FilmIndia (1940)

December, 1940 FILMINDIA laries. Some of the mcst prominent artistes, on the other hand, resented my praise of Shantaram and told me that by over-emphasising the value of good scenarios and good direction I was playing the capitalist-producers' game of cutting down the stars' salaries. There is some ccmfort in being accused of contradictory crimes by rival factions like the Congress which is called pro-Hindu by the Muslim League and pro-Muslim by Hindu Mahasabha. Similarly, in different quarters, I was simultaneously accused cf being pro-Ran jit and antiRanjit, pro-Bombay Talkies and anti-Bombay Talkies, pro-Sudama and anti-Sudama. When I wrote that Prithviraj should have played Major Safti in the "Rains Came" other stars thought I was being paid by Prithviraj to "sell" him in Hollywood and yet hardly a week later I was accused by a friend of the star to be anti-Prithviraj. MY PRIVATE LIFE BECAME IMPORTANT Nor were matters allowed to rest here. My private life suddenly be came a matter of public importance-— as if, for instance, the fact that Motilal was my friend would make "Achhut" a bad picture and "Holi" a gocd one! One who had always believed that a man's personal life was his own — whether he be a politician, a film star or a film critic — was made the target of a barrage of mischievous gossip and scandal. Was I paying the price of the moderate amount of fame that had been thrust upon me or tht penalty of indulging in the luxury of airing my independent views and thereby threatening vested interests? Worse still, insidiously, almost imperceptibly, I was unconsciously drifting into unnecessary controversies and cliques, inevitably affecting my style which was becoming self-conscious and cramped. I was getting more and more into the films and further and further away frcm real journalism. My father and a few close friends had been noticing and regretting this drift. And when one day I discovered that I was so much out of touch with world news that I did not know when Italy had entered the war and who was Senor Suner, I decided to revert to the news desk. According to my way of thinking, a film critic cannot call himself progressive if he is not following, from day to day, the political, economic and social developments in the world. But in a world ridden with capitalism, progressive literature must remain for me as for others an ideal rather than an achievement. Even in an advanced country like America it is non-existent. Meyer Levin had tc stop writing in "Esquire" and Frank Nugent of "New York Times" has migrated to Hollywood. Only my friend Jimmy Dugan ploughs his lonely furrow in "New Masses." As fcr India, of the three persons who were gifted with the potentialities of becoming progressive film critics, economic necessity has forced cne to publicise ambulances, another to report princely doings for a news agency in i an* wee* TT.MAtff I tot 42 ock 19, SIR PHIROZESHAH MEHTA ROAD, BOMBAY. t3