Filmindia (1941)

October, 1941 Miss K. Thavamani Devi and M. K. Radha in •'VcTua Mohini", a Tamil picture. DANGEROUS FREE LANCING Once again there seems to be a boom in film production, strangely enough at a time when the prices of raw materials have gone up considerablj and even a shortage of raw film supply is feared. As in 1935 scores of free lance producers are working in hired studios in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras and shouting themselves hoarse in their efforts to compete with well established studios. While no one should complain about expansion in an industry we must warn these free-lance producers that the film industry is not a safe bet for a gamble. Success in free lancing is a matter of luck and these single-picture producers more often fail than succeed. But when the inevitable failure does the final pruning, we find the free-lancers disappearing leaving behind them a crowd of creditors particularly among artistes and newspapers. And only those people have the right to enterprise who have apprenticed themselves in the industry for some time and feel confident about giving their talents an independent chance. For those who have collected money in sticking street posters or have had an overflow in the share market, free-lance film production will definitely prove to be an item of loss. A STALEMATE IN EXHIBITION Somehow it does not seem to have struck our film financiers of the city that Bombay needs at least three more first run cinemas if a part of the huge human and inhuman drama framed in celluloid and packed in tins is to be released. When an average Indian picture comes on the screen, deservingly or undeservingly it blocks up a cinema at least ior six weeks. The last fcfw 'weeks are FILMINDIA often secured by the producer by paying a hire to the cinema owner instead of receiving a share of the takings from him. Then there are several cinemas in tlie city which are either owned or controlled exclusively by the producers. These cinemas keep on running old and worn out pictures till the new pictures of the producers are ready for release. All this, ofcourse, holds up the releases of several other pictures which would do better business if released in time. Just at present "Khazanchi" monopolises the Krishna, "Anjan", the Roxy, "Kanchan" the Imperial, "Sister" the Pathe, "Sant Sakhu" the Central, "Alexander the Great" the Minerva and "Shadi" the Royal Opera. That leaves only two theatres — the Lamington and the Majestic — for quick turn-over. There are at least fifteen pictures quite ready to be released, lying with the different iDroducers. The stories of these pictures are fast becoming old problems while their film technique has already become stale. It is neither fair to the trade nor to the people who make these pictures, that they should lie in the tins so long. Some way, out of this stalemate must be found. And if the city financiers are not in a mood to give us a few more first-run theatres the weekly minimum hold-over of the cinemas, at present between Rs. 2000]and Rs. 3000 1-, should be raised up for big productions to Rs. 5000] a week and a maximum run of 15 weeks may be fixed for the first run, no matter, how well the picture draws. If a picture has still the probability of drawing crowds remaining in it at the end of the fifteenth week, that possibility may well be exploited in a second run at a later date. This procedure will also stabilize the position of the number of second-run theatres in the city. At present the first run theatres crush out all the juice from a picture and then pass it on to the A Soldier at the rewinding spools at the Abdulla Faiiaibha-y Institute. 9