FilmIndia (1948)

>veml>er,< suspicious-looking individuals produced by the police ficer to identify the culprits she had seen and she narally points to the wrong persons because the ingenious r. Zils would have us believe "you just can't tell charter by the face" instead of the time-worn maxim that i face is the index of one's character"! Finally, after convincing Mrs. Desai of her decepm in being led away by faces and dress and with a mdful more of such hints and lessons thrown in as to n\ to drive a car on the streets, how to behave with a aiter in a hotel and so on, the picture ends with the me woman being relieved of her purse by a wellessed thief who escapes in a car in front of her very :>se probably to demonstrate the "Zilsy" concept of how rime Does Fay sometimes! It is thus difficult to find out what useful purpose tis kind of a putrid documentary is calculated to serve • as to merit a certificate from our erstwhile Transport (inister. For, with all due deference to Dr. Mathai, if Know Your Neighbour" is the kind of propaganda or istruction which the authorities deem helpful either to jr film-goers or any of their own departments, then the :ast said about it the better. "Know Your Neighbour" has only furnished furler justification and proof-positive of "filmindia's" verict on Paul Zils and his documentaries and one wonders the authorities concerned are waiting for the slanderus series to be completed for global exhibition before laking up their mind to stop this man and his notorious nit from spelling further mischief and perpetuating the aditions of making Indians the laughing stock of ireigners both at home and abroad in spite of having een in control of their own administration for over a ear now. What Zils forgot to show in the film was his own ace from which we could have summed up a character nat abuses the hospitality of a good people by holding aem to the ridicule of the world. NSI LTING MOTHEHIIOOl) To every woman, especially our Indian woman, on he hrink of motherhood, the state of pregnancy is a very lelicate and trying period during which she is entitled to laim certain privileges including maximum rest conduive to her health and safe delivery. No, this is not going out of my way to prescribe any nethod of a painless delivery or some such thing but ust a reference to the need lor grace and better underlanding a would benefit our screen Devis in the period >f their expectancy and save us from the all-too-embarassing ordeal of seeing some of them playing the roles »f unmarried maidens while actually on the eve of their nolherhood. Such instances may have been few and far between Hit the very fact that the screen has recorded such un•eeinly and ill-favoured display by our female artistes, :ould not but prompt me to take notice of a recent news tern from Hollywood that Gene Tierney, the well-known ilm star, will not be working in pictures for some months lis she is expecting the stork in November! It is fairly well-known that due to peculiar working conditions and economic factors, a majority of our workJig women often do not or cannot observe the basic res trictions during their pre-delivery period in spite of all the progress women's movement and their tub-thumping associations in the country are believed to have made in that direction. But that is certainly not the case with our well-paid film stars who are moreover spoilt by all the personal attentions given to them by the producers and the directors. They can, without the heavens falling, shelve their screen work for a few months and save millions of our filmgoers from the unseemly sight of a maiden in the progression of her motherhood. W hether it is greed or compulsion which brings pregnant stars before the cameras, it is a crying shame that prospective mothers in their delicate condition should have to go through the rigours of film shooting to earn a few coppers for a film producer. It only proves how little our film people respect or appreciate motherhood and it is no wonder therefore that their work is not often addressed to our country's mothers and is bereft of those transcendent qualities which we usually attribute to our mothers. In any case this ugly caricature on the screen of a woman's supreme function must stop immediately either through some sense of decency or with the help of the censors. Let us not show to the world that we also put our pregnant women under the yoke to make some quick money. We commend this aspect of our films to the six ladies who grace our Censor Board at present. SOVIET "FRIENDS" BECOME HOSTILE Politics is very often described (and rightly too) as Sliashikala plays an important role in "Message of M,i hatnia Gandhi" produced by Film Land Ltd. 15