I went to India with Greg Shucker in February 1962 to film Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister. Our first visit to Nehru’s office -- carrying our portable equipment -- took hours, going through all the security checks. We were finally ushered in to the empty office, dark, lit by a single chandelier of electric light bulbs, but very dim. Before he arrived we took a peek at his desk. There were three portraits amid the piles of papers: Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy and Lady Mountbatten. The Prime Minister of India came in, quietly, and invited us to sit down and tell him what we had in mind. I was instantly impressed by his gentle manner and thoughtful way of speaking. We explained that we wanted to be with him and simply observe: never ask questions, never ask him or anyone else to repeat an action, never set up lights... Our working rules. And for his part, we asked that he ignore us. He agreed and suggested that we start working after the weekend. Fine. I thought that we might go on a trip, go see the Taj Mahal or some such but Greg Shucker the journalist said NO! We have work to do!



We spent the whole weekend going through the security checks, morning, afternoon, evening and late at night. I bought some Photo-lamps and on one trip through security, actually went into the office and replaced the bulbs in Nehru’s chandelier. On Monday we went to work and breezed through all the security checks in a matter of minutes. When Nehru joined us he looked up at the chandelier and said “Nice!” We noted that the portrait of Lady Mountbatten was no longer on his desk. We spent the next ten days with him. He was the most endearing and fascinating politician I have ever met but not a natural for our TV sponsors. Television was not going in our direction and the films were not breaking through.