FilmIndia (1948)

OQ5 ( This is the reader's forum — as and when space permits. From the producer to the lay film-coer, every one can write to the Editor and ventilate his grievat.ee. For every letter published in these columns, the publishers will pay Rs. SiLetters should be signrd and marked " Hoes And Echoes". Photographs of the readers will be published along with their letters, if convenient. — The Editor, i SOFT MUSIC, PLEASE! "Many of your correspondents have drawn your attention towards a host of drawbacks in the art of showmanship in otir cinema halls, but no one appears to have stumbled over an absurdity that I have to face evenweek-end here. "Despite sitting at the very back of the hall, I am struck deaf by the ear-splitting sound of the records played by the management, for the entertainment of the public, before the show. I can't get what my friend shouts into my ear and I don't dare shout back into his ear, "I can't hear you," for I know that he will not get it. ''Our producers and directors arc tearing away scores of pages out of the book of foreign filmmakers, but it is an anomaly that our exhibitors can't even take a single leaf out of their book. Id Lahore, where I was before the recent boil-over, I had started patronising only the English cinema halls, where the pre-show music was soft, slow and trickled into one's ear like a hill spring of cool fresh water. And to my illluck, there is no English cinema hail here, and I have, willy nilly, to visit the Indian one." ■OSHIARPUR. Ved P. Kumar. BLACKMARKETTING OF "FILMINDIA" "About a week back. I went to buy a copy of "filmindia" with a friend of mine, and we were really surprised to see that this magazine was being sold at the rate ol Rs. 2-8 per copy, and when an exp'anation was called for from the shopkeeper, whose exact identification I do not want to disclose, he said, "Thank God, that I am offering it to you at such a reasonable price." "On hearing this, we came back with a heavy heart. Mr. Patel, it is up to you to kindly give your attention to these matters in order to abolish this blackraarket ting which is due to its scarcity in Amritsar." Inder Kanta Bhasin. AMRITSAR. BROADCASTING A BLUNDER "I want to draw your attention to the fact that the gentleman who has recited the lines has done a great injustice to the late poet by adding some of his own words to the lines of the late poet. "In my opinion if some thing is not done to put a stop to this we also will be following in the line with the reciter. If these lines must be recited, they should be recited correctly as follows: fasfl f \m era* i' fc^tesi ? jtrt ii BOMBAY. Badriprasad Pandit. FOR RAJKUMARI AMRIT KAUR "Would you very kindly bring t<. the notice of the authorities through the medium of your very influential magazine, the most unhygienic conditions prevailing in Old Delhi Cinemas. "In some halls there are no exhaust fans, or if there are any, they are very rarely used, with the result that the air inside the hall becomes so foul that it becomes difficult to breathe. One fee's as if the Medical authorities keep sleeping, or it might be that these people who are supposed to look after the health of the public are not aware that there arcsuch cinema halls, in Delhi. "It is a wonder that in the very heart of the Capital of India, such dirty places, which are a constant menace to the public health are al'owed to remain open for public entertainment, Raiendra P. Agarwclc. NEW DELHI. COLLEGE GIRL OR COURTESAN? "In Shaukat Art Productions' 'Jugnu' there is a filthy nude dance by a girl student of a college in a drama staged in the college. If a professional prostitute gives a suggestive song such as the one in "Mun-ki-Jeef the censors find it objectionable and do not hesitate even to ban that picture. But when a college girl gives It isn't a Girl Guide's parade. They are the ten girls starred in Arvind and Anand Productions' "Khidki" and Rehana is the 11th to complete the team. 57