FilmIndia (1948)

me, 1948 FlLM INDIA ,efore a more intelligent, and better disciplined rowd. A cinema screen never was and still is not ie proper place for the demonstration of partiotism. And it must always be understood by those who -ield power that respect for one's country can never e born in hungry stomachs contained by quarterlad bodies who have to lie down on open pavements pr their night's rest. ILM MUSIC — WITHOUT TEARS! "These film songs have killed the soul of music''. jFilm songs are creating adverse effects on children f tender ages". "Love songs, whether from films t books, affect the tender age resulting in moral deiradation of the younger generation". "It is time ie authorities imposed some sort of control on film msic". That is the trend of thought emanating from ifferent quarters. A section of the local press larried on a raging controversy on the demoralising jnd pernicious influence of love songs on our chilren thus echoing the widely-shared feeling that [mething must be done to prevent children from feeing such films and going crazy about the "catchy" kid "snappy" love songs (a la Madhok & Co.!) |hich are calculated to degenerate their minds. As if to add to the impression gathered from Ins heated discussion on the subject namely that u Igular vendetta was shaping itself in no uncertain Inns against film music, came the Music Conferlace held at Rajkot and presided over by no less a treonage than Kaka Sahcb Kalelkar who thunder r,e teaching wisdom to youth— Bharat Bhushan and »ir Raj in Oriental Pictures' "Sohag Raat", released through Varma Films. ed that film songs had killed the soul of Indian music! With that die-hard champion and exponent of classical music, Pundit Omkarnathji supporting this contention, the Rajkot Conference carried a resolution recommending to the Government the urgency of controlling film music, and accelerating, in turn, the standard of remuneration derived by Radio singers. While it is true that a more vigorous and rigid code of censorship (if and when it comes into effect) would go a long way in eliminating the present undesirable influence of love songs — the bulwark of film music in vogue these days — on our children and that, as pointed out in these columns in our issue of April, the only way to achieve this end speedily, was to enforce the proposed classification of our films without delay, it is also undeniable that it was an exaggerated and one-sided denunciation of film music voiced by Kaka Saheb and Omkarnathji. Film music, despite all its acknowledged vagaries and limitations, has its own charm and place of distinction which some of its leading wizards like Raichand Boral and Pankaj Mullik, Naushad and Ghulam Haider have richly earned and deserved. To say that film songs have killed the soul of music is, therefore, to shut one's eyes completely to the other, brighter, side of the picture where their contribution, the contribution of Saigal and Kanan, Shanta Apte and Subbulakshmi and several others, reigns supreme as a landmark of the screen's role in popularizing our musical heritage and pulling it out, of its strictly classifical jargon. It is a travesty of truth and a gross injustice to the long and irrefutable chain of achievements film music in India has recorded and the invaluable service it has rendered in fulfilling the nation's thirst for music other than the kind which Omkarnathji and his tribe have been able to supply. With a move for compulsory classes of music in the new school curriculum already afoot, it is to be hoped that the authorities will not be oblivious to the justifiable claim to better status for and recognition of film music — without being wrongly led away by the futile protests of Omkarnathji and those of his ilk! THANK YOUR STARS, FILM SCRIBES! Some of us, film scribes, generally complain and feel deprived of the fact that despite our efforts to "hit the headlines", people are loathe to take this tribe seriously. I, for one however, have often secretly breathed a sigh of relief in the heart of my heart on realising that we are far safer here as compared to our contemporaries in the West. It is no mean consolation that our "fans" and "admirers" seldom take their clue from reports of how film critics in Europe are encountered with and manhandled and how often they bear a charmed life by the sheer grace of the Almighty! Going through my morning paper the other dav, I could not help bouncing up from the chair and,