FilmIndia (May-Dec 1938)

September 1938 FILMINDIA report the following tribute is paid to the Hon. Secretaries, Messrs. Bharucha and Motwane: "The achievements during the period *~~ — » under review cover a wide range. Not a little of this is due to the untiring efforts of the Hon. Secretaries". And inspite of all the "untiring efforts" of the two Secretaries, the subscription amount of Rs. 6064-10-9 remains to be collected. "Accounts for the major portion of the year under audit were not written up from dav to dav but were Mr. V. G. Motwane, Jt. , . „_ Hon. Secretarv of the all<med '° rema,n ™ ar" motion Picture So rears were subsequ ciety of India. ently written up from pass books and other vouchers," say the Auditors. And this disgraceful negligence exists in a Society with four clerks, two Hon. Secretaries, seven leading businessmen as Executive Committee Members and Sir Phiroze Sethna, Kt., O.B.E., as the President. Another rider by the frank firm of Auditors reads as follows: "The amount of Rs. 1289-3-9 under the head of "funds" has been utilised for the current expenses of the Society which is contrary to the Society's committments to donors.' This is a very serious charge. It means that the Society has misused money received as funds from donors who were told that the money was required for different purposes. We have reasons to believe that a part of the Jamnadas Subedar Memorial Fund has been thus misused. We hope it is not true, but the auditors' report leaves no loophole for an alternative inference. In ordinary dealings of life this action amounts to criminal breach of trust and it is the duty of the members of the Society to punish the culprits. MISSED ITS PURPOSE A close examination of the balance sheet and the items of expenditure point out forcibly the fact that the organization of the Society has missed its purpose of existence. One of the main objects of the Society was propaganda for the Indian film industry. Actually during the year under review, the Society has spent a paltry sum of Rs. 275 for propaganda as against Rs. 3443-8-0 paid out in salaries, Rs. 2160-10-6 allowed to be robbed and other items amounting to Rs. 18,000 and odd. Rs. 275 for the vital and main object of the Society— "Propaganda"! A ridiculous fraction of Rs. 18,000 spent during the year. That is the Motion Picture Society of India of today, which invites people of the Industry to become its members and, support the industry. Mr. B. D. Bharucha, the manager of Edward and Palace Talkies is the Jt. Hon. Secretary of the Motion Picture Society and Editor of the I.C. Year Book. INDIAN CINEMATOGRAPH YEAR BOOK 704 pages of German Art Paper bound together between clumsy yellow cardboards is in short, the first year book of the industry published by the Motion Picture Society of India. Barring a threepage article by Mr. Stanley Jepson and a page of advertisement of "filmindia", there is nothing worth reading in the whole book, either for the layman or for the man in the industry. The Year Book is edited by Mr. B. D. Bharucha of the Motion Picture Society. If this is editing, it is not a job worth doing. From the very first page the whole job is childish and amateurish. The collection of statistical material is unnecessary, illogical and useless. The printing is bad. The book must have proved paying only to the printers. The book should have been dedicated to Mr. K. S. Hirlekar. the father and founder of the Society. The present men at the helm seem to have forgotten that for the first two years the headquarters of the Motion Picture Society of India were located in the office bag of Mr. Hirlekar. Luckiij enough, after seeing the book Mr. Hirlekar has escaped the dedication. But it is strange to find the first official publication of the Society dedicated to men who are strangers to the Society and not to the father and founder of the Society. There will be people, in press and industry, who will call this book a great publication. Some of these may be merely polite and others may be just fools who do not understand true values in life. "Filmindia" as the only leading trade paper of India must tell the truth, whether it is liked or not. And our real verdict is: "It would have been better if the book had not been published than published thus". And it is reported to have cost over Rs. 8,000. A NEW SOCIETY: Slowly but surely, "Visual Education" will be coming into India, for I hear of the inauguration of "The Visual Education Society of India" in Bombay during the month. Recently a meeting was held under the presidentship of Mr. Jathar, the principal of the Elphinstone College and the preliminaries were discussed thoroughly by a representative gathering and a committee was appointed for further spade work. That is good news to those who are thinking of producing educational pictures. The idea of visual education should appeal to all who believe in modern methods of imparting knowledge and education.