When they were kings...

Shakespeare Wallah (1965)
It is an English movie made in India describing the romance between a daughter of travelling theatre performers and a local boy. It is actually about the family of the Kendals whose members act in this film. Geoffery plays the father, Laura the mother, Felicity as the heroine, Jennifer Kendall is in a minor role as a guest house owner and Shashi Kapoor, their son-in-law (who married Jennifer), as the hero.
It is post colonial India. Some Britishers who stayed back in India start feeling nostalgic about their home. They reminisce the good old bygone days where they were treated as kings in India at the same time long to be in their motherland. In the same manner, the Buckinghams feel that they were wasting their daughter Lizzie's future by keeping her back in India. The theatre company that they run, showing Shakespearean plays, do not garner much support. The silver screen had taken over!
In comes a debonair Indian boy, Sanju, who is intelligent, able to keep her entertained and well conversant in English. They fall in love, so she thinks, until a Bollywood actress, Manjula (Madhur Jafferey) appears in the scene to warn Lizzie to keep her distance.
Sanju brushes the threat, saying that she is just a cousin.
Yo-yo here and there, their relationship sours. Sanju pours his feelings to Lizzie but cannot stomach the idea of his beau being awed by other viewers. The strained relationship ends there with Lizzie leaving to England.
Quite an interesting show set in the cool highlands of India. We have the chance to see a young Sashi Kapoor in a different role than the usual masala flick that we are used to. Madhur Jafferey gives a sterling performance that earned her the Best Actress Award in 1965 Berlin Film Festival. Interestingly, the music score was composed by Satyajit Ray.