大象传媒

The programmes of Marathi broadcaster Venu Chitale, explains Sejal Sutaria, illustrate how Indians hired by the 大象传媒 the Second World War faced conflicting needs - to establish their solidarity with Britain during the war while maintaining their allegiance to Indian independence from the Raj.

The Indian Section of the Eastern Service was established in 1940. Initially broadcasting in Hindustani, it expanded rapidly to include programmes in English, Bengali, Marathi, Sinhalese and Tamil. Throughout the Second World War, the 大象传媒 developed programmes that were intended to promote the British government鈥檚 imperial interests while also securing the support of colonised Indian peoples. Eastern Service radio programmes such as Through Eastern Eyes and The Voice aimed to garner the allegiance of Indian Nationalists.

The Marathi broadcaster and novelist Venu Chitale began her career at the 大象传媒 in 1940 as secretary to author George Orwell, then a Talks Producer in the Indian Section. She subsequently became a prominent broadcaster on both the Eastern Service as well as the domestic UK Home Service. A contemporary of Indian male broadcasters including Mulk Raj Anand and Sani Tambimotu, who also worked in the Indian Section, Venu Chitale鈥檚 programmes offer insights into the new modes of self-expression and activist engagement employed by women in Britain and India, who were responding to war and fascism on one hand and British colonisation on the other.

This newly-released excerpt from a wartime Marathi-language programme is the only aural recording of Chitale鈥檚 broadcasts, although several of her original scripts survive in the 大象传媒 archives. Chitale tells listeners in Maharashtra state that the programme will include a review of war news, music, and a piece entitled "A few scenarios in a British labourer鈥檚 life". The lightness and cadence of her speech is striking:

Known for the musicality and frothiness of her voice, Chitale's vocal delivery may have been a conscious choice aimed at garnering the attention and trust of listeners in India. The sound of her voice would have added a sense of authenticity, familiarity, and credibility when delivering positive images of British people and culture.

In a period when the British government feared Indian sedition, representatives of the Indian diaspora such as Chitale walked a fine line between their support for Britain's fight against fascism and their anti-imperial views about the Raj. In this context, Chitale's tone of voice, coupled with the content of her programmes, cast Indians and Indian-ess in a friendly, pro-British, and palatable light.

In The Hand that Rocks the Cradle series, broadcast on the Eastern Service, Chitale described how her British women friends sacrificed their lifestyles as artists, dancers, and socialites to make material contributions that transformed their once feminine physiques, such as their hands, and their hair styles, into toughened, pragmatic ones. Chitale shares her reflections candidly with her Indian listeners to invite their identification with their female British counterparts, and contrasts the stereotypical images of upper-class British frivolity with the purposeful commitment of Lady K, who lends her gifts to supporting the war effort:

"I could not help thinking of many other friends and acquaintances of mine whose lives have been completely changed by the war. There is, for instance, Lady K, before the war, one of the most popular society hostesses. I can still see her, an imposing figure, pouring tea from a silver teapot into priceless China cups.

To-day she gets up when the alarm clock goes off, has to catch the bus - snow, sleet or rain - to be in time at her office, where she does important Government work. It is her knowledge of foreign languages that makes her service so invaluable. Before the war she made polite and witty conversation with her foreign guests, to-day she pores over foreign documents."

According to Indian social reformer Tara Baig, many Indians drawn into the relief effort felt the Second World War was never India鈥檚 war to fight and that India sustained a disproportionate loss of life, for example due to Britain鈥檚 drain of raw materials that contributed to the Bengal famine of 1943.

Chitale's portraits function as propaganda that emphasises the nobility of British sacrifices amidst wartime to convince Indians that they are not bearing the brunt of the war alone. Her final line of the programme is telling:

"To-day, the hand that rocks the cradle is not ruling the world merely indirectly, but it is actively shaping the destiny of the world."

In praising her friends to Indian listeners, she also demonstrates her solidarity with Britain, speaking as a citizen of London, albeit an Indian diasporic one.

Chitale's contributions to the domestic Home Service cooking programmes, including Indian Recipes and Kitchen Front, provided British listeners with Indian strategies for vegetarian cooking to help them 'make do', given the reduced availability of meat during the war, and offered solidarity to British citizens.

While a vegetarian diet was once deemed the cause of the relative physical weakness of Indians in the eyes of the colonisers, Chitale asserts that such a diet offers delicious, nutritious alternatives for Londoners coping with wartime austerity, and builds familiarity by likening her Indian recipes of beans and rice to British standards like sausage and mash:

"I have been over here now for several years, and have kept myself as fit and fed as in my own country without meat or fish. As far as my diet is concerned I have hardly felt the war at all. I must admit, of course, that I rather miss the onions."

Her conversational tone and lilting voice adds lightness to a serious concern around the availability of food, while presenting her as a familiar, trustworthy figure who stands in solidarity with her British listeners.

Upon leaving the 大象传媒 near the end of the war and Britain shortly afterward, Chitale took a change of direction. She wrote a major historical novel entitled In Transit which follows the rise of Indian nationalism through the multi-generational story of a Marathi family whose members are drawn to opposing factions of the Indian Nationalist movement. Although she did not return to radio again, her contributions to the 大象传媒, once understudied in contrast with her male Indian colleagues, have begun to receive the acclaim and attention they merit.

The voice of Venu Chitale, and her experiences as a broadcaster in the Home and Eastern services demonstrates how the 大象传媒 walked a delicate line between the needs of the imperial centre and its diverse listeners.

Further reading

• Professor Michael H. Fisher, Shompa Lahiri and Shinder Thandi, A South鈥怉sian History of Britain: Four Centuries of Peoples from the Indian Sub鈥恈ontinent (Greenwood, 2007)