Filmindia (1941)

March 1941 FILMINDI A itireatening and as frightening as a monster? Do you still think, I am exaggerating? Well, then, my obstinate reader, tell me where are those stars who once were the darlings of your heart — once — till the talkies came'' You don't remember even the names ot many of them. How many of the lieroes who were once drawing a lour figure cheque are heard of Do you know that many of them are going from studio to studio to be taken at least as extras? Have you heard of the fund that the F. A.A.I, is trying to collect to help these fallen stars so that they may live on the charity of their successors? I know of an actor whose physique was once his pride. There were not a few who then envied him for his figure. To-day his cheeks are sunken, his limbs that once glowed with strength now hang about him like dead leaves, his eyes that once sparkled with the joy of living, have now become dull and lifeless and the sadness in them can melt even a stone. Once he was the idol of the millions till his fans left him to applaud a new personality. I know of an actress who, too. occupied a similar place in the heart <jf the public till she too was compelled to leave her heavenly abode to go into oblivion. These are not exceptions as you may like to believe. These are only two of the many examples. In India or in Hollywood the story is the same. Glamour and fun are the illusions — the dreams of the dreamer. A long luture full of uncertainty and question marks is the truth — the reality. A grim truth more painful to realize because it is hidden under the littering stuff. Heavens, why are you looking so pale and nervous? It seems had I not held you by your hand you would run away. Please don't mind, until I have finished all that I want to say to you. Believe me. I did not mean to scare you. I only wished you to see facts so that you may stop envying us for things that do not exist at all. I never meant that there is no fun or thrill of any sort. There is fun, indeed, and a sort of thrill too — the sort of a thrill the motor race gives to the mind that has love for adventure and the risks that are always associated with it. Our work is exacting but interesting— there is lot of fun and en.ioyment as long as the work lasts. I don't mean the romantic life that an artiste is supposed to have but the fun and enjoyment that one gets by doing one's work sincerely. Don't run away after knowing the facts — do join us if you feel an honest urge that is strong and healthy, but come with your eyes open to all the risks and dangers just as you keep them open to the risks and dangers in any other profession. Come not to find glamour and fun that your dreamy mind imagines. Come to live and shine for a while with the full knowledge thai very soon you will be left with nothing but the sweet memories of tlie short but thrilling existence. Come with the spirit of the daiedevil who can smile in the face of danger and death. Come with the broad mind of the perfect sport who, with the same willingness with which he accepts to captain his team, agrees to resign to make room for a better player (only in this case it is not always a better player for whom you make room). RUN AWAY NOW No, friend, don't run away but don't envy us, either! Don't carry with you false notions. All that glitters is not gold and even gold is "imitation" these days that can be had for two and half rupees a tola. And if you are not prepared for anything but a life of glamour and pleasures, if you don't have the courage and the :itrength to survive the fall in case the magic carpet under you suddenly disappears, if you won't be able to keep your chin up in the face of adversity, then please, for God's sake, for your sake, take to your heels. And now, that I have shown this "film" of the artiste's true fate exposing before your glamour-struck eyes the bare truth, mercilessly tearing off that film of illusion that, like the goggles you wear, prevented you from seeing things in their true colours, giving them artificial beauty, that soothed your eyes and fanned your desires — I leave it to your judgment to decide whether you should enter our land or not. Whatever you decide, please don't envy us. Kaimabja (ind S)iakir make exciting drama in ''Darshan" a Prakash picture. 53