FilmIndia (Jan-Nov 1942)

August 1942 FILMINDIA hours. The bold editorials, the witty replies in the "Editor's Mail" would unfailingly provide relaxation during an insipid lecture. •'Another way in which "filmindia" was used was for drawing parallels between the 'stars' and the 'college beauties'. One of us ■was a Leela Chitnis and the second a Devika Rani of our College (Far good or for bad I was called the latter). These names would be shouted by the boys as the girls marched along the corridors. I remember one mischievous boy who would always sing the first line of a duet by Ashok Kumar to his "Devika", with an optimistic imagination that she would join in the duet." And what does she think of our present day pictures? "I like the social pictures best— they are both entertaining and useful in comparison with the historical and the mythological stuff we keep on getting from time to time. Historical pictures may be neces|sary, occasionally, to revive our chivalry and bravery of the past and thus to inspire us to action but pur conceptions in the mythological stories tend to be fantastic and strain our imagination and reason too much to prove entertaining. "In the field of social pictures, as we find them today, very few contribute to the awakening of the social conscience. Most of them have hardly any social purpose but serve cnly for entertainment. "Take, for instance the pictures 3t the Bombay Talkies with the inevitable Zamindar and the well dressed village belle and the usual 3amsel-in-distress situations and :ell me what social purpose do these pictures serve beyond a temporary ind frivolous entertainment? "On the other hand a picture like Tadosi" had a purposeful meaning, for it dealt with the vexed ■iindu-Muslim question. Another vas "Admi" which aimed at deternining the social status of a prostiute. "In some pictures, the represenation of traditional Hindu wifehood worshipping at the feet of her lord inspite of severe beatings) 13 rather hard to believe. Are men really so cruel and women so submissive? THE POWER OF THE SCREEN "The screen, I think, should be harnessed to present realities of life, both social and economic, with a view to correct the present day maladjustment of life's values. "Take, for instance, the problem of marriage. Why should the screen always rub in the conventional marriage? Marriage is an old and respectable institution but can it not stand the rather unconventional strain of modern love? Can't we love first and then marry the man rather than marry him first and then try to love him? "Take another instance: of college education. The Indian screen has always ridiculed the idea of girls taking college education. Is it really as harmful as is made out on the screen? Or are the men, who make these pictures, suffering from inferiority complex? "The Indian screen invariably shows the prostitute as a lost woman. To her is granted no salva tion, no hope and no quarter. And yet the economic factor in a prostitute's life — the stern necessity of earning a livelihood in the midst of social ostracism — is conveniently forgotten and every day more and more calumny is heaped on her head. Couldn't the Indian screen extend more human treatment to our discarded step-sisters and pleading for greater understanding and toleration provide the prostitute with a better means of livelihood? "There are many other social problems such as: caste complex in our country, untouchability, disadvantages of the joint family life, the complications of our modern club life, the poverty of our masses, village uplift etc., which are waiting for a bold and imaginative representation on the screen. Don't you think that our producers should apply themselves to these problems rather than giving us the damsel-indistress sob-stuff which we get nowadays?" "All that our screen has done so far effectively is popularising Hindustani as our national language all over the country. And that itself is