FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

binary, 1949 FILMINDI \ tion pictures is like holding the world in one eye 1 the picture in the other and weighing both accurately the balance of current social values". It is a difficult '' to censor films and an indiscriminate selection of mbers will only serve to defeat the main purpose of soring. 8. The National Board of Censors should censor only films but also stage plays and other perform es for the entertainment of people, including the vile "Ram Leelas" which often present a distorted veri of our religious and spiritual heritage. 9. To maintain a competent board of censors the eminent will need funds. To meet this demand, the tnary censorship fees per picture should be Rs. 1,000. iducers and distributors who earn lakhs on pictures * ometimes as much as Rs. 30 lakhs on a single picl ; — can certainly afford to pay Rs. 1.000 per picture | competent censorship. In case of a picture having to be seen, because of controversial contents, by the full Board, the produc)r distributor should be made to pay the honorarium able to the members for censoring the picture. This cedure will also reduce the number of frivolous obions by the producers and the full Board may not e to be assembled unnecessarily. 10. To determine the final shape of the National le of Production, the procedure of censorship and the anization of the National Board of Censors, a small imittee of three members may be immediately apited to collect evidence in Bombay. Madras and Cala from representatives of producers, distributors, exitors and film critics and a report submitted to the eminent within two months. The formation of the ird. its procedure and the composition of the Produci Code may be a temporary measure for five years to revised if necessary at the end of the period. No Government, however democratic and wellining. has a right to thrust a law on the people unless J authoritative opinion of the different people affected been collected and sifted to suit the national ideals. It is only fair to the producers that a committee a.« \ gested above should be appointed to report the reacis of the trade and other interests before the governit finally impose a national censorship on plays and is. \f If the Government of India agree to appoint such Hommiltee. we suggest the name of the Hon. Mr. B-arji R. Desai, Home Minister to the Government of wibav. as its chairman, as by personal experience we Me found him to be very competent for this brainm ?ting work of film censorship by virtue of his first | d knowledge of films and film people. We are sure that the services of Bombay's Home lister will not be denied to us for a short period of months to solve this all important problem which cts the lives of millions of people everv dav. >P THESE MURDERS ! Quite a few dirtv things that happen in a film studio er see the light of day, because there is a silent consicv amonjrst all studio workers, thrown together in an oly brotherhood for a common breadhunt, not to ik about any ugly incidents which would attract the attention of the law and ultimately restrain their liberties or embarrass their bread-hunt. In spite of all the hush-hush precautions taken by the studio owners once in a while we do get reports of rapes, assaults, outrages and accidents which only tend to prove that all is not right and moral in our film studios. But we wonder how many people know of the infanticides that often take place in our film studios and are passed off as common casualties of film making. When we see a little six-month or year old baby in a picture, little do we know what that little one has gone through to lend domestic colour to the picture and earn a little for its poor mother. When a film producer needs a little baby for his scenes, his production manager gets one from the poorest class of people who earn, live and die on the streets, by paying between Rs. 10 and Rs. 20 per working day to the mother. Quite a few of these little babies often anise with death already lurking in their innocent eyes i poverty is the polite name for this waiting death! and half way through the picture, the little one often lets go its prospective stardom and joins the stars in the heaven. Many an apparently healthy baby has also heaved its last breath on the studio sets to give the film people a little glimpse of real tragedy. These little deaths are never known to the outside world even though they are virtually so many murders. Jairaj, our popular aclor, plays the lead in "Singhar", a social story directed by J. K. Nanda. II