FilmIndia (Jan-Nov 1942)

MAY 1942 VOL. 8 No. 5. SUBSCRIPTION: The annual subscription, for 12 issues of "filmindia", is: INLAND: Rs. «/FOREIGN: Shillings 18/ Subscription is accepted only for a collective period of 12 months and not for a smaller period. Subscription money should be remitted only by Money Order or by Postal Order but not by cheques. V.P.P.s will not be sent. Change of Address: Two months previous notice is required for change of address. Loss of Copies: The publishers do not hold themselves responsible for loss of copies in transit as the copies of the subscribers are sent under careful supervision. Selling Price: The price of a single copy from January 1942 is Ans. 12/ inland and shillings 21 foreign. If any agent is found demanding in excess of this price, the publishers should be informed with the requisite proof. Contributions: Only from qualified writers, contributions are accepted. Manuscripts sent by sundry contributors will be returned if only sufficient postage is sent to cover their return. Correspondence: No personal correspondence with the Editor is encouraged. Letters seeking information are replied to in the "Editor's Mail" section according to the importance and the suitability of such letters. Advertising: The advertisement rates are as follows: Full Page inside Rs. 150/ per insertion Half Page inside Rs. 80/ . „ 2nd & 3rd Cover Rs. 200/ „ 4th Cover Rs. 300/ „ 1st Cover Rs. 1000/ . „ Less than half page space will not be booked. The cost of the advertisement should be submitted in advance with the order. The advertisement will be subject to the terms and condition* of our usual contract. filmindia Proprietors :— FILMINDIA PUBLICATIONS, Ltd. Sir Phirozshah Merita Road, Fort, Bombay Editor: It Alt I 11. XO PATEL Our film industry is to-day facing a terrible crisis. It has been threatened with a shortage of raw film. And already several film studios in South India have stopped production and thrown out of employment hundreds of persons who have been, all these years, depending on film making in the South. In a very short time the position in Bombay will be equally grave, although the Government of India have granted a priority of import for the raw film required by the industry. The vital problem, however, is that of transport and this is something beyond the control of the Government of India. With the enemy reported to be operating in the Indian waters, it is becoming increasingly difficult for normal shipping to continue unloading goods into the country. The military needs of the country are of vital impcrtance and naturally therefore the entire available tonnage will be required for military purposes. To find space for raw films and chemicals which our film industry requires, under these circumstances is well nigh impossible. The best way. therefore, to meet this emergency is to reorganize our film industry on a war-time basis and make the most of what supplies we have already in hand and the small trickle that will be available at painful intervals. Strangely enough, war had given an impetus to production in Bombay. Many tiny concerns have cropped up to produce a single picture, thereby forcing a wider distribution of our limited resources in raw films and chemicals. This should not have been allowed, but our industry lacks an organisation to exercise an effective control in such matters. The result of this lack of control is that we have now over forty pictures in making in the different studios of the city — half of which are launched by freelance producers. Free-lance production never helps an industry that strives to stabilize itself. Statistics will prove that 95% of free lance productions fails to be popular at the boxoffices and almost invariably the one-picture producer never recovers his investment with the result that the 3