FilmIndia (Dec 1937 - Apr 1938)

OUND THE TOWN "KOKILA" Producers: Sagar Movietone. Released at: Koxy Talkies. Date of Release: 30th October 1937. Bombay Circuit Distributors: Supreme Film Distributors. Bombay 4. Star Value: Sabita Devi and Maya. Other Cast: Motilal, Shobhanadevi, Siddiqui, Sankatha. Pessi Patel, and Sitara. Screen Play: This photoplay is adopted from that famous novel "Kokila" written by Ramanlal Vasantlal Desai, a novelist of Gujrat. The scenario of the picture is very defective and from what has been presented on the screen, a mess seems to have been made of the entire story, with the result that we failed to recognise Ramanlal's "Kokila" or even failed to discover her after an extensive search through 14,000 feet of boring celluloid. Language: (Hindi) (By: Siddiqui): The dialogues which are in simple Hindi are not very much impressive or particularly sparkling. The village dialect passages were, however, attractive. The songs, though well versed, are not very intelligent compositions. Music: (By Anil Biswas): The song sung by Maya is well tuned. Both the songs sung by Sabita are poor and apologetic. Photography: Irani). (By Faredoon Some outdoor shots are beautiful. At other places though the photography is pleasant it is not enterprising. Recording: (By Pandya) : Decent. Performances: Sankatha as the village farmer gives a good performance. His role, which is very pleasant, helps him a lot. Close on his heels comes Maya with another sweet portrayal, of a village girl. By these two, all the interesting moments of the pictures are monopolised, and incidentally they are the best liked in the whole lot. Sabita's performance was not convincing. It looked like a badly put up job. Her role seemed to have been unnecessarily stretched out with the result that she was put into situations where she ought not to have been. Her music was not commendable even as a good noise. I admire the courage of the producers in giving songs to Sabita Devi in spite of the unpopularity of the procedure. Motilal's performance leaves a lot to be desired. In closeups this man looks definitely ugly. What little screen face he had before he is fast losing with years. It will be unwise to put Motilal in hero roles in future. {The reviews published under this section will, in future, be useful hot// to the average rinegoer and the e .<• h i hit or. Several technical aspects which are of importance to the exhibitor in his bookings hare Iteen treated here in short, maintaining, at the same time, the casual interest of readers in general.) He may be given character parts. Siddiqui did not impress me. He is too slow and too relaxed for the big role he was playing. Pessi Patel is tolerable. Direction: (By S. Badami) : Taking several scenes individually, I think Badami's work as the director of the picture to be rather good. The scenario has ruined all the prospects of good direction. Good direction is not possible in a disjointed screen play and I cannot find much fault with the director. Costumes: Quite good. Settings: Suitable. Special Effects: Scenes of the village atmosphere are attractive. General Remarks: The scenario writer whose name is not mentioned anywhere, is entirely responsible for the lukewarm reception of the picture. In the scenario Ramanlal's great ideal was dissipated and the soul of the story was killed. Instead of telling a straight yarn beginning with Rashmi's life the photoplay writer has begun the affair at the wrong end. Several situations which claimed intrinsic merit, were abused and wasted 35