The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

MarchApril, 1952 THE CINE-TECHNICIAN 41 A LETTER FROM BOMBAY by Charles Knott IT is no less difficult to find among the Producers of Indian Films one who is financially successful than it is to find his counterpart in the U.K. In fact, after nosing around the Studios in Calcutta and Bombay, one wonders why anybody should make pictures in India at all except as a purely artistic venture. Somewhere down the line somebody must make quite a few rupees however, and a fairly steady output of mythological pictures is maintained. These are formula pictures and up to now the rare attempts which have been made to break out of formula rigidity are coldly received at the box-office. The results of this discouragement of innovation make such an impact on the foreign visitor that only the most rabid enthusiasts can escape a sense of complete cinematic frustration after only a few visits to Indian pictures. The bare bones of a plot usually suffice and upon this structure are hung five or six songs or dances which usually run to far more footage than the dialogue scenes. These " dialogues " are usually declaimed fortissimo, and the music is played off at what is referred to in text books as the " threshold of feeling." Showmen refuse to book a picture which has to be played above stop 9 on the fader on the theory that an unfair burden is being placed on the exhibitors' apparatus in the process of shattering the patrons' ear-drums. The highest paid sound-man is the one who can lay it on the heaviest. The Studios vary a great deal as to layout and construction. Some are conversions of large houses and " godowns," or warehouses, though there are some which have been built as Studios if not as Sound Studios. One which boasts to be " the largest sound stage in India " is merely a corrugated iron shell having dressing rooms attached and the necessary electrical supply laid on. The fact that it is almost impossible to record direct sound in such places due to acoustics and outside noises is not a matter of great concern because over 60 per cent, footage of so many pictures is song or dance done to playback, and the rest is scored to the screen by special artistes, or in a few cases by the original stars. That rare thing, a really sound-proof stage, is so booked up that it houses two companies at a time shooting twelve hours each, one by day and the other by night. There is a fair amount of modern equipment to be seen and Westrex and R.C.A. are represented by their latest models in many studios. Until the arrival of colour, however, very little modern lighting equipment was available. Last year brought Mole-Richardson's latest lamps to Calcutta for The River, and now they have equipped Minerva Movietone, Bombay, for the Technicolor Picture Queen of Jhansi. This is being lit by Ernest Haller, Academy Award Winner of Gone With the Wind fame. Having built the sets and engaged the artistes and staff, a Producer does not immediately start making his picture. The stars (in the firmament) are consulted, and an " auspicious day " is found, even an " auspicious hour." At the appointed time, the first slate is shot, and the word " cut " is the signal for a big round of applause from the assembled guests who keep up their clapping until the artistes consent to give an encore. More applause, then the sweets and sherbet are handed round and in the general chatter all and sundry detect good omens in whatever they may have observed since they arrived on the set. The whole effect is charming and sincere, in direct contrast to some end-of-picture parties I have attended. Every " first time " with any piece of apparatus requires a customary ceremony and each morning ritualistic garlands are hung upon the camera, sound gear, lamps, etc. " First times " are usually performed by the breaking of a cocoanut and sprinkling of the juice. Incidentally, the Indian counterpart of the tea-boat is a man with a tray of free broken cocoanuts who walks around until his tray is emptied. It is useless to express a preference for cheese-roll. It is cocoanut or nothing. Hours are limited by law to 56 per week, but there are no effective trades unions and no system of representation for workers. The difficulties confronting any organiser who sets out to form any group for self-protection are many and complex. Most of these differences of caste and creed are too well-known to need mention. But in Please turn to page 48