FilmIndia (May-Dec 1938)

"Round the town "VACHAN" Produced by: Bombay Talkies Ltd. Released at: Roxy Talkies, Bombay. Date of Release: 19th August 1938. Cast: Devika Rani. Ashok Kumar Meera, M. Nazir and Others. Screen Play: (By Agajani Kasbrniree). The story is developed in the nursery style, and the stock of incidents being very limited, it practically ends before the interval. A better writer could have improved the grip of the story by adding suitable sequences. Language: (By J. S. Kashyap). Quite good, though not particularly brilliant. Some of the songs are well worded. Music: (By Saraswati Devi and J. S. Kashyap). Tunes given by Kashyap prove more popular than those given by Saraswati Devi. On the whole the music is quite good: Photography: (By Wirsching & Pareenja>. Good throughout and excellent at places. Recording: (By S. Mukerji). Quite clear and distinct. Direction: (By Franz Osten). Osten's technical direction is always clever, but wn'at he cannot achieve yet is to catch the spiri' of the play, which is always essentially Indian in the subjects selected by Bombay Talkies. Performances: For the first kime I have found out some one else giving a better performance than Devika Rani. She is Meera, who has stolen the picture from the star scene by scene. In a very sympathetic role, Meera has given an excellent performance with good music and graceful dancing. Meera gives a brilliant promise for the future. Devika Rani Is good — good as usual, but there wasn't much in her role. M. Nazir worked well but "died" too soon In the picture. The others had not much to impress. Special Effects: War scenes are good photographically. Publicity: Quite good. Box-office Value: It is a Devika picture and should run well with her fans. People pay willingly for the pleasure of seeing her on the screen. BRAHMACHARI (The Bachelor) Produced by: Huns Pictures, Kolnapur. Released at: Majestic Cinema, Bombay. Date of Release: 3rd September, 1938. Cast: Vinayak, Meenakshi, Salvl, Jog, etc. Screen Play: (By P. K. Atre). The writer of this screen play has made comedy his motive in life. He has monopolised the trade so much that he is now looked upon as a wholesale dealer in humour. An excellent use, he is making of this monopoly. Sometimes, when his writings are high pitched and the humour overcloaked, the writer arranges a lecture to explain the joke. That is the only tragedy in the life of this big man whose own size is a satire on the present day tailor-made youths. "Principles are good; fads are dangerous. Fads are principles accepted without understanding". That is the circle, made intelligently humorous, in which the writer argues away the theme, till it gets out of his hand and at places hits him back. Leaving eugenics alone, as a grace perhaps, an "abortive" attempt has been made to show bachelorhood as a solution of the nation's problem. Humour is inlaid in the "abortion". If the idea had been taken to its ultimate conclusion, humour would have died and tragedy born. The skill in the treatment of the subject is in keeping things half said and allowing the audience to imagine the rest. Obviously humorous passages do make one laugh more ! » often due to bathos than pure humour. Setting aside personal differences (and there are many on several points), considering past performances, (some of them are not praiseworthy ), I must give the devil his due and state that "Brahmachari" is Atre's best so far and quite good for me as an excellent entertainer. I go to the pictures for entertainment and when I get a kick out of it, I get something more than my money. Atre has tried to preach and the preaching part only appeals as a humorous interlude. The world has learned to take Atre as a caricature of gravity and therein lies the success of a humorist. "Brahmachari" contains more fun than humour, more laughs than smiles, and more entertainment than morals. The screen play is beautifully developed. Language: (Marathi) (By P. K. Atre). Witty, sparkling and choice, the language had one additional quality. It had a tickle that worked between the ribs. Some of the songs had desperate romance. Music: (By Dada Chandekar). Folklore tunes, popular with the masses, punctuated the sequences while the words of the songs illuminated the situations with their glow of intelligence. Photography: (By P. S. Naik). Beautiful throughout. It was refreshing to find some creative thinking done by the cameraman, especially in maintaining and even nursing natural shadows in the indoors. Recording: (By Chintaman Modak). The recording needed more (The reviews published \ under this section are use { tul both to the average { cine-goer and the exhibi I tor. Several technical { aspects which are ol im j portance to the exhibitor j in his bookings have been » treated here in short, j maintaining, at the same J time, the casual interest i of readers in general.) \ 53