FilmIndia (1940)

FILM INDIA August 1940 had read in "filmindia" that minimum guarantee is the weapon of torture which induces the exhibitors to confess. It is used when two exhibitors are carrying out a throatcutting competition between them. It is the distributor's prize for the fight put up by the two exhibitors. "Write to those distributors that we shall pay Rs. 10 more than that Bo'hra" says Narsi to his Jack. The distributors retort by saying that this is not a grocery business but the film business and people talk in hundreds and thousands and not in tens. Poor Narsi! He gives it up. For months thereafter people went to Royal Cinema because it showed better pictures in spite of a bad theatre. Very few went the way of Golden Talkies, though Narsi had built a better theatre and installed a better "talking machine." The unfaithful people! These are dark days for Narsi. Mani, Narsi's wife, can't understand what has gone wrong with her lord. She risked a guess once and Narsi thundered. Narsi remains sullen and sulks when his managing Jack asks for instructions. COMING OF "TUKARAM" One day the Jack tells him that Prabhat has produced "Tukaram" which was taking Bombay by storm. What Golden Talkies wanted is "Tukaram" and the whole town would see it for months. So an offer of Rs. 1,000 minimum guarantee is sent to Famous Pictures, Bombay, with instructions to confirm the picture by telegram. For the next two days Jack is sent to the post-office thrice a day, for fear that the post-master would not hasten the delivery. Narsi is on tenter-hooks and is afraid to come out of the house for fear of being seen by Taher, the Bohri and giving him a clue. On the third day the telegram arrived. It read "Confirmed 'Tukaram' remit 1,000 Dispatching Publicity— Famous." That was a great day for Narsi. He pressed the telegram to his heart and blessed Prabhat. That very day the money was remitted telegraphically. Narsi gets a temporary poster printed in a day with the following: "World's Greatest Picture "Tukaram" is coming to Golden Talkies. Remember it's Prabhat." TAHER POISONED That night the poster was pasted everywhere. Half-a-dozen were specially pasted on a lavatory opposite Taher's house. Taher the Bohri always used the public lavatory to keep his own in the house clean. V. H. Desai, a comedian who looks it too, will be seen again in ' Bandhan." No one can say what the morning has in store for one. Taher, the Bohri walked across the road next morning. He suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and looked up. That poster stared at him. Taher pinched his bottom to see whether he was fully awake. He was. He couldn't go further. He got sudden constipation. Narsi had poisoned his constitution. He could not evacuate the poison in a public lavatory. The process will need pressure and persuasion and must have complete privacy. So after a long time he decided to use the lavatory in his own house. There he could abuse Narsi and the damned distributors. "Tukaram" comes to the town and brings every one to the Golden Talkies. Narsi is minting money. The only unhappy man in the town is Taher the Bohri. GUARANTEES GALORE Narsi knows another trick of business and very soon he sends out minimum guarantees to all — 500—750—1,000. The film distributors get a better bargain now — a better theatre and guaranteed money. One by one, all the pictures are booked by Narsi, the Bania. Taher shouts that Narsi is spoiling the market. But Narsi doesn't listen. He is flushed with success. Taher must do something about it. So Taher, the Bohri also gets into the minimum guarantee game and soon raises the prices. 750 — 1,000 —1,250—1,500. New figures, which the film distributors had never seen before. They are now acquiring a new zest for the game. This town has suddenly become prosperous. BALLYHOO WAKES UP DHANJI Taher and Narsi are competing and cutting each other's throat. Tocover up the ever increasing minimum guarantees, they are compelled to advertise far and wide. Even the sleeping villagers in the outlying districts were woken up by the ballyhoo. Between Narsi and Taher the town was on fire. Narsi talked of Shanta Apte and Taher talked of Kanan Bala and the way they did it made people suspicious. They are both in a new game. They have forgotten grocery and hardware. They didn't care when they lost money. They were gamblers now. But all the sound these two made, in spite of the fact that both of them often mortgaged a complete programme to recover the V.P. parcel of the film, attracted the attention of Dhanji Kalal, the local country-liquor man. 52