FilmIndia (1946)

FILM INDIA September 1946 soon appeared near the screen and asked the patrons to wait patiently at their seats for ten minutes by which time he expected the light to be restored. Fifteen minutes passed but the darkness did not seem inclined to leave the silver screen. We may forget the most interesting picture seen, but not this fifteen minutes' trial. "All sorts of whistling, thundering laughter, filthy language and cat-calls could be heard and cigarette pieces, paper-balls and empty match-boxes poured in from all sides Our patience was soon exhausted. Heat, suffocation and other elements of nature could not be controlled, but Sir, what about the rest of the nuisance? We left the hall and demanded our ticket money, which was refused. We had not the courage to re-enter the hall and so returned home sadly disappointed. How and when will this sad state of affairs improve?" LUCKNOW. P. K. Tandon. ISN'T IT A PITY? " "Filmindia' and other journals have been crying hoarse for new faces on the screen. You have been uncompromisingly advocating screen career for talented family girls and have described at times numerous fears in the public mind as baseless. But the producers, on the contrary, are proud in presenting such shots from their lives which not only wipe clean all your efforts in this direction but confirm the fears in the public mind. Navyug's "Din Raat" is a sorry reflection on the moral status of film people and if this is what they think about themselves, no amount of propaganda by you will help and the screen will continue to attract only other girls instead of talented lovers of art from Indian homes. The film industry will thus remain a monopoly of the runaways and will never get out of the rut." INDORE. Jaswant Singh. IT IS "The sanitary conditions in all the cinema halls of this city, excepting the English ones, are deplorable. Due to inefficient ventilation the atmosphere during the show, becomes dreadfully congested, filthy and choking. Muck, 66 dirt, filth, squalor, ill-ventilation, uncomfortable seating arrangement, insanitary lavatories, bad management, incivil and crude staff, rotten projection etc. are some of the usual characteristics of these picture halls. The buildings are wretched and deserve to be pulled down (You will be surprised to learn that due to excessive rains, the entire building of the Jagat Talkies had recently tumbled to the ground! Fortunately the accident took place during the day, three hours before the first show was due to start.) In such an unhygienic atmosphere one finds it difficult to enjoy a picture. What a damnable thing! Mr. Patel!" Mrs. Sharda Devi Awasthi. CAWNPORE. NOTED "I am out and out an Indian film tan. For the past three years I have not seen a single foreign picture nor do I want to see any in the future. I read only one film magazine and that is 'filmindia'. Therefore I request you not to mar the beautiful pages of 'filmindia' by dealing with films produced outside India. Most readers, I am sure, like 'filmindia' in its present form and they also know verv well that it is a 'fan paper' and not the producers' as some people seem to think." V. K. Fazlur Bah mem. BANGALORE. CREATIVE, EH? "While advertising English films on 'Hindustani'* posters, some of the cinema houses provide very amusing reading by translating the names of these pictures in "Hindustani", as for instance: — ' Gold Diggers" was translated as "Suneri Khanjar" "Captain Blood" as "Khuni Kaptan", and "Tale of Two Cities" as "Do Sheronki Doom." "Would it not be better if they stick to their original names?" INDORE. Firoz J. Bode. O. K. "It has become habitual here at the Wheeler's stall to sell the "filmindia" at Rs. 3| or 4| and that too is very difficult to get, It is the only stall where we can get the magazine. But it is very difficult here, rather impossible for us to have the copy due to pitchdark marketing. The stallwala, of course, is compelled to sell at heavy rates as he gets only 5 copies of the magazine for the whole town, and there are lots of purchasers who are even willing to pay Rs. 5| for a single copy. It is better Mr. Editor, if you take Geeta Nizami and Biman Bannerjee have a love scene on the sands in "Moti". a Navyu^ picture.