FilmIndia (1948)

SUBSCRIPTION RATES : The annual subscription, for 12 issues of "filmindia", from any month is : INLAND Rs. 24/FOREIGN: Shillings 50 Suuscription is accepted only f-r a collective period of 12 months and not for a smaller pjrioii. Subscription money should be remitted only by Money Order or by Pcs'al Order but not by cheques. V. P. P.s will not be sent. filmindia PROPRIETORS FILMINDIA PUBLICATIONS LTD 55. SIR PHIROZESHAH MEHTA ROAD. FORT, BOMBAY. Telephone : 26752 Editor: BABURAO PATEL Vol. XIV. JANUARY 1949 No. I. ADVERTISEMENT RATES: The advertisement rates are as follows : Per Insertion Full Page Inside Half Page Inside i Page inside 4 Pa?e inside 2nd & 3rd Cover Rs. •4th Cover Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. 400 210 120 ISO 500 600 ist Cover Rs. 1,000 The cost of the advertisement should be submitted in advance witn the order. The adv = rtlsement will te subj. ct to the terms and conditions of cur usual contract. 1948 1947 the year of the Quaid-i-Azam and the birth /ear of Pakistan has passed. The birth pangs of Pakistan, proudly proclaimed as the largest Islamic •tate in the world, have taken thousands of innocent ives and uprooted millions of people from their an•estral homes. Hindus and Muslims, alike, have Minted with their blood this largest state of Islam in (he map of the world. Ushered with tragic sufferings and bitter curses )f millions Paki>tan hopes to become a model state jctt us pray it does and with it inav its father, Mahomed Ali Jinnah, also get some peace of mind ind mercy from God. For. on his hands is the innocent blood of thousands, both Hindus pnd Muslims, ind even an eternity of repentance will not wash it >ff. M. A. Jinnah has become the biggest criminal )f history and the tragic sighs of suffering millions shpJl reverberate through ages with curses that will larken the memory of this dreadful man. Already, in the streets of West Punjab are heard he dying wails of cold-stricken and frozen Muslims vho want to know why they have been pulled out >f their ancestral homes and left to die on the streets n the unmerciful winter of the Punjab. The erstvhile game of poUtics has become an unforgettable ragedy of their life. Yes. this game of politics has become a national ragedy. Indians have suffered in all walks of life :nd the year 1947 has left behind a milestone of ragic bloodstained memory on the sands of time. The Indian film industry has perhaps paid the -reatest price for Pakistan. This industry of enteraining peop'e can thrive only in peace. The slightst disturbance closes the theatres where Hindus and ifus'ims assemble with mutual goodwill and haroony to fee a show. During 1947. with the Pakistani t:oonda> doing devil dance in the streets of India, the film shows lave been practically closed in almost all towns hroughout the country, except in the South. This as hit the fihn people very badly and completely ha.ken the stability of the film industry. Many a ■roducer has become a bankrupt and many more re on the verge of bankruptcy. A single bad year eems to have drained off ?11 their easv profits of even years of war. That doesn't speak much for he business acumen of our film producers. With Pakistan, an established bankruptcy, raid ing Indian territory will become a compulsory national sport for Pakistanis to keep their professional Pathans and raiders busy somehow. The Indian film industry must therefore never think of our frontiers as stable markets save for the purpose of supplying some entertainment to our troops in those regions. Pakistan as a market for Indian films can be considered only if someone from the Garden of Allah comes along and pays us cash down for our films intended for exploitation in Pakistan. To send any film to Pakistan on the old basis of free trade must be hazardous trading seeing that there is not much of trade honesty in Pakistan and the Pakistanis don't show much regard for the cardinal principle of paying for one's needs. And yet with all these excisions in the territories, the film market cannot be said to have been reduced much seeing that only two key stations. Karachi and Lahore, are lost at present. The total "loss of territory in terms of business should not be over 15°'o and even that loss seem<! temporary* considering that Pa.kistan having no film production of its own will need pictures from us to keep its theatres running, unless they intend to turn all theatres into 'mushaira' halls to breed bearded poets with pan-stained teeth and opium pills behind the gums. In Pakistan it is practically impossible to produce commercially successful pictures in the immediate future with goondas running amok all over the p'ace. and therefore Pakistan will have to arrive at some understanding with India for entertainment of its people. The division of the country, therefore, has not permanently hit the industry, though a.t present our film trade is at a standstill in Pakistan. Another crisis our industry is at present goine through is the general slump. With unemployment constantly increasing and the cost of Hying reaching impossible heights, there is very little money left with the ma ses for entertainment. Thev have begun to pick and choose their entertainment fare with the same care with which they do their day's market ins; with the result that onlv exceptionally good pictures are well patronized while a large number of ordinary pictures go off the screen without even being noticed. As producers cannot produce exceptionally good pictures every day, it is easier to 3