Filmindia (1941)

FILMINDIA February, 1941 Jyoti has joined the Prakash Pictures and works in "Darshan" a social picture. ing and return home at nine in the night every day. That was rather rough on the budding star who was recently married and who sacrificed her honeymoon to accommodate the Bombay Talkies. According to Mrs. Snehaprabha the producers were not even fair to her in other respects. Songs were given to her on the previous day and recorded for the film on the very next day. Dances were not allowed to be rehearsed properly, with the result that the artiste was not pleased with her performance. What tickled me was that Mrs. Snehaprabha au-ed her grievance in the presence of her producer Mr. Mukherjee and Mr. Shantaram of Prabhat. If what Mrs. Snehaprabha says is true — and it seems to be true as Mr. Mukherjee blushed a little — then I can hardly find favour with this phase of capitalism which seems to have got hold of the Bombay Talkies. While everyone in the industry rejoices the unique success of the Bombay Talkies in producing astounding hits like "Kangan" and "Bandhan" one would not like to feel that all this success was secured by a relentless slave-driving of the artistes. I invite the attention of the directors of the Bombay Talkies to this complaint and hope that they will introduce a little more humanity in their work. Even the modest little Ahmed Abbas once described Mr. S. Mukherjee as a "smiling slave-driver" while working for the Bombay Talkies on the script of "Naya Sansar." And Ahmed Abbas is not a complaining sort. Visual Education With Invisible Plans Mr. Claude Scott, the Director of Information to the Government of Bombay, must be congratulated on the efficient hurry with which he tried to justify his scheme for rural propaganda. As soon as the January issue of "filmindia" was out the Director of Information who had previously thought that it was "too early" for the tax-payers to know anything about his pet scheme suddenly arranged its inauguration by His Excellency the GovMr. Claude Scott. emoT of Bombay at Turumbha, a village in Thana District, on the 2 1st January. On the 22nd January Ambalal Patel of the Central Camera Co. who has floated a new company called the Educational Films of India suddenly thought of "Educating India's Millions" and published an advertisement in the "Times of India" advertising several 16 m.m. films such as: "A Day In Bombay", "Village Fires", "Tempting The Devil", "The Birth of Cloth", etc. with prices ranging between Rs. 100/ and Rs. 175/ for a copy. By the way, Ambalal Patel is reported to have been in close collaboration with the Director of Information in his new scheme. On the 23rd January, for the first time in the hundred and odd years history of the "Times of India" that solitary rampart of Government defence came out George Brent and Brenda Marshall in ''South of F^ez' a Warner picture. 10