FilmIndia (1946)

June, 1946 FILMINDI A Everything in the picture is rotten— sound, photography, songs, dialogue and performances. The direction is utterly amateurish. The production knocked through four different studios and the knocks are visible on the screen. Though the performances don't deserve any special mention, the players do because some of them are experienced persons with past reputations and long tongues. Let us begin with David who plays "Mama" a very unsympathetic role. Remembering the rustic background of the role David could have played the crude, greedy rustic villain who, inspite of all his native cunning, finds himself a misfit in club adventures. On the contrary, immediately the moustache is shaved off and the suit put on, David assumes sophisticated mannerisms and when he slaps the buttocks of a club woman lie betrays a long-standing familiarity and relish with that part of a woman. David's portrayal therefore remains unconvincing. Let us take Nayampally, the Shakespearean stage fiend. This miod-natured man plays Seth Gokul Rai and his technique of acting defies the passage of time. "Pally" is where he was exactlv 15 years ago. He still makes hideous faces at us and we have done him no harm. When "Pally'" hears for the first time that his wilt' (Lalita Pawar) is pregnant poor "Pally" gives an expression which screams at us "How could I do such a thing?" Pally's dying act, with the help of the flowerpot, reminds us of the monster Frankestein created. Yes, Pally, the good boy, is still honest and consistent with his first lessons in acting taken 15 years ago. Girish is another of those overeducated, overwise and oversmart boys about the town. He is one ei the direct descendants of William Shakespeare and, given the opportunity, would not mind including Kalidas in the family tree. Girish must be knowing < verything about acting except acting the act himself. He plays Sunderlal, the father of the heroine, and meets his long-lost friend after a number of years in the most matter-of-fact and prosaic manner. He meets the widowed wife of his benefactor as a UK'nial in his own home in the most unemotional manner and -peaks his dialogue in a tone that -cein to suggest: "Don't tell me. this is all true." Girish remains conscious of the words he utters. He knows that his ponunciation Motilal and Khurshid are a little frightened in "Moorti" a social story of Ranjit. must be correct and with bad recording prevalent in the country, he stresses every accent so that the recordist may not miss anything. All this technique, however, robs the dialogue of its emotional value. We can't tell Girish anything new about acting. He is so educated. He should, however, remember that human beings speak through the heart usins; words merely as a medium of expression. In short, Girish sives :( mechanical performance. Lalita Pawar plays Radha, the prize mother. Her association with Pandit Anand Kumar does seem to have improved her diction of the dialogue. She still chews her words and spits them out. Her histrionic performance is only melodramatic. This woman seems to be good in only certain types of over emphasised roles. Biman Bannerjee plays the hero. Pran. He is supposed to be the 'pran' (life of the story). He gives a "sweet" performance and looks "sweet" most of the time. The only thing we missed were some flowers in his hair-do. Biman, however, is good at falling from I he bicycle. Sumati Gupte plays Chhaya. the romantic resistance of the story. When she faces us she looks like a parrot but quickly becomes a wood-pecker in profile. Her face, constantly between the parrot and the woodpecker, fails to respond to the situations, some of them quite romantic and others quite pathetic, and we get bored -tiff looking at the 'bird' on the cycle. Hemavati, an artiste of Prithvi Theatres, makes her screen debut as Rajni in "Santaan". We don't know by what exact process of reasoning Producer Chhotu Desai arrived at the conclusion that Hema has a screen face. Whatever the process, Hema, as she looks on the screen, should be exactly a thousand miles away from the motion picture camera. The world's best cameraman cant give her a screen face. Her acting is as stupid as her face. In short, 'Santaan' is a picture more to be avoided than to be seen. It is an eyesore throughout. 63