Filmindia (1941)

June 1941 F ILMINDIA Miss Muktha Nellikai (Mangalore) Can you tell me where my favourite star Sabita Devi is at present? She is my favourite star, too, but I don't get a chance to see her. Whenever, I look out for her I find her "Mummy" in the front door and Director Badami at the back door. How can you see your favourite that way? I think, she has either retired from the screen or is thinking of doing so. She is not much in the news nowadays and I don't even see her photographs anywhere. If she is still to be called a star, this is a peculiar stardom. I want to write to Leela Chitnis for a photograph. Write to Mr. C. R. Gvalani, her husband, and seeing your name, he will send you one. His address is Chitra Productions, Main Road, Dadar, Bombay. Omar Khan (Mysore) Do you mind printing a photo of Director Mehboob? I want to see his face. He hasn't much of a face to photograph. His beauty lies in his work. See his new picture "Sister", and you will see the man. Lokesh C. Dar (Srinagar) Motilal has come to our city. I had a great regard for him before but I now understand that actors, even good ones, are just glorified bad characters. Motilal is enjoying with all sorts of disreputable people of the city. Are other big ones, the same stuff? I saw him with an overgrown beard. He looked like an idiot. He has made friends with the most hated man of the City. God alone knows what these people must be doing in Bombay? I, too, know what they do in Boynbay. But because I love Motilal, I want him to read this. He must know how he looks in the public eye. If all that you say is true, I shall take Moti to task when he returns. He doesn't lie to me and I shall know the truth. In any case, an educated lad like Moti, good and quiet usually, should not give the world a cock-eyed view of film actors. I do not want him to be a snob, but film artistes are popular idols and they shatter their own glamour when they act funny. After seeing "Raj Nartaki", I came to the conclusion that the picture was just a complete advertisement of Sadhona Bose. She is spread over the whole picture. Then why was Prithviraj wasting his time? This is always the case with Sadhona Bose pictures, because Modhu Bose, perhaps, believes that Sadhona has all the drama needed in the world. He may be right as he knows more about her, but Sadhona alvne can't be a complete film story. Prithviraj has not only wasted time in "Raj Nartaki" but now he is wasting his life in other pictures. Gone are those old ideals of "Art for Art's Sake." Prithviraj is today like a grocer giving his measure for the price. That is what money does to a man. Winayak Roy (Mahableshwar) "Bandhan" and "Naya Sansar" have been big hits and all papers, including "filmindia" have praised the pictures. Glorious tributes have been paid to the writers and the producer. But I find that both the pictures have been directed by one Mr. N. R. Acharya about whom not a line of praise has been written. How is that? Why are the other directors given all the ballyhoo? A very sensible question, which some one had to ask someday. The system of production in Bornbay Talkies is a little different from the other studios. In the Bombay Talkies, the producer takes upon himself the entire responsibility of the picture, the director occupying a nominal post. Mr. Mukherjee the producer practically directs the whole picture. In the other studios the director docs everything. M. P. Sinha (Mymensingh) Why has Mr. Chimanlal Desai ceased to be the Managing Director of the National Studios? What is he doing now? The story of the resignaton is a long one. It is as old as Chimanlal and I have no space for it. It is apparent that Mr. Chimanlal's management was not acceptable to the other directors. Men in Monica Desai looks charming in "Chitralekha" a Film Corporation picture. 23