FilmIndia (Dec 1937 - Apr 1938)

POUND THE TOWN "JWALA" Produced by: Huns Pictures, Kolhapur. Released at: Royal Opera House, Bombay. Dafe of Release: 1st April 1938. Bombay Circuit Distributors: Supreme Film Distributors. Cast: Chandramohan, Ratnaprabha, Ashalata, Winayak and others. Screen Play: (By V. S. Khandekar). This is a story of a biave general (Angar) who fired by ambition bids bold for the Crown. In this unholy pursuit, he murders the king and proclaims himself as the ruler. But all this is not approved of by his wife (Mangala) and his friend (Tarang) who eventually go against him. Through numerous bewildering situations and after a convenient war, the story ends with Angar and Mangala dying. A faithful servant (Priyal) is thrown in for sympathy. The story is heavily shadowed by Shakespeare's "Macbeth". Unfortunately all the good points of "Macbeth" are left out. This was done probably to give the picture some freshness. It however leaves behind a bad taste. The screen play is neither well developed nor well played. There are numerous weak situations which could have been revised with a Ijttle more care. The story of the picture, therefore, fails to appeal and one wonders what the whole row is about. Language: Hindi. (By Pandit Indra). The dialogues are written in a very common language which lacks force at every stage. Chandramohan's dialogues could have been made more forceful and had they been so, Chandramohan's performance would have improved. The song composition is trite — usual phrases, now timeworn and tiresome, greet one at several places in a single song. Not a single song is intelligent though every one of them is well sung. Music: (By Dhamman Khan). Quite good. The background music was unsuitable in a couple of situations. Photography: (By P. S. Naik). Very beautiful throughout ! This is easily the best work given by this cameraman so far. Recording: (By C. Modak). Quite good. Direction: (By Winayak). The scenario is responsible for weak direction. At some places the direction is unimaginative. For instance: in the early scenes where Mangala is trying to wake up her sleeping child with a long drawn out song, the child does not wake up inspite of his mother singing so near his ear and inspite of all the noise of the reception of his father. Was the child doped? Scenes before the interval are too lengthy and bad j l (The reviews published | under this section are use { fui both to the average I cine-goer and the exhibi j tor. Several technical | aspects which are ot im j portance to the exhibitor i in his bookings have been | treated here in short, J maintaining, at the same | time, the casual interest } of readers in general.) I ly needed the scissors. Several war shots were just repetitions and bored. The director has not shown his usual enterprise with the result that the picture suffers rather badly. Performances: Winayak as Priyal the faithful servant gave the best performance. Ratnaprabha as Mangala was quite good and sang beautifully. Chandramohan's performance lacked realism and sincerity, though his diction of the dialogues was superb. Having expected a lot, the disappointment was great. Ashalata as Kuntala was unnecessary in the picture. They could have very well dropped her out of the picture. Costumes were attractive and the settings were imposing. Publicity: Erratic publicity was a feature of the release. The copy writer seemed to be more keen in flourishing his ideas than in floating the picture. Box-oltice Value: As the producers have rather failed to tell the story, I doubt whether the picture will prove very paying. It is however, gorgeous and a good sight for the eyes. It can be safely booked as a bi-weekly programme on a flat percentage. 47