FilmIndia (1948)

uly, 1948 FILMINDI A md otherwise) except in an open pandal, it may be averred that they committed a double error by underestimating the wild enthusiasm of the crowd and >he temperament of the star! Those fond of arranging musical programmes .f film stars at private functions may do well in fuure either to avoid the idea of extending to the ;eneral public the benefit of their expensive luxury ■r, if that is perfectly agreeable to the star, to leave lo room for excuses or loopholes as would occasion uch trouble as evidenced in Surat. Meanwhile, one aay well ask: Is Shanta Apte who has made lakhs a her time and is still regarded as a prominent film tar so much in need of cash that she must go about inging at marriage 'jalsas' for a price — like a comlon entertainer? •T WAS 52 YEARS AGO I wonder how many readers of "filmindia" now the fact that the first cinema show was held ^i Bombay in the year 1896 by two Frenchmen, the ,umiere brothers — Louis and Augustus, of whom he former died recently. A small theatre was imrovised in the Watson Hotel located in the Water)o Mansion (now the Mahendra Mansion) opposite [ing Edward VII's equestrian statue (Kala Ghoda) n what is now known as the Mahatma Gandhi Road, 'he theatre was big enough to accommodate only 00 spectators and the fee per head was Rs. 2|-, a it less than what we now pay for a fairly comDrtable seat in a good Bombay picture-house. They eld four shows every day, thus collecting an unaxed daily income of Rs. 1,600 or a weekly net of lira Misra is appropriately cast as Sumitra in ^pociated Pictures' forthcoming Hindi film, "Sabyasachi". Khurshid (Jr.) is starred in Parker Films' maiden production "Basant Panchami", produced by A. P. Parker. Rs. 11,200 without having to incur any appreciable expenses on theatre staff or publicity. Many an exhibitor, distributor and producer might well envy this collection today. The movies in those days were described in the advertisements as 'Animated Photographic Pictures 'The Wonder of the World' and 'The Marvel of the Century'. Regular cinema shows, however, were started in Bombay only as late as 1907 when a branch was opened in India of the Paris firm of M. Charles Pathe who is still hale and hearty at the ripe age of 82 though he has now retired from the picture business and his name was till very lately associated with the picture-house at the Lamington Road now known by the name of Swastik under its new Indian ownership. It may be equally interesting to know that the Excelsior Cinema was first started in a tent with the equipment and films supplied by M. Pathe, and in competition with it an enterprising Indian, Mr. P. B. Mehta started another cinema also in a tent, in the Maidan now known as Azad Maidan, and named it the America-India Cinema, which was later shifted to a pucca built theatre on the Sandhurst Road and admitted spectators for a small fee of annas 2 per head in the lowest class. So the cinema was brought to the City of Bombay and thence carried to other cities of India, neither by the Americans nor by the British as many in India believe, but by the French, who however, have absolutely no interest in the ever expanding exhibition trade in our country today. 13