Increasingly, British women retreated into the 'cantonment' (seen in the film) and ceased to have much if any, social intercourse with Indians. It has been suggested that the attitudes of British towards Indians were more negative than that of the men (note Aziz's comments). The men worked with Indians. In the book, even a woman who was "generally snubbed" (due to the low status of her husband's job as a 'small railway official') is suddenly at the center of everyone's concern as the community rallies together to prepare for Indian reprisals. Now she "symbolized all that [was] worth fighting and dying for" (p 200). In both the book and the film, Aziz is open about his sexuality and his fondness for women: see p 127 for a reference to indulgence; on p 114 Aziz thinks "about women … Sometimes poetry had this effect on him", indeed "about beautiful women" (p 110). Aziz "was repelled by the pedantry and fuss with which Europe tabulates the facts of sex". He is something of a Romantic, a lover and writer of poetry, his first love, "science was merely an acquisition" (p 298). Meanwhile, only Fielding is supporting Aziz (Mrs. Moore, who leaves for England, also believes in his innocence. In the book, Fielding is represented as being in cahoots with the Indians.

At the Club, Fielding, accused of running with the hares while hunting with the hounds is asked to resign. He fails to stand when Heaslop arrives. He does, adding that if Aziz is found guilty he will leave his job as well as India. The other officials consider the verdict a done deed, as Mr. Turton assures Quested. 25 years experience in India told him that no good could come of friendship with Indians. British officials believed that their many years in India gave them a unique understanding of Indian psychology. Amritrao, who defends Aziz, is a noted barrister and ardent nationalist. At the trial, nationalism pervades the proceedings. A "quit India" sign gets driven over as the DC arrives outside the court. Only moments earlier we see a very imperial looking statue of Queen Victoria. A local Muslim dignitary renounces his British title as a symbol of protest (several Indians did return British honours after the Amritsar massacre of 1919, which Forster would have known). Mahmoud Ali declares that both he and Das, the assistant magistrate trying the case, are slaves of the British. Heaslop had thought it wise to delegate the case.

When Ali learns that Mrs. Moore, whom he considers a key witness in Aziz's favor, is unavailable, he declares that she has been shipped off by the British to deny Aziz justice. This, he says, is British justice, the British raj. He is not defending a case, nor is Das (the Indian Magistrate) trying one. Pandemonium breaks out in and out of court as the huge crowd takes up the cry, "Mrs Moore", or rather of "Esmiss Esmoor". Eventually, Quested takes the stand. To the utter amazement of the British, she announced that Aziz was innocent and drops her accusation. She also announces that she will not marry Heaslop, whom she does not love. Earlier, she had broken off their engagement, only to change her mind after her visit to the Temple. Mrs. Turton mutters, under her breath, "the bitch". Aziz is carried off in triumph. Meanwhile, on board ship bound for home, Mrs Moore dies. As her coffin is lowered overboard, we still hear the crowd outside the court shouting "Esmiss Esmoor".

Finally, the noise in her head, of which she has complained since the incident in the cave, had ceased. Her supporters abandon Quested; Fielding is left to offer her refuge at the College. It rains on them. Seeing Fielding leave with her, Aziz feels betrayed. The crowd actually mistakes Quested for Mrs. Moore! Quested is even garlanded with flowers. Aziz sues Quested for 20,000 rupees plus costs but Fielding, visiting him, asks him to reconsider. This would bankrupt her. Aziz receives him frostily, suggesting that in the end the English all stuck together. "I want nothing to do with any of you", he says, so Quested could keep her money. For the first time in the film, we see Aziz looking proud and comfortable in Indian clothes. "I am an Indian at last", he says. Godbole had already left Chandarpore for Kashmir as Minister of Education. Aziz resolves to follow him into Princely India, to serve as state physician. He also hopes to be able to write poetry again, in this new setting (p 299). In the book, he goes to Mao; in the film, to Srinagar. Fielding goes back to England on leave, where he marries Mrs. Moore's daughter, Stella. Writing to Aziz, he says that he has married someone of whom Aziz knows! Mrs Moore had told him about her daughter, Stella, when Aziz had first met her in the Mosque and her name had been mentioned in subsequent conversation. Thinking that Fielding has married his enemy, Quested, he tears up all Fielding's letters.