FilmIndia (1939)

FILM INDIA April IS We reproduc3 below a recent cutting from the Bombay Sentinel: PRISONERS ESCAPE WITH RIFLES LAHORE, March 5. Nine prisoners Kith eleven rifles and 200 cartridges have escaped from the MaJerkotla central jail alter a pitched battle between the prisoners and the jail statf, according to a report from Melerkotla, a Punjab State near Ludhiana. published in a local vernacular daily. The prisoners, who include four condemned prisoners, are reported to have been taken out of their cells for the day's labour. All ot a sudden, a prisoner attacked the warder who laised the alarm. Other warders came to his assistance and a pitched battle ensued. The prisoners relieved a watchman of hii ri&e and took ten more rifles and 300 cartridges from the armoury. The Daroga ot the jail who rushed to the spot was fired on by the prisoners, but was not wounded. Meanwhile, the prisoners managed to escape after having iemoved '■ their fetters. Mounted police and a military platoon have been despatched in search of the prisoners who are etill at large. Did we hear of a crime of this nature ever before ? But now it has come to stay. "The Big House", "Fugitive From The Chain Gang" and other crime and prison dramas coming from Hollywood have introduced this new vogue in crime. Indian producers have conspired with the foreigners by copying their productions as quickly as possible to induce people to make crime a profession. This is a case for the Censors. We intend to take up this matter again for a countrywide agitation, but in the meanwhile we would warn our producers to steer clear of crime pictures in their 1939-40 programme of production. Why should talents be prostituted to teach crime to our people when so many other things can be taught things which will turn our country into a nation of better men ? JOIN THE ASSOCIATION AND MAKE IT A POWER The Film Journalists' Association of India, is now an established fact. Its name is likely to mislead people into thinking that the institution is only meant for newspaper journalists. It is not so. It Is open to every writer be he a script, story or dialogue writer. The Association is in addition an allIndia affair and any writer who earns a living in the film industry with his pen in any part of India has every right to join the Association as a member and enjoy all the privileges. It is however necessary to dispel one wr notion which some people seem to nurse. The Journalists' Association of India is not a fight body brought into existence to challenge our proc cers or other people in the film industry. Far frr it ! The Association, on the contrary, will fig shoulder to shoulder for everyone in the film indv try. The Association does not seek power to destroy 1. to build — build a new super structure on an old f ou % dation. So those who are looking forward to some « citing times, may as well not join it as the affaj of the Association will be conducted in a stric constitutional way without taking away the inhere privileges of the members, which will be several a varied. Join the Association, if writers want their ings to Tell. Give Us A Competent Secretary We understand that the Bombay Board of FiB Censors is now searching for a suitable man for t| post of its Secretary. It should have done so lo| before. However it is better late than never. The Censor Board is no longer a liability the Government's purse. It is a department trl is self maintained and can easily afford to havep well-paid, whole-time secretary. OUR SILVER JUBILEE NUMBER It was originally intended to publish the Silver Jubilee Number of "Filmindia" in the first week of April. But it had to be postponed, as the dates of the forthcoming Indian Motion Picture Congress have been shifted. The Silver Jubilee Number will therefore be out in the 1st week of May and will replace our usual May issue. Don't fail to read it. You will be surprised at the contents. Everyone has something to say about "Filmindia" — something interesting, something surprising. Some of the persons who have said it are: The Hon. Mr. B. G. Kher, Prime Minister of Bombay; The Hon. Mr. G. V. Pant, Prime Minister of UP.; The Hon. Mrs. Vijayalaxmi Pandit and others who count in the modern world. And yet the price will be only 8 annas. 8