Today is the 50th death anniversary of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. In recent years, it has become fashionable in some quarters  to blame him for a great many of the problems of contemporary India. But many of his critics fail to see him within the context of his times and to acknowledge his visionary ability to transcend them.

Still, no matter what he has been accused of, it is impossible to doubt his sincerity. That is evident from his ability to engage even the fickle attention of children. In this clip from 1955, he explains to a group of kids (his grandsons Rajiv and Sanjay among them) why the Children’s Film Society was established.