FilmIndia (1939)

Round the town "MY SON" Producers: Prabhat Movietone — Story: Y. G. Joshi — Direction: K. Narayan Kale — Hindi Translation and Songs: Shrivastava "Anuj" — Art Direction: S. Fatehlal — Music: iKeshavrao Bhole — Photography : ■V. Avadoot — Recording: S. Damle — ICast: Shanta Hublikar, Ulhas, iMama Bhat, Vasant Thengdi, ( Vatsala Joshi, Balak Ram, Chhotu and Sunderabai — Released at Central Talkies, Bombay — Date of Re( lease: 26th November, 1938. When a story is wedded to mere lidealism and divorced from excit|ing facets of practical life, it becomes a poor screen play. That is what has happened to this picture. Contrary to the usual expectations ('of success associated with Prabhat, this picture has become an exI periment and time alone will prove liwhether it is to be an expensive one or not. Story: Suresh is a clean, modern young man with journalistic ambitions. His father, a retired government officer, is however intennsely orthodox and in his anxiety ||to secure a permanent and steady I billet for his son wants his son to ! take up some government post. In opposition to the wishes of jhis father, Suresh is running a small newspaper press inspite of iigreat financial difficulties. Suresh !jis pursuing an ideal when his pajrents want him to be practical. iWith a tyranny born of true pajrental love, Suresh has many a clash with his headstrong parent. Sarojini is a rich heiress without any parents. The puritan simplicity of Suresh's life attracts her attention and she falls desperately in love with Suresh. Suresh while loving the girl in return, is however reluctant to express his mind due to the big difference in their financial status. Things soon become too hot for Suresh who has to face a strike by his press employees. The press passes out in the hands of an adventurer called Balvant and Suresh leaves his own home in utter desperation. The pangs of unresponded love drive Sarojini to contest a local municipal election against Suresh. Sarojini wins the election, but Suresh wins the esteem of the people. Very soon, there is a happy reconciliation, brought about rather suddenly and awkwardly, and Suresh and Sarojini meet in wedlock with the blessings of the parents. Acting: Balak Ram as the young brother of the hero stands out with a very natural and sympathetic performance in comparison with the work of others. Vasant Thengdi as Balvant has a certain mannerism which suits the role he plays. His performance was however made unnecessarily stagy. Had the interpretation of the role been made more subtle and less bubbling, the portrayal would have secured more design and a greater psychological purpose. Ulhas as Suresh the hero proves too stoic for the present times. He seems to have aped the director's own performance in "Mahatma". He was hardly given any movement. A modern youth in the pursuit of an ideal should not be so passive. Coming to Prabhat's new 'find' Shanta Hublikar, one should admit that the girl sings well and has a good voice to back her up. She was 'shot' very carefully all along in mid shots — a close-up being avoided with almost a religious monotony. And I wonder why. No attempt is made to register her finer emotions in closeups even in sequences dominated by the inner and higher emotions of life. She is made to bounce and jump about, but that is not acting. Mama Bhat as the father of Suresh was supposed to be a complex portrayal with love and hatred overlapping each other and idiosyncrasies punctuating saner emotions. What he has actually become is a paradoxical product which excites ridicule when pathos is intended. Mama Bhat's work does not contribute towards making the picture deliver the goods. j ~ j } (The reviews published t » under this section are use \ I iul both to the average J } cine-goer and the exhibi • • for. Several technical { I aspects which are of im { { portance to the exhibitor J 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.) J J Production: Similar themes have often come to the screen, especially from Ranjit and Sagar Studios and a novelty in treatment was badly necessary to put over one more picture with the same central idea. The story material in this picture is rather thin and the development is generally unimaginative and at places sketchy, Situations have been unnecessarily stretched and songs have been put into places where they are least required or hardly expected. The whole affair needs patience to go through to the end. The direction is nervous and strained and seems to lack the capacity of reaching the intellectual heights of psychological understanding of the design in the theme. As a second attempt of this director, his work is certainly not an improvement. The photograchance a hazard. The photography was not happy throughout though some indoor and outdoor shots were superb. Recordng in the first four reels was not satisfactory. The Hindi dialogues are an unholy mess of obsolete words. Already weak situations are made more weak by inappropriate and insipid language which lacks both vigour and thought. The Hindi dialogues have delivered the final finishing stroke to a picture that fails to provoke or sustain any interest. Merely sticking up together several rhyming words does not make up for the art and intelligence in composing songs for the screen. The songs of this picture, though some of them are well tuned musically, fail to attract simply because they are composed in words with no sense and no melody. The music of the 41