FilmIndia (1940)

DECADENT FILM INDUSTRY OF THE SOUTH ! Financiers Are The Bed Boys! By: P. Venkatram Film Editor of "Bombay Sentinel" I have been wondering for some time past if most of the South Indian films of to-day are produced for the public. It may seem rather a strange statement, but I may assure the reader that it is not so silly as all that. The one thing that strikes an average filmgoer who makes it a point to visit most films — foreign and Indian — is the distinct superiority of the foreign product. It is an all-round superiority — in technique, in story value, in presentation and even its puvpore and design. Ii is true ih;it these qualities of the foreign product are fast beins acquired by some of the enterprising men in our film industry. But they are few whose productions can stand a fair comparison with the foreign films. But this notable advance — one could safely call it a revolution — in our film industry appears to be confined only to Western and Eastern India. BLACK-OUT IN FILM MAP What and where is the South Indian film industry? There are a few stiidios, especially the Madras United Artistes Corporation which produce pictures — pictures of value, pictures that have a purpose besides entertainment. But Southern India is so vast a stretch of land that one can reasonably expect a good number of studios turning out more films worthy of the great South. There are a good many studios, but it is pertinent to ask how many produce good films or, for that matter, even successful films? Nobody will or can deny that the South has a number of men with education and intelligence, that there are enough men with technical skill and experience; that there are clever story-writers and that there is plenty of finance. What factors are then responsible for the slow progress of the industry in the South? If truth has to be told I would point out the financiers as the persons who are holding up the progress of the South Indian film Industry. It is usual for the man who pays the piper to call the tunebut it all depends on what tune the financier calls where an industry like this is concerned with its huge potentiality of elevating the nation socially, culturally and politically. LET HIM MIND HIS BUSINESS Men with the brains— directors producers, technicians, and others in these days of capitalist exploitation depend for their jobs on the goodwill of the financiers. No one objects to the financiers safeguarding their commercial interest with all logical means strictly within the scope and interests of the industry. But there is no sense in the financier indulging in ultra human weaknesses and interfering in the fundamental business of production of which he knows nothing. This tendency is not exclusive to South India. One notices it in almost all provinces, but gradually, through constant propaganda and agitation, financiers have come to place greater confidence in their dlrectors and producers. In Southern India, however, the tendency is still unchecked. The financier by virtue of his position holds full sway over every aspect of production. Even before he invests his money he stipulates that a certain favourite girl of his be made the heroine; that he does not like a particular story or director: that in the film to be produced he should like to have certain tunes which were heard in some recent Bengal film and such other pet idiosyncrasies wholly inconsistent with the actual demands of production. EXPERTS AT THEIR JOBS It can readily be conceded that most of the financiers who are usually Chettiyars are expert at their jobs. In making money and manipulating it they would take a Mr. P. Venkatram. long time to be beaten in any part of the world. But picture-making is a different job calling for entirely different qualities. Little do they reailse that their unwanted and undesirable interference often in the shape of lust goaded favouritism goes directly against their own financial interests. How, it may then be asked, do these expert money-makers allow their interest to suffer? There is really the rub. These shrewd, and often crafty, businessmen haggle over a few annas of interest, but spend thousands when they take a fancy for a singing girl. It is not the wild statement it appears to be. Anybody who knows something about the actual conditions in South India will testify to it. NO GOOD FOISTING THEM One cannot complain if they confined their attentions privately to their girls. But it becomes a matter of great and urgent public interest when they impose these girls with their scanty equipment in music and acting on the intelligent brain workers who only want an honest chance to build up the industry. ' One could have no interest in condemning these financiers or their girls but the point is that most of these girls are unfit for the film industry. In fact one of the worst features of the industry in the South is the casting. When the financiers im 55