FilmIndia (1939)

TL EDITOR'S ffMlb Headers " when you are worried " write to me. I ivill do my best in serving you. Serious matters ivill be treated seriously, while flippant letters ivill receive like replies. — The Editor. From: Dawood Cassini (Durban) What happened to the Imperial Film Company? It closed doors as a result of continuous misfortune. From: Bachubhai Mchta (Agra) Where are Vithal, Bakre and Bachu, the kings of the silent days? Silence! Don't speak so loudly or they will wake up and start a "battle" with wooden swords. Time has left these old heroes behind. From: Ghasiram Jalan (Bombay) Why do Bombay Talkies have a foreigner as a director? Because they do not get competent Indians to do the job. Direction is a peculiar job and needs really skilled and intelligent men. When I say that India has hardly half-a-dozen good directors in its twenty-five years of film making, you can realize how difficult the job must be. From: Narendra Kumar (Gorakhpur) What is your idea about girls from respectable families joining the film industry? I think, it is a good idea. We have already several respectable girls working in the industry and they have nothing to complain. Those few who complain and make a mascot of their chastity have none to lose. To be a good woman one need not necessarily belong a good family. I know girls from first-class families having third class reputation. There is nothing wrong with our film industry now. It is so much commercialized now that there is no time for sexual intrigues and indulgences. Every girl is as safe as she would be in the lap of her own mother. From: A. K. Arvi Ando (Bombay) Can I have the privilege of meeting Kanan Bala personally? Please give me her address. Last month someone wrote to me saying that Kanan's mother was a great obstacle when he wanted to see her. I think the mother is still there and as she is reported to be quite hale and hearty she threatens to be "still there" for a long time to come. I suggest your writing to Kanan at 23 P, Princep Street, Calcutta, and making discreet inquiries about her mother first. I wish * you every luck and you will perhaps need it. From: Vipin H. Jhaveri (Surat) I wrote seven letters to Madhuri requesting for an autographed photo, but this girl has neither sent it nor replied to my letters. I have now determined to send a pair of real diamond ear-rings (as my father is a diamond-merchant), will she accept and acknowledge that or not? Of course she will. Do send the ear-rings along — as long as the diamonds are real no girl will refuse a present from a fan. By the way, does your father also like Madhuri? I thought, diamond merchants sold diamonds and not presented them. From: A. S. Rao (Secunderabad) Why are actresses paid more than actors directors? and Why did Adam eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden? Adam has not yet found the reason. The day he finds it. Eve will lose all her charms. What do you think of "Marie Antoinette" of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer? An excellent picture, pictorially, but in the last three reels the director failed to achieve that intensity of pathos and emotion which the situation called for. And to that extent that great actress Norma Shearer failed to act. Many will not agree with this, but they need more understanding to grasp these fine subtleties. It is the game of the critics. For the layman, "Marie Antoinette" must be classed as one of the best pictures of the year. I have applied to the Sagar Movietone for the post of an actor but I didn't get any reply? You are lucky. And I wish you more luck. Meet some of these actors and you will know why. From: T. N. S. Murthy (Trichinopoly) I am an admirer of Raja Sandow. Can you give me some particulars about him? No! I want you to go on admiring him. Why don't you publish the reviews of the foreign pictures? There are hundreds of papers doing that. The Indian film industry has only "Filmindia" to do all its propaganda. So I stick to my industry and sell the wares of my producers. I have no time to keep shop for any foreigners. You should do the same. 11