Filmindia (1941)

October. 1941 FILMINDIA MECCA OF HIS DREAMS Bombay to Prithviraj was a lecca, a place where his dreams would be realised, so when the train bringing him from his birth place Peshawar, drew into Grant Road station, and his fellow passengers said "This is Bombay", he looked at them with suspicion and said in a determined voice "My ticket says 'Colaba' and if I'm to get to Bombay I must get out at Colaba station." So Prithviraj got out at Colaba station and eventually found his way to the Kashmir Hotel. Here, strangely enough, he met two men connected with the films, Mr. Obeloi and Mr. G. K. Mehta, the wellknown cameraman. They showed Prithviraj how to find his way to Ihe Imperial Studios by drawing complicated diagrams for him to follow. Prithviraj had no letters of introduction, and no idea how he should go about this business of Decoming an actor but he went to the Imperial Studios. There Prithi found another prospective actor (an extremely handsome youth; waiting to see Mr. Ardeshir the proprietor of Imperial's. Prithviraj's hopes were dashed to the ground when he saw this adonis but the adonis was rejected and told Prithi that Mr. Ardeshir had said to him that he did not want any more actors. Prithi said "That's what you were told, but I'm going to try just the same." Ardeshir was impressed by Prithviraj and his excellent College certificate which mentioned his dramatic ability. He said "My boy I see success written on your face but I can only offer you work as an unpaid extra." Prithviraj, picturing the amusement he would see on the faces of his friends in Peshawar if he returned a failure, agreed to berome an unpaid extra. So he started work as an extra, but the day following his interview with Ardeshir, he attracted the attention of Ihe director B. P. Misra, who gave him several film tests and then offered him the lead in his new picture. After this Prithviraj rose to fame playing leading parts in 12 pictures for Imperial. One of these films was "Alam Ara" the first Indian talkie. But the Imperial authorities thought Prithviraj would not be a success in talkies, so he was thrown out along with several others. AN HARD UP ACTOR Nothing daunted, he joined Grant Anderson's Indian National Theatre Company and toured the country A-'ith them for ten months. During '.his time Prithi acted in fifteen plays fcmong which were plays of Shakespeare, Shaw and Tagore. '^^hese Prithi says, were some of the hap He would like to stay ten years in Hollywood and win a couple of "Oscars". piest days of his life. He says "Very often we were dressed in magnificent costumes but we had nothing Jn our pockets. Yes, from a monetary point of view, those were hard times but we did not care. Grant Anderson was a grand old trouper and one day he paid me a very extravagant compliment. He said 'Prithi, you are the seventh descendant of Shakesoeare and with "our interpretation of Shakespeare's Cassius I can put on on any London stage'." Unfortunately the Grant Anderson Company closed down in 1932 at Calcutta and so Prithviraj joined New Theatres in Calcutta. Then he made "Seeta" for the East Indian Company and returned to th? New Theatres and worked with them for five years. In Calcutta he worked under the direction of the famous Devki Bose and worked in "Vidyapati" In 1939 Prithviraj joined Ranjit's and made five pictures. Then in 1940 Prithviraj started free-lancing and his recent films are "Deepak", "Raj Nartaki" and "Alexander The Great" which has not yet been seen by the public. HIS SYMPATHY FOR GREECE His two new films are Shalimar's "One Night" with Neena and another picture for Taj Mahal Pictures with Naseem. So you see Prithviraj has had a very interesting and exciting career and his twelve years in the film business have taught him that once you become an actor you are an actor always. He loves his work. The filming of "Alexander The Great" coincided with the actual fall of Greece during this present war and Prithi says "I kept wishing ?s I played the role of Alexander that I could really be Alexander the Great and lead my army against Hitler and defeat him in Greece " INDIA'S AMBASSADOR Prithviraj, has achieved the fame he dreamt about as a College boy nnd he will probably achieve world fame if he goes to Hollywood. He would like to stay ten years In Hollywood and win a couple of "Oscars", before he returns to India. He says "Hollywood could be a League of Nations and a cultural centre if the people there would not think only of making money. Alr?ady almost every country is represented there by a well-known star or director. Garbo is Sweden's representative, Lubitsch is Germany's, Boyer is France's. Only India has no representative. Every nation has its own culture to contribute to the world. Why not let (Con. on page 55) 43