FilmIndia (1946)

February, 1946. FILMINDI A Veera makes a splendid addition to our screen talent in "Shikari", a social story of Filmistan. as he could with money and imagination. The distributors who had purchased the provincial rights paying high ceiling prices had expected "Humayun" to run two hund red weeks in Bombay. The picture, however, despite its heavy newspaper boosting, failed to click at the boxoffices— almost at every town in the country. 'Humayun' heralded the change of the tide. The crazy producers, intoxicated by their war profits and easy success during the last five years, had many more costume pictures to release still. All these were swept down with the current of depression and some stupendously expensive pictures like: "Lakha Rani", "Amrapalli". "Mumtaz Mahal", "Phool", "Shirin Farhad", "Bhartruhari", "Babar", "C.C.R, Nav Jawan", "Ratnavali", Veer Kunal" etc. paid the penalty of failure at the box-offices— losing untold lakhs for their producers. Pictures which had been planned to become world-beaters beat a hasty retreat from every important cinema in every important town. The socials which usually commanded a larger patronage went off the screen like useless platform tickets after the departure of the train. Only a couple of pictures clicked at the box-offices as sheer flukes and neither the producers nor the people knew why they did so. Whether we like the fact or not the slump has already arrived in the Indian film industry mainly because of the fast-changing economic conditions in the country. Increasing unemployment, shortage of money, starvation and increasing quality consciousness are all contributing their bit to hit the indigenous film industry rather badly. What little money the people can spare for enter tainment these days in the midst of ever mounting ex penses is spent on American pictures which decidedly give a better value than any Indian picture. Fven the present day noisy patriotism of our people could not prevent M.G.M.'s "Bathing Beauty" from running n nonstop weeks at the Metro in Bombay and both the masses and the classes enjoyed this superb picture. And why shouldn't they, seeing that the people got a hundred-fold return for their admission money — something one can never dream of getting from an Indian picture. The Yanks are living on merit and their merit is sheer quality. You can hardly say that of the Indian pictures with all the patriotism in the world rushing through your veins. Leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel may well ask the people to see Indian pictures all the time, good or bad. Politicians in the van of our nation's struggle tor freedom cannot say anything else. Round the world, whatever clime or nation, all the patriots will repeat the very same slogan. But mere patriotism does not run an industry — certainly not the industry of entertaining millions, who demand novelty, entertainment, art and quality every time they spend their hard-earned money. The fi.m industry needs ever changing novelty in entertainment wedded to spectacle and quality. India has been trying to run a race with Hollywood for the last thirty years and today our industry instead of gaining even a day is, to be honest, at least iooo years behind Hollywood in technique and quality. With this shame ful record we can not possibly dream of competing with the Americans on their soil, as some Indian experts are threatening to do. On the other hand our producers had better look about their own field because the latest statistics reveal that American pictures have done record business in India in 1945 and hope to do better in 1946. And once again why shouldn't they, seeing that the Indian film people have neither the brains nor the enterprise to compete with them? Mehtab with the other sex sprinkling in "Bairam Khan," a picture of Standard Pictures.