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September 1942
PILMINDIA
In "Roti" a social picture of National Studios, we see a lot of Sitara and it seems quite attractive.
to stay, inspite of keen foreign competition or lack of sympathy from the State, our producers are expected to be progressive in planning their entertainment fare for millions.
To show to our producers what intellectual public leaders feel about our film industry and its role in our nation's life, "filmindia" has been interviewing several popular leaders who are themselves shaping the destiny of our nation frcm day to day.
Says Ex-Premier B. G. Kher, "I consider films as Bn agency worth harnessing for public good. Both pom the educational and entertainment points of view pe cinema has ccme to stay. It will live as long as modern civilization lives and like other features of the modern civilization, it must be fully exploited for puman welfare.''
"Human Welfare" — Those two words should really worry cur conscientious producers. Are our present ilms planned or produced to contribute to the welfare pf humanity? Yes, sometimes.^ But so rarely that our □ity Mayor Yusuf Meherally complains: "Several Indian pictures he had seen were splendid but others were disappointing— he found the Indian pictures gene-ally too long, the subject matter riot fully exploited lind sometimes, the treatment conventional without a nroper background of realism.
Continued the Socialist Mayor of Bombay, "I would like to see the life of an Indian peasant in his social and political setting — rural indebtedness, tragedies from addiction to drink, antiquated social custom etc. Then films on the evil of child marriage and unequal marriages and so many other problems of today."
In short, Mayor Meherally wantsd the film to educate the masses — make the issues clearer. He believes that a film with a purpose could entertain the public more and serve the national ideals better than those which are built in air.
Are we producing pictures to meet these national needs? It is useless to reply to this question, seeing the number of "Saints" we manage to can in our film tins from month to month and present them as devotional sardines for the religious appetites cf all and sundry.
The Rt. Hon. Dr. M. R. Jayakar has something to say about the saintly miracles so often seen on tne Indian screen:
Says Dr. Jayakar: "I must tell you, however, that the miracles cur saints perform on celluloid are a horrible torture to me. Personally, I would prefer these saints and mythological figures to be severely left alone. All these venerable old celebrities are present