FilmIndia (1946)

June, 1946 FILM INDIA "All the above facts can be established from the Court Martial proceedings and evidf nee of Greek Civilian witnesses. I shall be much obliged if you kindly publish these facts in your next issue. Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Sd. Capt. F. S. JAFRI, Staff Captain Public Relations. ACID TESTS Believe it or not, marriages and divorces among Hollywood's leading film stars provide headaches to the producers from the box-office point of view. When it was reported that Bing Crosby and his wife Dixie Fee were likely to break their hitherto happy union, the news was suppressed till Crosby's film '-The Bells of St. Mary" proved a success. Product is in Hollywood always nurse the fans and they wire worried when fans expressed their resentment against Frrol Flynn who was involved in an usavoury law suit four years ago. Hollywood was alarmed about Robert Taylor's popularity when Taylor indulged in the moral and old-fashioned act of marriage. But Robot survived the test and Hollywood thinks Ming Crosby will also live to tell the story. PRICE OF CAMOUFLAGE Hollywood has -tailed paying the penalty of streamlining modern homes on camouflage lines. The shocking news that the charming Mrs. David Niven. 27 year-old wife of the British film star, died on May 21st from head injuries, ought to set Hollywood's fashion folks thinking hard. It seems that the Nivens were at a party at the home of Tyrone Power on Sunday. She was looking for a garment to wear in a game of charades and opened the door leading to the cellar nustaking it for a cupboard. She fell 20 feet to the basement and fractured h*r skull. Only two months ago Mrs. Niven, with her two little children, had,come from Fngland to Hollywood to join her husband. DEATH OF A PHILANTHROPIST Seth Govindram Seksaria, multimillionaire, industrialist and cotton magnate, died of heart attack. at the age of 65, on Wednesday morning. May 22nd. at his residence in Bombay. Only a few minutes before his death, Seth Govindram had given away 50 lakhs of rupees for charity, bringing his total charities to over a crore of rupees. A self-made man, Seth Govindram hailed from Xavalgad in Marwar and within a few years of his arrival in Bombay, his unique genius for handling huge deals in the cotton and share markets of the world became the outstanding topic among his rivals. Though not educated in English Seth Govindram's pioneering spirit Seth Govindram Seksaria helped him to apply his versatile genius to different industries and at the time ol his death he WAS deeply interested in textiles, cotton, shares, steel, _-ugar, linseed, films, printing, lithography am! many other commercial and industrial pursuits. The film department of Seth Govindram has already extended financial accommodation to the different film concerns to the extent of nearly a crore of rupees, Bombay Talkies Ltd. being the principal beneficiary. Setli Govindram was considered to be one of the richest men of India, but he was not merely a coin collector considering his staggering list of ..charities. Many an educational and charitable institution was benefited by the profuse generosity of this great moneymaker. The Wardha College of Commerce, the Parvati Devi College at Savantwadi, and another college at Xagpur, to mention only a few, will always remind us of a man who, in the midst of his unique success, did not forget his fellowmen. May his soul rest in peace. The offices of "filmindia" were closed on 22nd and 23rd May as a mark of respect for a departed friend. LUCKY ESCAPE "Durga Khote, the flying star with a flying man for husband, crashed at Juhu airfield, Bombay, on Sunday. May 26th. Though the well-known star fortunately escaped death, she received considerable head injuries and bruises "She and Mr. J. R. Talyarkhan, Secretary of the Bombay Flving Club, took off and had hardly been in the air for 10 minutes before the engine failed and the plane crashed to the ground. The plane was completely wrecked though both of them fortunately escaped with injuries. MAHARAJ-KI-JAI "Srinagar is almost a city of the dead, where movement is difficult and large members of people are practically interned in their own houses apart from the many hundred who have been put in prison. "Clashes occur daily and even women have been shot down — I understand that people are made to crawl in some of the streets, (of Kashmir i that sometimes they are made to take oft' their turbans to clean the streets and pavements and that they are made to shout at the point of the bayonet. "Maharaj-ki-.Iai". This is an extract from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's statement on Kashmir disturbances. But what Panditji says can't possibly interest Sardar Chandutal Shah of Ranjit who may give another grand party and 'Jalsa' when Hari Singh of Kashmir comes down for the Poona season shouting, of course, "Maharaj-kiJai". Ghandramohan and Motilal are expected to supply the chorus. One wonders whether, in 1946. our film industry still suffers from this feudal inferiority complex and a man like the Sardar at that. 49