FilmIndia (1945)

October, 1945. FILM INDIA the vital problem of the safe storage of films. Even the tall-talking Congress members of the Municipal Corporation, who are always prompt in giving a long-winded lectures on their solicitude for the people in general, have never bothered about this problem inspite of several pre vious film fires having been prominently flashed in the newspapers. The film has been almost an alien subject to them probably because the Mahatma has called it an evil. Well, evil the films have proved to be seeing that they have taken a tragic toll of 19 human lives within just 25 minutes. Even now if the Municipal authorities learn a lesson they can save many human lives which are just at this moment constantly in danger. There are over a hundren film distributing firms in the City of Bombay and each ot them has got some sort of a film godown to store films. The M.G.M., the 20th Century-Fox and the Warners have their film vaults in their own offices just as the Paramount Films had. The R. K. O. Radio have their film vault in Sikka Nagar, a crowded building and locality on Vithalbhai Patel Road, while many Indian film distributors store their films in their own offices in absolute defiance of the risk involved. Any minute any of these film godowns may go up into the air for identically the same reason as the Paramount film vault exploded, and the lives of hundreds of innocent workers would be wiped out within a few minutes. It will be a long time before we read the findings of an official inquiry into the Paramount incident. But before such an inquiry is even decided upon, it is an emergent necessity that all present film godowns must be forthwith vacated and their contents shifted to a safer place and stored for safety. The lives of so many human beings depend on this immediate precaution by the authorities. The authorities must, now that they have been given the sacrificial offering of 19 human lives, frame strict and precise licensing rules for storing all types of films, either Another Paramount worker lying on the street, quiet in death. His eyes were burnt out before they could open to realise what had happened. What about his dependents? collectively or separately at such places and under such conditions as to contribute to the safety of human life and property. They must, moreover, investigate thoroughly the exact reasons which have contributed to so many fires at periodical intervals. Going back to the shocking tragedy at the Paramount office, in our opinion, it is not so much an accident as some of the daily newspapers have laboured to prove under the usual persuasive influence of advertising. It is a case of sheer criminal negligence. The owner of the building, Alex Hague, says that the film vault was built 25 years ago, long before modern devices like air conditioning or exhaust-fans were in general use. As the self-important Hague says the vault may have been quite uptodate 25 years back, when film fires were practically unknown. But 25 years later, the same vault must be considered utterly out-of-date, more so after remembering the tragic history of 20 big fires behind it. According to Hague's statement made to a newspaper man the vault was built to store just 2000 feet of film and Hague even took pride when he sometimes stored as much as 5000 feet. But the Paramount Films had nothing less than two million feet on the day of the explosion. Mind you, 2 million feet in a place originally built for just 200c feet — one would like to know what actual footage the Municipal authorities have mentioned in their storage license granted to Paramount Films. It is a well-known principle in storing films that the place of storage should have sufficient ventilation and enough charge of fresh air at regular intervals. The vault of Paramount, beside being overloaded, is reported not to have had any air-conditioning or exhaust fans to clear the air. Another primary condition in the storage ol inflammable material is that the place of storage should be isolated or separated from the main building. Para mount's film vault was an integral part of their office and its only door opened inside the office premises. He need not type any more for Paramount. His hair, eyes and body are burnt out of recognition. But surely, Paramount should recognise their old loyal worker. Will they ? 7