FilmIndia (1948)

August, 1948 FILMINDIA iublic money, for having used a public institution to urther their own petty and entirely unworthy ends." Will the City Fathers wake up before it is too late nd start honouring the vote on which they got elected y tackling the city's health-cum-sanitation problem with etermined, concerted endeavour? Let them come forward to have a 'taste' of the ex'eme suffocation which one experiences as a rule in our lajestics and Imperials and Minervas and Lamingtons nd Novelties alongside the admittedly more appalling onditions in the slums before our tolerance and patience re completely exhausted and go out of bounds! IX AWARDS AND NO ACADEMY! By a rather queer but infallible habit, the more I ?ad and hear of American and British films, their stars nd technicians, winning Academy Awards year after ear which not only provide a rare impetus to their resI ective industries but mirror with pride before the entire iiorld their spectacular achievements and cinematic glory, i le more I feel inclined to reflect over the almost miseibly insufficient and unhealthy competitive spirit in the idian film industry and the absolute lack of anything ke a representative and qualified body to discharge so seful a function as that of a National Film Academy. And, believe me, the more I have been thus reflectig, the more confoundingly I have wondered what ould be the fate of such an academy in our present enI ronments even if it existed and functioned ! I do not know if that is exactly the reason why our Im enthusiasts and critics, including Editor Patel him|J:lf, seem to be loathe to set the ball rolling in that Hrection. But there are occasions when one feels the lljlf rather strongly and is prompted to ask whether, in H.e absence of a properly constituted academy, it is desible to indulge in this rather clumsy business of I vards-giving as evidenced recently in Bombay. The first time this anomaly of awards on the film ont struck me was during the silver jubilee week of at stinking cinematic trash in Gujarati, "Gunsundari" the local Swastik when everyone who had contributed its production was awarded a miniature medal at a blic function exclusively patronised by interested loti-clad Gujaratis. Seldom in recent memory have we witnessed so jch undeserving and ill-merited praise being showered on so arrent and yet (to a certain extent) popular nsense on the screen and, correspondingly, so many I lerwise intelligent Gujaratis running amuck to hail so gligible a band of nin-com-poops at a public function >stly because they all happen to be the sons of our I j arvi Gujarat"! If a particular film has clicked well enough at the I IX office to bring its producer in a charitable disposin so as to think favourably of his lesser associates, it uld be understandable to give them a special bonus the like without meddling with these awards and meIs which are, more often than not, woefully ill-merited d unjustifiable. Madhubala and Ramsingh do not seem to be friendly in Prahhat's forthcoming social directed by Pethkar. The silver jubilee rumpus about "Gunsundari" thus became an unhappy reminder that box office success still continues to be the veritable sheet anchor for our film folks to rave about. It is a pity that its sponsors should have allowed their enthusiasm to be so misdirected and made a public fettish of the whole show instead of quietly letting the producers pat their own back and that of their staff if they were so keen on demonstrating their sense of democracy. Faring somewhat differently and incidentally less presumptuous, was the annual "tamasha" held by a local vernacular weekly declaring Suraiyra as the "best (Indian) actress of 1947" and presenting her a gold medal at a special gathering held at the Roxy on 11th July. Admitting that her all-round superb performance in "Parwana" does sufficiently justify Suraiya's choice in a comparative sense, it is a matter of opinion whether she could pass off as the best actress of the year on that score alone. What gets my goat is the fact that these awards and medals should serve no better purpose than providing a field dayr for everyone interested in self publicity, leaving the question of a genuine, bona-fide appreciation of our films and film artistes, severely alone. Let us have a fairly constituted All-India Film Academy whose decisions would merit the widest approval of film-goers and whose establishment may automatically end these cheap publicity stunts and family affairs which we have been witnessing in the guise of indiscriminate awards and medals. 15