In search of this most elusive fish, the Himalayan Golden Mahseer which inhabits some of the fastest rivers in the Himalayas. Capable of stripping 200 yds of line on its first run, and smashing hooks and tackle in a blink of an eye. This is one serious fish which deserves the utmost respect.
The great Mahakali then East Ramganga & Surju rivers that become the Sarda River on its final haul down to Baramdeo and the Indian Plains. That film was almost certainly shot in Sept / October when the river is big and falling after the summer monsoon. Believe I mentioned in an earlier comment here that I had a 42-pounder from a famous junction on the system not many minutews after after my Indian pal Morris, a great mahseer-fisher, had just had a 70-pounder (a complete whacker). There were no river rafts in India when I fished those rivers, the only ones in the region were the Himalayan River Exploration company’s rafts that Lute Jerstad, a 1960s Everest summiteer, had brought all the the way from Oregon to the Trisuli River in Nepal in the late 1970s, so … it was all up major hill and down deepest dale, on foot, and hope you had found s stretch that allowed you to camp a night – fish a day – move downriver, move-pitch your tents, fish down a way, then repeat, and not find yourself blocked by, say, huge cliffs, then have to hike back all the way then back down again! Fish present throughout the system but no-push-over even in what look to be “perfect” river condtions (running like a train, very clear but with maybe just a tiny hint of post-monsoon colour). But then that’s the northern, putitora, Himalayan or Golden mahseer for you – not overkeen to fit in with even your best-laid plans.
I suppose that you like many other European travellers to India in those days would have enjoyed the flora and fauna though. Especially the flora!