FilmIndia (1940)

College Cjills Think Qlcuc) in Plicate Startling Secrets Revealed For The First Time Which Pictures Do They Like And Why ? By: Miss Zeenath Zahara B.A. (Hons) Public taste has been and still continues to be an important factor in all popular Art, a factor the importance of which cannot be underrated or ignored by one who creates a Film. For, unlike the drama, the film is essentially a "Thing of the Hour," and the producer cannot set any store by posterity or the better judgment of generations to come. Hence it is of vital importance that the producer should keep his fingers on the pulse of the public and while catering to their taste, should endeavour to reform and retlne. i Producers are continually being kept in touch with what men want: but it is of equal importance for them to know what the demands of the other sex are on them. I don't presume to speak on behalf of all my sex, but I know with what expectations a college girl goes to a picture-house. Considering the over-whelming number of cinegoers from among college girls, their opinions should have some weight with our producers, if they wish that more and even more college girls should see their pictures. This article, which is written at the express request of Mr. Baburao Patel, is frankly a labour of research amongst numerous college girls who were questioned and counter-questioned with regard to their demand tn their daily entertainment fare. The girls spoke without any reserve nnd as I have promised not to divulge their names I give below a short summary of their views: THIRTY-MEN-AT-A-STROKE PICTURES Thrillers, to say the least, are our abhorrence. What purposn. numan or divine, is served by presenting on the screen the gymnastics of horses and dogs, one fails *o understand? Is it the escape of our producers from the study of man whose mystery is beyond their comprehension? The sight of an unnecessarily large woman clad in an apologetic knightly costume, knock Sitara plays a great role in "Pooja" an A. R. Kardar picture of National Studios. mg down "thirty men at a stroke" Is plainly not inspiring, not to say repulsive. It is nauseating. A stupid-looking sandow is shown as a young man who embodies all that is good and desirable. He tights single-handedly a band of scoundrels who have no streak ot Thanks Zeenath Zahara! You have done it well. humanity in them. They are, in spite of their numbers, vanquished by the hero, who, while brandishing his sword on their dead bodies, becomes a text-book "Romeo" to a coquettish "Juliet." If this is life, the world is not a desirable place to live in, and "the sheer joy of living" can no more be ours. I have yet to see a gir! who does not shrug her shoulder* or make a grimace at the mention of a thriller. And yet, however, a slight interest has been aroused, of late, in Nadia. A student of psychology, while unravelling to us the mystery of the mind of man, startled us by uttering what seemed an utter blasphemy. According to Freud, she said, women like such women who are manly in bearing. To strengthen her argument she gave two instances. Queen Christina from history, and from the contemporaries "Fearless Nadia". GIRLS RUSHING TO SAINTS Pictures with mythological themes are not much to the taste of college girls; though they wax enthusiastic before elders on such films and their moral content. Even among themselves they don't openly express their dislike, for fear of being stigmatised "too modern" by the rest. After listening to their vociferous admiration of "Saints" it is singularly surprising to see the small number of girls who see the mytho 24