Ava Gardner in Lahore for ‘Bhowani Junction’

This photo was taken on April 22, 1955 and it shows American actress Ava Gardner at Lahore Railway Station. She was in Lahore for the filming of Hollywood Movie ‘Bhowani Junction‘. When Ava came to Lahore, there was only one reasonable hotel in Lahore. It is still there - Falletis. The suite in which Ava stayed has been named after her - “The Ava Gardner suite”. In it’s lounge one could see a beautiful large size, black & white portrait of Ava Gardner smiling.


‘Bhowani Junction‘ is the name of a novel by John Masters which came out in 1952. In mid 50s Hollywood decided to make a movie out of it. The movie is set amidst the turbulence of the British withdrawal from India. It is notable for its portrayal of the Eurasian (Anglo-Indian) community, who were closely involved with the Indian railway system. The film was directed by George Cukor, and was shot on location in Lahore, Pakistan. It starred Ava Gardner as Victoria Jones, an Anglo-Indian nurse in the British Army, and Stewart Granger as Colonel Rodney Savage, a British army officer.
I found following review of movie plot at The Internet Movie Database

The town of Bhowani is a railroad junction and both the Congress Party and the Communist Party are doing all kinds of sabotage to help the British quickly get out of India. Of course each is doing it for their own reasons. In the movie, two people who may have given the outstanding performances of their careers are Ava Gardner and Bill Travers. Both play bi-racial people who don’t fit in either society. But they react differently. Gardner is going through a whole lot of angst, really seeing both the British and Indian point of view.
Bill Travers is the railroad station manager and his whole life is his job. He focuses narrowly on that and his tunnel vision leaves him oblivious to the momentous changes around him. Except for the fact that when the British leave he might lose that little piece of authority where he is, that which gives him stature in the Raj society.

Photo to the left is the book cover image of the novel ‘Bhowani Junction’.

In the movie, the issues are complex, but in the hands of a great director like George Cukor the characters and their struggles become real and even more important, the audience becomes interested. Stewart Granger who was the British Colonel in charge of the whole mess in Bhowani, said that Bhowani Junction was one of the few films he was really proud to be associated with. He has a struggle to, he really does see the Indians as human beings and not just “wogs.” He’s quite knowledgeable about their customs and at one point utilizes that knowledge to unjam that railroad terminal.

Here is the original Movie Trailor of Bhowani Junction showing several shots of Lahore Railway Station.

WPvideo 1.10

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Following two images are the movie posters of Bhowani Junction. In the first poster below one can see the wordings ‘Filmed in Pakistan’ right under the title in yellow which says Bhowani Junction.


We are especially proud to feature the photo to the left from Bhowani Junction filming days. It comes from the personal collection of Zohra Arshad Mahmood, who is seen standing in this photo. Photo credits go to her son and my friend Imran Mahmood, who generously agreed to share this photo with us.
Pakistan’s famous writer Mustansar Hussain Tarar’s has mentioned atleast at two places and dedicated a whole chapter in his book ‘raakh’ on the making of Bhowani Junction. While I cannot tell if all of account is real or fictional, there is certainly some degree of truth to it. Following is an excerpt from ‘raakh’ on Bhowani Junction.
The text is in Urdu but as I get time I’ll translate it for our English Readership.






Translation of Above Urdu Text:
This will be an ongoing project for a while but I will start today. Hopefully I can finish the translation task in next few days. Ok here it goes:
In the simplistic, contentful and slow paced Lahore city, a train suddenly comes to a full stop at Bhowani Junction
Lahoris in general and the crowd of Mansion in particular see their dreams arriving in this train which had just stopped at Bhowani Junction. These were the dreams which they had seen under the shadows of white snows of Kiliminjaro. In these dreams there was a soft and bare foot contessa. In this train, there was the heroine of Hemmingway’s novel ‘Fiesta’ who destroys herself after falling in love with a bull fighter. In the same train at Bhowani junction there were Scaramouche and Wild North.
Mushahid was walking back from school. He was on foot because he had so far misplaced 3 Raleigh bicycles and his father had told him that he will not be getting fourth bicycle until he can learn how to ride a bike himself.
He considered those people as the most qualified in the world who could ride a bicycle on two wheels, pedal it continuously, keep control on the handle, saved themselves from other bicycles and tongas on the road and still didn’t fell down themselves. He looks up to those guys with utter repsect. His maternal unlce Ali Ahmed had tried several times to take him to Minto Park and give lessons on Bicycle riding but he thought he will never be able to learn bicycle riding.
So what would he have done with the three bicycles that he had lost. The answer was simple. He had hired drivers for those three bicycles.
Every morning he would come down from his apartment after eating a layered paratha made from desi ghee by his elder sister and his driver number 1, Kamal would be waiting for him.
When school got off, his class fellow Naseem reached the cycle stand before him and with a dirty blue handker chief was seen cleaning the bicycle. Naseem was driver number 2. It was becuase of these driver’s negligence that bicycles kept getting stolen one after another.
Therefore Mushahid was coming back after getting 2 dozen hits of cane on his hand by Mast Aziz was the Headmaster of Muslim Model School. The young Mardan was also accompanying him. Aapa-ji (Mardan’s mother) always made sure that Mardan followed Mushahid everywhere. Aapa-ji was worried that because of living on 3rd floor Mardan doesn’t get to walk much and his legs may get crooked, therefore she always made Mardan go where ever Mushahid went as part of his leg exercise.
Therefore it was understandable that after getting caned 24 times, walking instead of bicycling and with Mardan enxt to him, Mushahid’s mood was not too good.
As Mushahid kept walking disheartedly, he saw a foreginer couple on a deserted footpath of the Mall, near Regal Bus Stop. He looked at them with just a cursory look but then his heart suddenly skipped a beat - It was like the jerk one gets when a fast moving train suddenly applies brakes. He knew the blue-eyed, tall lady with milky calves and he knew her from very close. After she passed by him, he still remained dazed. She looked exactly like her - but how was it possible?
As soon as he reached his apartment door, he gave his bag pack to Mardan and asked him to quickly climb the 52 stairs to his 3rd floor apartment. Mushahid himself walked briskly towards the Mansion ground where the usual crowd of friends was already gathered.
‘naaah’ Peter said after arcing his Gorkha hat even more.
‘No way’ said Harris with snapping fingers.
Kamal also reached the spot and after hearing whom Mushahid saw he also said ‘No way’.
Peter looked quite bored and said ‘naah naah - you’ve done it before after you told us Groucho Marx was walking down the Mall and we all had to run so far –but Mush if she is whom you tell u then by Christ I will climb to the top of dinga Singh building and sit on the golden top of it and you know how sharp that top is”
“I think it was her” said Mushaihd. He too was now doubtful because if Peter could swear to sit on golden pointed top of the building then he must be very sure.
“Hey Guys” Kamal said by pulling his loose knickers up on his hips by putting thumbs in the pockets. “Come on. Let us check it man”
The four of them made sure to put their autograph books in their pockets -just in case and walked towards the spot where according to Mush she was seen talking to a huge foreigner with her arms around him and smiling with her blue eyes.
It was getting dark on the mall and one had to see right and left before crossing the road. Of course she was not to be found at the spot.
“They were going towards the High Court” said Mush and the four of them started walking like innocent puppies, smelling and looking everything around them, inside the shops, in every side street. And then they all saw her and they all got the shock of their lives. She looked like her. In Imperial Shoe shop’s semi lit showroom she was sitting with her long legs rested one over other and mvoing them slighlty with a grace. She was looking at embroidered Chakwali shoes. All four of them walked with their backs bent as if a seeker goes infront of a giver and then they stood infront of her with their autograph books opened.
“Autographs please!”
At first she looked annoyed but when she saw four sily puppies infront of her she started smiling. She placed Mushahid’s autograph book on her thigh. Mushahid kept holding his autograph book as long as she was writing her name - Eva Gardner. It was her.