FilmIndia (1946)

June, 1946 FILMINDIA Ashok Kumar has progressed a ^ood bit with his picture, starring himself and Veera. In the meantime, S. Mukherjee is busy with the screenplay of ''Lokmanya Tilak". This is one of the ambitious productions of Filmistan and is being planned with great care and scrutiny. MURARI PICTURES (Bombay) Speed-king Director Mohan Sinha completed "Omar Khayyam" starring Saigal and Suraiyya in record time and now news comes to us that he has nearly con.pleted "1857" featuring Suraiyya, Wasti and Surendra. LAKHMIDAS AN AND PRODUCTIONS (Calcutta) Producer Lakhmidas Anand is waiting to release the marathon picture "Krishna Leela" starring the sweet-voiced Kanan. He has again engaged the services of Director Debaki Bose and Kanan for his second picture,. "Ram Leela" which will go on the sets very soon. KAMAL PICTURES (Bombay) Directors Harshad Barot and Rajendra Sharma have nearly completed "Hirni" featuring Monica Desai, Kanhaiyalal, Sunetra and S. Nazir. AZAD PICTURES (Bombay) "Namak" a social thriller featuring Dulari has been completed and will be shortly released at one of the leading theatres in Bombay. Another social picture, the name of which will be announced later, will go on the sets in a week's time. ASIATIC PICTURES (Bombay) "Mansarovar" is ready to be censored. The picture features David, Gulab, and Kanhaiyalal and introduces a new pair, Nishi Baran and Mazhar Haq. The story is by Pandit Girish and the songs are set to music by S. N. Tripathi. The N. India and Sind rights of "M,ansarovar" have been bought by Kalyan Pictures of Lahore. SHAHZAD PRODUCTIONS LTD. (Bombay) Producer Shahzada Iftekhar has got the paper work of his maiden picture "Veena" ready. The screen play is by Kamal Amrohi and the music is in the hands of Rafiq Gaznavi. The picture stars Veena and Ashok Kumar and will be produced in the Bombay Talkies' studios. AMAR PICTURES (Bombay) Producer-director Baburao Patel has completed the spectacular dance sequence of his social picture "Gvalan". It is reported that he was carried in a chair to direct this particular sequence as the fasting he was undergoing for a gastric ulcer had weakened the lion considerably. "Gvalan" has been nearly completed and will be censored in a month's time. BRIJ PRAKASH PRODUCTIONS (Bombay) "Pick Pocket" a stunt thriller is ready for release. Another thriller "Forget-menot" has gone on the sets with Br ij mala in the leading role. DOOMRAI PRODUCTIONS (Bombay) Their maiden thriller, "Maaf Kijiyega" is now on the sets. The picture is directed by Nari Ghadiali and features Shanta Patel and Prakash. DIN PICTURES (Bombay) Director M. Sadiq is one of those directors whose approach to work is sincere. No wonder he is confident about the box-office success of the picture "Jag Biti" which he is directing for Din Pictures. "Jag Biti" features Surraiyya, Sadiq Ali and Sulochana Chatter ji, who never disappoints us where a graceful dance is concerned. The musical score is by Ghulam Haider, whose name almost went into obscurity after the release of "Chal Chal Re Nav Jawan." SHREE RAJ PICTURES (Calcutta) B. R. Tandon has completed "Baap" and is now busy with a Muslim social "Razia" at the Indrapuri studios. The third one is "Samaj" a social story. The cast of this picture has not yet been selected. NAVYUG CHITRAPAT LTD. (Poona) "Room No. 9" featuring Gita Nizam i and Shy am is awaiting release. More than half of "Paro" has been completed and Director Shahid Latif has done a bit of "Shikayat". In the meantime, Director Chandrashekhar Bose has finished the outdoor sequences of "Moti". All these three pictures are expected to be ready by the end of October. PEOPLE'S THEATRE (Bombay) Journalist K. Ahmed Abbas is all smiles since the day "Dharti Ke Lai" was shown to an appreciative audience of Indian and foreign correspondents at Simla. The picture is scheduled for released in June at Calcutta. EMPIRE TALKIE DISTRIBUTORS (Bombay) This well-known firm of distributors has again started distributing Indian films in the Bombay Circuit. It has already released "Albeli" and "Ameree" and a third one "Kurukshetra" is now being shown at the New West End, Bombay. "Zid" starring Ramola will also be distributed by this concern. RANJIT MOVIETONE (Bombay) "Rajputani" is still running at the Royal Opera House. "Moorti", "Phoolwari" and "Dharti" are awaiting release. INDIA UNITED PICTURES LTD (Lahore) The paper work of their first picture "Prae bas men" has been completed. Mr. Sampatlal Karnani has engaged director Dawood Chand to direct the picture and the cast includes Pran, Asha Posley, Zubeda, Kair.la etc. RANG MAHAL LTD. (Bombay) Screenplay-writer Dr. Safdar 'Ah' has become a producer and director. His first assignment is "Bhookh". Sheikh Mukhtar, Kanhaiyalal and a new-comer Husna are featured in the picture. Anil Biswas is in charge of music. We wish Dr. Safdar 'Ah' all luck in his maiden picture "Bhookh." 69