FilmIndia (1945)

FILMINDIA November, 1945 "Ameeree" a social picture of Associated is a story of the poor. It is a motion picture designed to move people. BALD PRODUCERS "It is indeed a news to hear, that Producer Hemen Gupta has applied to the Government of India for an 'Ex-Gratia' license to produce a film on the subject of Bengal Famine. The events of that tragic episode have formed the theme for many a story writer and novelist and yet not one producer has moved forward to present to the nation a graphic record of the events on the celluloid. "It is strange how the whole civilised world has wept over the narrations of the nerve-racking calamity while apparently not a hair on the producers' swollen heads has been ruffled. Indeed it seems that many of our producers are blissfully ignorant of the fact that onlv the other day our country was in the hideous grip of a terrible catastrophe, the greatest calamity that ever befell any country in living memory." VIZAGAPATAM. Yeshwantharao. "PALACE*' AND "PARADISE" "I find that most of the theatres are very badly ventilated. There are hardly any fans at work and on crowded days the whole atmosphere, filled with foul air and smoke of cigarettes, is very stuffy and as such becomes conducive to bad health. There is no limit to the number of diseases that one can contract in such stuffy places. I have seen people fainting more than once, in the thick of the crowd, even while the show is on [t really requires some amount, nf stamina to prevent the feeling of nausea and giddiness while in the theatre. The cheaper seats being benches there is no limit to the issuing of tickets even though the number of persons inside the hall have exceeded twice the prescribed number. By the time the show is over most people have worn down their nerves and are feeling giddy, and too tired after the show for anything else. "To add to these the seating arrangements are extremely bad. Most of the benches and chairs do not possess the required number of legs and one has to take the risk of breaking his neck before he attempts to sit on them. Most of the wooden furniture has nails pricking out and many find their dresses torn if they attempt at changing their positions of sitting. "The urinals etc. provided are so hopeless that most people find the walls of the building itself a fine place for emptying their bladders. Disinfectants are seldom used and apart from the foul air within the theatre one has also to bear the smell of the urinals which is worse than everything else. "The cinema equipment itself in many theatres is in a very deplorable state. The arc is very dim and the sound inaudible. No word can be picked easily and the music sounds like the croaking of frogs in the rainy season. "Moreover, the theatre owners frequently get hold of some rotten picture which is worn out and completely spoilt, probably at extremely reduced rates. The picture itself is generally only twentyfive per cent of its original self. The distributors must be severely dealt with for allowing such pictures to be screened. Profiteering in such a way is beyond all limits of human endurance. "It is for some entertainment after a heavy day's work that one usually goes to the theatre and if these are the amenities a person is provided, where is the justification for the theatre owner to run the theatre at all seeing that he is doing nothing but exactly contrary to the ideas and purposes for which a theatre is meant. The municipa All-round Shanta Apte will be seen once again in "Panihari", a story of Asiatic directed by Mr. Gunjal. 66