FilmIndia (1940)

FILMINDIA May, 1940. WIFE AND THE DANCER Let us now consider the social origin of this prejudice. Ever since the dawn of civilization, most parts of the world have been ruled by male oligarchies. Politically it has been the domination of a few over the mass, socially it has been the domination of man over woman. The primitive aristocrat — and most aristocrats are still primitive — exercised his possessive instincts by keeping his wives segregated. But masculine vanity required the services of some women for entertainment in public and thus originated the court dancers and songstresses. Being more intelligent and vivacious than the dull wives in the harems who were growing fatter and fatter in a life of indolence, these court entertainers came to be royal favourites and mistresses. Sometimes they exercised great influence on their lovers but thanks to the power of the Church and the orthodoxy, "the other woman" could never claim the status of a wife. Following the royal pattern of behaviour the people, too, observed the same distinction and the traditional prejudice against the dancer and the songstress was born. Women were classified in two water tight divisions — the "ladies" and the professional entertainers and it was as difficult for a "lady" to take up dancing ROSE in "India To-Day" a Ranjit Picture 4 as a career as it was for a dancer to marry and settle down. That mediaeval prejudice survives even to-day when actors, actresses and dancers are no longer drawn from the courtesan class. And even in "rational" and modern countries! An English Earl or an American millionaire would any day prefer his son to marry a notoriously profligate daughter of another Earl or a millionaire rather than a virgin chorus girl. And it is rarely that a daughter of one of what are regarded as high class families is allowed to take up the stage or screen as a career. "OH, A FILM ACTRESS!" In orthodoxy-ridden India, these prejudices naturally run deeper. When the cinema came to this country over twentyfive years ago, it was difficult to induce any girls except those belonging to the courtesan class to work in films. Since then many educated, cultured and talented men and women have joined the screen. But each of them has had to wage a ceaseless battle against the forces of reaction and blind orthodoxy. By sheer force of extraordinary personal integrity some of them may have succeeded in breaking down social barriers but still people say "Oh, a film actress!" with that knowing wink which suggests something lewd and immoral. And every time one sees that gleam in someone's eye and hears "Oh, a film actress!" or "Oh, a film actor!" uttered with that particular accent one feels like exposing the utter hypocrisy of these snobs. "Let him cast the first stone who has not sinned himself," said Christ and we should like to hear the claims of a class of people who can honestly claim to be better human beings than our workers in the film studios. Who shall, then, cast the first stone? The priests, the teachers, the students, the doctors, the nurses, the journalists, the big capitalists, the businessmen, the businessmen's stenographers, the Rajahs and Nawabs, the landlords, the members of the Cricket Club of India, the "Society" ladies, the politicians, the legislators or the corporators? Who, among them, can produce a clean slate? BETTER-BEHAVED THAN MILLOWNERS The charge of sexual licentiousness has repeatedly been levelled at the film artistes — as if rakes and spendthrifts and profligates are not found among any other class of people! If there are such people in the studios, there are al^o those with sterling unblemished character, dutiful sons and daughters, loving wives and devoted mothers, loyal husbands and affectionate fathers. On the whole, many of our film artistes are more intellectual than some journalists, more human than many doctors, better behaved than most mill-owners, more intelligent than a number of lawyers. Individual black sheep there are, no doubt. Personally, we wish some of our film artistes were not so vain, that others took as much interest in their acting as in their looks, and that so many of them did not try