FilmIndia (1948)

fane, 1948 FILMINDIA ■Bw 1 IS Though a Gujarati, Manhar Desai prefers th? wh'te man's dress to the dhoti and the Gandhi cap in Ajit Pictures' popular Gujarati social, "Gunsundari '. :o the producers of this picture? Has Hollywood Deen told that India is now a free country? Censorship And Commonsense Censorship of films, as of anything else, is a ;ircful as well as a dangerous weapon. It can be |ised, as this magazine has always urged it should, for the removal of vulgarity and obscenity • rom our films. Constructively, it should be used to ■ncourage the production of healthy, clean, purnose • ul and progressive pictures. But in the hands of plundering amateurs, ill-informed moralists and halfbaked reormcrs, it can be a nuisance and a farce, po. No one will dispute the assertion that a picture, h the totality of its effect, must uphold the better lvalues of life, clean and decent living, and a civiised code of morals. But even to emphasize the ' eed for goodness and morality, it may be necessary b dramatically present badness, immorality and Ijvil, as to make the audience loathe all such vicious Ik'ays. It would be impossible, for instance, to make ] really effective anti-drink and pro-prohibition picurc without having scenes showing extreme and rel|olting cases of drunkenness. If our censors knew 1 ven the basic elements of drama they could not fail 3 be aware of this fact. Even a little commonsensc ould indicate the necessity of depicting evil to j lorify goodness, by contrast, What do the censors . lean, then, bv the cuts thev recentlv ordered in a I lm called "Yeh Hai Duniya"? It appears that in this picture there i« a scene Ilepicting the debaucheries and depravities of a party of drunkards which provide a contrast and a provocation for the dramatic action of the ideali-.t hero who enters the dance hall and smashes up the bottles. Conscious of the prohibition policy, the censors (the full board, in this case) have very kindly allowed that part of the scene showing the hero rushing in and smashing the bottles but have ordered the poducers to "omit the rest in between, which consists of close-ups of liquor bottles, men drinking liquor neat straight from bottles and making love to women in a vulgar way". But without the earlier shots, the bottle-smashing would look pointlers and lose all dramatic — and even mora! — purpose. It would be a case of 'reaction' without previous 'action'. In all such cases the issue before the censors should be simple: Does the scene encourage and glorify evil ways of drinking and debauchery or does it create abhorence against such vicious ways? To blindly cut out every drinking fcene and shot would defeat the very purpose of the Government's policy to do propaganda against drinking and vice. Has Ram Rajya Arrived? Another passage in the official order imposing cuts on the producer of "Yeh Hai Duniya" needs to be noticed: "In Pratap's speech in Court retain his denunciation of Harilal. but omit a'l inflammatory generalisations against the rich as a clas«, which is preaching of violent class hatred: IT MUST BE MADE CLEAR BY THE PRODUCER THAT THE RICH WERE OPPRESSING THE POOR UNDER THE BRITISH RAJ!" This, surely, is the limit of smug complacency — to use the mildest expression! Do the censors serious1 v believe that as with effect from August 15. the exploitation of the poor by the rich has suddenlv and automatically come to an end? Has the b'esscd 'Ram Rajya' really arrived? Is there no exploitation, no economic inequality, no profiteerins;, no blackmarket. no uncmp'oyment in Free India today? Onlv the other day the Government arrested certain millionaires in Bombay for anti-social activities What evidence is there that after the end of the British Raj the rich are no longer oppressing the poor? , In these circumstances, the order of the censors only betrays a concern for the interests of the exploiting class. Are we to understand that the censors are there for the protection of public morals or for the preservation of an unjust, outmoded economic system? THOU SHALT NOT WALK OUT! While the Congress ministry of our Province is continually accused of being incompetent and inefficient, I had never so far believed it capable of becoming funny or comical. But now I believe it. The hard-boiled, puritanic, matter-of-fact ministers can really indulge in a little humour once in a while, as one of them has done by suggesting that the exits of all cinema theatres in the city should be 11