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.
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 could not tell if all of account is real or fictional, there is certainly some degree of truth to it.
Photo Credits:
(1) Bettmann/Corbis.com
(2) Ravindra Bhalerao
(3) The Daily Telegraph
In 1955 I was in the sixth class when Bhowani Junction was being shot at Lahore. As school children we were taken to the Lahore Railway Station where I saw Bill Travers in a solar hat standing at one of the higher walls with a lot of local extras.Lahore Railway station was giving a look of India with Indian flags and the extras dressed as the hindus. Bungalow No.23 at Cooper Road next to the Faletti’s hotel was our first home in Pakistan when we migrated from Jullunder, India during the roits of the Partition in early September 1947 where Ava Gardner and Stewart Granger had gone for a game of badminton in the floodlights. Later my father’s friend Session Judge of Lahore late Mr. Riaz Qureshi was photographed in a white dinner jacket and a bow tie at a dinner in honour of Ava Gardner where she looked dazzaling in a Sari. This photograph adorned the wall of the Ava Gardner Suite at the Faletti’s hotel during the shooting of Bhowani Junction. Ava Gardner went bare footed to the Regal Cinema on the Mall to see her movie “The Barefoot Contessa” with Minoo Bhandara and others. When Ava Gardner settled at London in Ennismore Garden in Kensington area I once spotted her walking her dog about six years before she died. Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah also stayed at the Falett’s hotel during the trial of Ghazi Ilmuddin Shaheed. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,Chief Justice of Pakistan A. R. Cornelius,Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Actor Marlon Brando, Actor I.S. Johar and cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers too had stayed at this historic hotel. The rooms where these extra ordinary personalities had stayed should be preserved and made a part of the new design of the Hotel. Historic Falettis hotel must be declared a heritage site and preserved for posterity.
Nice recolletion – though the incident occured before my birth, but one of my uncles told me that the film was also filmed in Lahore’s Qila Gujjar Singh bazar – a pleace near which we one lived.
Mr.AUK,
Please disclose your identiy first if you want to start a discussion.You misunderstood me as I never said anything about any poor Pakistani,I said uncivilized and uneducated people who had onslaughted Lahore and are destroying the spirit of this city.
I am sure you are not from Lahore anyway.Emotional people like you has already destroyed this country.
I hope you understand.
Daniyal Nagi
Dr. Daniyal Nagi, I haven’t seen such obnoxious comments in a while, though I have seem many. Perhaps your anglo-indian teachers at St. Anthony’s forgot to teach you to respect other humans no matter what class or creed they came from. If you look hard those poor that you want to look down upon can teach you a thing or two about life. Perhaps you also haven’t noticed the slums in all the great western cities that you seem to so espouse. I haven’t heard anyone say that these slum dwellers are destroying the culture of their great cities.
Dr. auk
For all Lahorites,
Flattis was closed few years ago and the hotel with 91 Kanals of land was sold to some ‘Blue Eyed Boy’ of the previous regimen with a view of demolishing it and making a PLAZA.There was a lot in press against this move.The building is still there is shambles waiting to collape on its own so the PLAZA can come up.
Dr.Daniyal Nagi.