Filmindia (1941)

October, 1941 riLMINDIA the receiver down she turned her full attention towards me. Actually I should have quailed beneath that fiery glance. But, shameless me, I just sat and stared back. I could do nothing else. She was like her perfume. Tender and soft. Irresistible beyond compare. Tantalizingly beautiful, with a certain something in her queenly grace that reminded me strongly of moonlight and rosea. "Well", she exclaimed, "You seem to be a very perverse fellow. Didn't my ayah tell you that I was not at home?" "Yes, she did." I mumbled, trying to take my eyes off her enchanting face. "But, you see, you were in and I thought it would not be very nice for me to go away without seeing the person who tries my own trick on me." WANTS HER LIFE PRIVATE For a brief instant she studied me. She was breathing normally now. Her beautiful features relaxed as the fury in them cooled down. Her eyes softened. A faint smile made a beginning on her lips .... then suddenly she burst out into a laughter as she slid into the chesterfield opposite me. "Well you are the lirnit". She laughed. "Now that you've seen me. What do you want?" "I'm a newspaper man," I answered. "I have come to interview you." "Wliat for?" she exclaimed. "For my paper. I'm sure our readers and many other girls in India would like to know why you have suddenly decided to enter the movies". I explained. "I don't know why I should give you any particulars about myself", she returned. "After all why I entered the films is my own personal business and not yours. If you think you're going to get a scoop out of me. You're in for a big disappointment." "But," I remonstrated, "every girl who enters the shov/ business always tells the press everj thing they want to know. It is the usual custom. You must tell me something about yourself at least." "Why Should I"?, she replied m.enacingly. "I have nothing to say. I am in the movies because I want to be. Isn't that reason enough. Now please go. I want to be left in peace. I want to be alone. I don't want any ballyhoo and fuss made about me. My private life is my own and I intend to keep it private and to myself." GANGSTER JOURNALIST AT BAY The girl was mystifying me more and more. In fact .she had got me completely baffled. A tall, slender, chit of a girl (she can hardly be more than twenty); there she sat in front of me warding off my questions with a Goolnes.s I could not help admiring. For fifteen minutes I tried my best to get her to speak, to give me a line. . . .but all in vain. I begged. I fumed. I even threatened. But she sat like a rock throughout. Giving me no information whatsoever. Flatly refusing to reveal her identity and absolutely deriding all my eff'orts to probe the mystery that surrounded her very gait and appearance. I was getting a head-ache. Anybody placed in a similar position is liable to get a head-ache. In sheer desperation I got up. "So you won't talk. Eh!", I fumed reaching for my hat. "Are you a journalist or a gangster?", she asked with a quizzical smile that played on her lips. "Why do you speak Chicago?" "You make me wish I was," I put in while trying my best to curb the anger rising within me. "But, young lady, don't you think you have got rid of me finally. One day I shall find out everything and break that spell of mystery that cloaks you". "Neena smiled. A full well-Iormed smile before she replied: "You are perfectly welcome to try. Till then au revoir young man." There was a distinct trace of mockery in that smile. I can swear my life on it.... but there Is one thing more that I can swear — I will one day tell you the secret of Neena, which she is so jealously guarding to-day. Till then goodbye Neena. I forgive you for the head-ache you gave me. But you are lovely and that is enough for me. (Con. from page 43) Indian culture be brought to the notice of the world through the medium of the cinema? India wa.<; 'something' once and will be 'something' again. I feel very strongly tor my country. When I return from Hollywood I would like to start a caravan theatre company vnd tour the villages. "Through my plays I will let people see what life is like and what it should be like. I do not believe in preaching. My plays I hope will guide the people better than any preaching could. I pray that I may harness my art to the betterment of humanity." You will see that Prithi has something of the poet and something of 1he philosopher in him; but you will want to know more of his home life. He is devoted to his wife and family. His eldest son has just won the Cama Memorial Cup for elocution. This Loy, as a child, has acted with his father in a stage play called "The Toy Cart", but he has not yet decided whether he wants to be an actor, a director or a a engine driver! Prithi plays tennis, hockey and football and you may, if you happen to be there at the right time, see him wielding a tennis racquet at the Hindu Gymkhana at Matunga. He is also learning to play the sitar "so that he can entertain people in Hollywood if he goes there." He reads American film magazines from cover to cover so that the people in Hollywood will not seem like strangers when he meets them. "THE COURT DANCER" If "The Court Dancer" is sent abroad for foreign distribution and acclaimed by Hollywood I see no reason why its star Prithviraj should not very soon realise his dream and iT.ake films in Hollywood. Carmen Miranda is known as Brazil's unofficial ambassadress to America. Prithviraj would make a very distinguished unofficial Indian ambassador to America. Don't you agree with me? 55