Filmindia (1941)

becember, 1941 There is nothing heroic about being a member of a club. The Cricket Club of India, however, is a very respectable institution with some of the best people in the city as members. Had it not been so eocpensive, I would home also become a member. The Cricket Club is not like the phoney Chit Chat Club which is the brain child of Zabak's fertile imagination. I think Motilal should not be blamed for talking abmit his being a member because it is quite a distinction being a member of the C.C.I. Why do you use adjectives such as "fascinating", "enchanting" for every actress in your magazine, when most of them can hardly be called even good-looking? Indeed, why do I do that, when I also realize that most of our girls are hardly good looking? You forget, miss, that mine is a propaganda magazine with the primary aim of popularizing Indian films. So when I write "fascinating", "enchanting" etc., I doctor the critical eye of the audiences and fog their vision, till they come to believe that what they see is as I describe it. You forget that film making is not metely an art, it is also a business and unless it pays as a business, no one can afford to continue serving art. P. P. S. Rao (Bangalore) May I have ' some information as to the life and career of Rafique Guznavi? Yes, he is a tall, cheeky Afghan with the warm affection of a Punjabi a-nd the devil-may-care bravado of an Afridi bandit. Rafique himself would make a good well-dressed bandit. He is a graduate of the Government College, Lahore, an excellent musician, an Urdu scholar, a good short story writer, and a film director. In fact, Rafique is an all-in-one combination of several attainments in addition to being perhaps the most unsteady and impulsive lover. His career began as music director and actor in "Heer Ranjaf' after which he landed himself in Bombay to make me his first friend and patron. Since then, he has been an actor, director and story writer in umpteen films, big and small. All the time he has been living well, too well, and dangerously too. But he is a damn good hearted boy with a broad smile and lots of optimism. Just at present he is producing "Leila-Majnun" in Pushtu for his Pathan and Afridi banditti ond I think he will make money in it if he manages to reach his brotherhood in their mx)untain recesses. As regards Rafique's life, I doubt whether the guy himself can remember the numerous hurdles he has jumped over in the past. Rafique always lives in the present. The past is dead to him and the future is not born. What makes me laugh is when he tries to talk like a businessman. Nuzhet Hussein (Muttra) The Ranjit Movietone have had a number of successful pictures recently. Why are they progressing so well, when others are not doing well? FILMINDIA At the head of Ranjit is a clever man of brains — Sardar Chandulal Shah. He keeps pace with the times and gives the people what they want in these times of strife and bloodshed. Result: He is making tons of money. V. K. Bhatnagar (Sikanderabad) In "Musafir", IChui'sheed falls in love with a lame person; in "Pardesi" she is in love with a mad man; in "Shadi" with a cripple; in "My Eyes" with a blind man. May I know if she will care to fall in love with a bald friend of mine? She is already in love with a bald, greying athletic mam. Think of another combination please. B. R. Verma (Patna) Is Snehaprabha married? Yes, to Kishore Sahu. And the wedding was celebrated at the Purohit's Cosmopolitan Restaurant with Sardar Chandulal Shah, Miss Gohar and Ahmed Abbas present. R. N. Murthy (Bangalore) Who are our six best cameramen? Please name them in their order of merit. Nitin Bose, P. C. Borua, Yusuf Mulji, Pandurang Naik, Faredoon Irani, Avadoot and Gordhanbhai Patel Sitara, smart as usual, looks smarter in "Swamy^', a Royal release directed by Mr. A. R, Kardar. 15