FilmIndia (1945)

February, 1945. FILMINDIA and promised to give a show of shows to all lovers of Indian dancing. But when people saw the show their hearts sank into their shoes and they wondered why good and honest educationists had to promise something fraudulent to collect money for a good cause. The .people of Bombay could have given as much money for the mere asking if they had been told that the money was required for a good cause. It was not necessary to impose on them the stupid dances of D. L. Samar or the bearded, faltering music of B. D. Bhate, the two prodigies who took up the burden of the dancing and the singing parts of the Kalamandal show. The whole affair was frivolously amateurish and people felt cheated out of their money. And even the feeling within ihat the money was going for a good cause did not lend any consolation to the mind because the clumsy Marwari organisers lacked ordinary civility of speech and manner in the general conduct of the shows. It is a pity that a well-reputed educational ins:itution should stoop to such farcical methods to collect fundi. THESE DELHI THEATRES ! Delhi is the Capital of India. It has long history behind it — history thousands of years old. It has been a city of kings since ages. And even today, kings and princes live in Delhi. But the city has theatres into which beggars would not like to step — especially those in Delhi proper. And why are almost all the theatres in Delhi like pigstys in a bog of thickly crowded population ? Because the city fathers or the Municipal authorities lack the requisite civic pride and are not anxious to make their city look beautiful or to provide the correct amenities to the public. Anything in the way of a shed seems to satisfy them in place of a theatre. If they want to know what a good theatre looks like, they have only to step across to New Delhi and see the Odeon or the Plaza. These two theatres should give the city authorities some idea as to what can be done in the way of theatres in their own area. Perhaps they are too lazy to move about and find for themselves how far the rest of the world has progressed. If that be so it is a great pity. And it will be a greater pity as long as this great Capital of India continues to supply a pigsty to the people and call it a picture hall. HIGH TIDE IN BENGAL ! " Kismet ", that box-office mint produced by the Bombay Talkies, has become a storm in Calcutta. Ever since Distributor Kapurchand purchased it for Bengal, " Kismet " seems to have acquired one more leg of luck and it is now running in the 70th week non-stop at the Roxy. Already the picture has collected a little less than seven lakhs and there is every chance of the picture running for six months more. Actually the tide of inflation whicii explains " Kismet's " extraordinary success in Calcut.a in comparison with its run in Bombay, is now on the ebb in Calcutta as in several other towns of India. Pictures of the day will not run like " Kismet ". " Shakuntala " which was run for so long in Bombay was taken off the screen in fifteen weeks at Calcutta, while " Mali " ran only for three weeks. Many other pictures go off the screen within five or six weeks. And yet distributors from Bengal are offering fancy prices for pictures without any reasonable chance of recovering their investments. Gambling is a good game in races and cards where losses are anticipated and counted in advance but in motio i picture distribution where profits are essential to secure stability gambling becomes a foolhardy game. The theatre scarcity in Calcutta and its surrounding districts is as acute as in Bombay, Delhi, Lahore and other cities of India and many a good picture is still lying in tins unreleased in Bengal. With the old tins on the chest what chance has a distributor to release the new ones immediately to take advantage of the quickly receding tide of inflation ? Distributors in Bengal had better be careful in purchasing new pictures. Every one is not born with Kapurchand's infallible luck. SHOUTING SWALLOWS THE SALES ! In marked contrast with Bombay the publicity problem in Calcutta is very simple. In Bombay the producer has to spend thousands of rupees in newspaper advertising, theatre decoration and street publicity before and during the release of his picture. Very often he spends several thousands more in publicity than what he actually gets as his share from the release theatre. The problem is entirely different in Calcutta. There, a couple of inches a day in a score of papers with a few posters on street kiosks and a theatre show at which no one looks twice bring all the crowds that a film producer wants for a good picture. Director Kedar Sharma has now started stripping the arm pits. Here is one of Premlata in "Caravan", a Ranjit picture. 9