FilmIndia (1948)

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SUBSCRIPTION RATES: The annual subscription, for 12 issues of "filmindia", from any month is : INLAND Rs. 24/FOREIGN: Shillings 50, Subscription is accepted only for a collective period of 12 months and not for a smaller period. Subscription money should be remitted only by Money Order or by Postal Order but not by cheques. V. P. P.s will not be sent. filmindia PROPRIETORS FILMINDIA PUBLICATIONS LTD 55, SIR PHIROZESHAH MEHTA ROAD, FORT, BOMBAY. Telephone ■ 26752 Editor: BABURAO PATEL Vol. XIV. FEBRUARY 1948 No. 2. ADVERTISEMENT RATES: The advertisement rates are as follows : Fuil Page inside Half Page inside i Page inside \ Page inside 2nd & 3rd Cover Rs. 4th Cover Rs. Per Insertion Rs. 400 210 120 150 500 600 | sc Cover Rs. 1,000 The cost of the advertisement should be submitted in advance with the order. The advertisement will be subject to the terms and conditions of our usual contract. "An Ordinance for the control of erection and e-erection of buildings in the Bombay Province has .een issued bv the Government of Bombay with a iew to conserving materials for small tenement musing. Tbe obligation to obtain a permit is conined to structures involving the use of essential .uilding materials. All permits for the continuation ,f works in progress must be obtained before 31st anuary 1948. Contravention of the Ordinance is lunishable with imprisonment extending to three nonths or with fine which may extend to Rs. 1.000 'it with both. "Criticism has often been made that while here is an acute shortage of building materials, hey are being allowed to be frittered away on inessential buildings like cinemas and theatres. "The Government of Bombay has not issued or permitted the issue of any building material for struclures of this kind. The Government had, however, iio powers to prevent or stop the construction of luch buildings which so far could be built with the lielp of materials obtained from other sources. It is liecessary to conserve building materials in short ! upply like cement, iron and steel, asbestos sheets .rid bricks and to ensure their utilization for small I enement housing, public institutions like schools. I hospitals, etc. and other, essential purposes. There |ls also the imperative need to avoid haphazard and jlisorderly development of congested and expanding I urban areas. The Government has now armed itself [kith powers to control new building activity", say||Jie Director of Publicity, Government of Bombay. This ordinance is obviously a sequel to the ijtrong agitation launched by us against the conI'truetion of cinemas and hotels in the city while thousands have to sleep on the pavements every light. J We had pointed out specific instances by printng photographs of Mr. Manu Subedar's grand new . inema and imposing hotel and Mr. K. M. Modi's sew Empire Cinema. Quite a number of unnecesary buildings are now under construction in Bom•ay and its suburbs. All these constructions must top forthwith and not be allowed to be completed mless the owners give a guarantee of turning these constructions into small tenements suitable for middle class people. Even Manu Subedar's two palatial constructions — one intended for a cinema and the other for a hotel — can be turned into small tenements if the Bombay Ministry shows sufficient guts to put this man in his place and not let him misuse his opportunity for anti-social purposes. For, building a palatial hotel and a streamlined cinema with the profit motive in mind is definitely an anti-social activity in these times when thousands are homeless and without any shelter. We want all the people to watch the action of the Bombay Government particularly in respect of Manu Subedar who is reported to be a great favourite of the Congress High Command and as such in an advantageous position to defy the Bombay Ministry. Manu Subedar's case is a touchstone of all the Congress professions of democracy and other high sounding principles bellowed out at regular intervals by the different Congress leaders from Qutub Miliar to Chowpatty. If the licence to build a cinema granted to a small cinema owner in Andhcri can be revoked by the Government of Bombay because Mangalaben, wife of our Finance Minister, led a squad of female ^atyagrahis. Home Minister Morarji Desai can, with equal justification, revoke the licence given to Manu Subedar in vindication of democracy and to accommodate over a thousand people in the building intended for the cinema. In democracy there can't be one law for Peter and another for Paul. If the Vndheri licence can be cancelled, Manu Subedar's licence must also be cancelled unless the Bombay Ministry is prepared to accept the charge of nursing pets and showing favouritism to them. In addition to this the Congress High Command is expected to take disciplinary action against Manu Subedar in vindication of the high moral code preached by all Congress leaders — a code that stops a Congressman from encouraging such profit making projects, like building two huge buildings without taking steel and cement from the legitimate controlled sources. And Manu Subedar is not merely 3