FilmIndia (1946)

§ § £ t Tkis '* reader's forum— as and when space permits. M m M W f g From the producer to the lay film-goer , every one cam m M M O M write to the Editor and ventilate his grievance. For every letter ISMmT A/>X J\+ ^ published in these columns, the publishers will pay Rs. SI WW \7%LD C*C ^MLfZUKJ should be signed and marked "Woes And Echoes". Photographs of the readers will be published along with their letters, if convenient. — The Editor. ) y YOUR BAD STARS "The other day I had the misfortune of seeing Atre's "Dulha" at the must 'ancient' theatre of Bangalore, the Majestic The picture can best be summed up in this one word "stupid". The story stretches one's imagination to the utmost. There are innumerable coincidences which are at, best foolish Then there is Charlie's slapstick which no intellectual will tolerate for a single moment. And above all here is the greatest tragedy of Chandraprabha acting the role of Asha, the heroine. She is easily the ugliest star we have amongst our topliners. Half the picture is not heard or seen due to rotten recording and bad photography. Whatever is seen is miserable owing to very poor direction of Manibhai Vyas." V. K. Fazlur Rahman. BANGALORE. PALACE, INDEED! "The New Talkie Picture Palace of this town has rather unfortunate furniture. We pay ten an nas and are obliged to sit on benches which oscillate to and fro with a 'kir-kir' sound on a slight shifting. The result is that the hlmgoer is perturbed and annoyed." NELLORE. Md. G. Mohiuddin WELL, JAGAT NARAIN? "The attention of Messrs. General Talkies Ltd., Chandni Chowk, Delhi is drawn to their management of Nigar Talkies, Cawnpore. Here in Cawnpore four picture houses are being run under Messrs. Jagat Talkies of Delhi but less goondaism is found at other places than at Nigar. Here the booking clerk, police and the goondas are mutually interested in the black-market and no action is being taken by the manager and the assistant manager. Rs. O-o-O and 0-10-0 tickets are sold for 0-10-0 and Re. 1-0-0 respectively with the result the public is put to a lot of trouble." Mrs. Indra Devi Shukla. CAWNPORE. THEY DO, DOCTOR ' The June issue of your 'filmindia' says there is great scarcity of raw film which is being sold in blackmarket at sky-high prices, sometimes tenfold of the control price. But when I see Indian pictures I am forced to think the other way if the producer has only to pick it up and turn it into the most hopeless and filthy pictures ever produced Below are some pictures I have seen in the last two months 1. "Pahle-Aap" 2. "Biswi Sadi" 3. "Chand Tara" 4. "Gouri" 5. "Lady Doctor" 6. "Nai Ma" 7. "Piya Milan" and in the last but not the least less absurd, the king of all, "Sawan" of Sanjiwan Art. •'Don't they confirm my assumption, Mr. Patel?" Dr. J. K. Bhatnagar. RAMPUR STATE. WISE MAZHAR "Mazhar Khan has not once failed on the screen because he plays roles that suit him, and even those he plays sincerely. If only our other 'glamorous' stars play roles that suit them instead of the 'handsome' 24 year-old hero and the 'beautiful' 18 year-old heroine, when they are actually twice that age, they will not heap so much ridicule on themselves as they are doing now. Don't they at least envy Mazhar for the praises you shower on him or have they adopted the motto — Art for money's sake?" V. K. Fazlur Rahman. BANGALORE. LOVE ME, LOVE MY DOG "I have not yet seen the picture ''Sikandar", "Bharat Milap" and "Ram Rajya" though they were released at Calcutta before the year 1943. On an enquiry from the local E. I. Rly. Cinema authorities I discovered that the distributors of the above pictures (M(& Evergreen Pictures, Calcutta) are not interested in booking these pictures without a dozen of rotten Is it by any chance an attempt at poisoning:? In Navyug's "Paroo", Ranjit Kumari becomes the nurse. 63