FilmIndia (1946)

SUBSCRIPTION RATES The annul subscription 12 ltsuea ol "filmindia", frc any month Iti INLAND FOREIGN I Ri. 24/. Shillings 50/ Subicrlpclon Is accepted only (or ■ collective period of 12 months end not for a smaller period. Subscription money should be remitted only by money Order or by Postal Order but not by cheqi not be sent. V.P. filmindia PROPRIETORS FILMINDIA PUBLICATIONS LTD. 55. SIR PHIROZESHAH MEHTA ROAD, FORT, BOMBAY Telephone i 26752 Editor: BABURAO PAT EL Vol. XII. NOVEMBER. 1946 ADVERTISEMENT RATESt The advertli*m*nt rates are as followu Per Insertion Full Pit* Inside Rs. 400 Half Pag* mslde Rs. 210 j Page Inside Rs. 120 • Page Inside Ra. 150 2nd & 3rd Cover Rs. 500 4th Cover Rs. 600 1st Cover Rs. 1,000 The cost of the advertisement should be submitted In advance with the order. The advertisement will be subject to the terms and conditions of our usual contract. The recent offer of the Government of the Punjab, offering prizes of Rs. 5000 and Rs. 2000 for documentary films promoting Hindu-Muslim unity, shows the intense anxiety of our popular ministers to restore communal harmony in our country. It is the first attempt of its kind and superficial students of our contemporary life are likely to welcome it with open hands. We, however, doubt the wisdom of this apparently praiseworthy scheme. The vital question is: Will a motion picture really promote communal harmony between the Hindus and the Muslims? In the past we have produced some tolerably good motion pictures on this much vexed problem. Pictures like "Padosi", "Hum Ek Hain". "Bhai Chara", "Forty Crores", 'Sandesha' etc.. have sung and shouted about Hindu-Muslim unity in blatant 'words calling one and all to embrace each other in a lasting friendship and brotherhood. In innumerable other pictures attractive songs, with well-pointed words suggesting brotherhood between the Hindus and the Muslims, have been sung by our best glamour boys and girls. And yet in spite of all this well-meant propaganda the country has collected a traeic crop of a series of bloody riots in which the Hindus and the Muslims have attacked each other with a venom and ferocity that would put the wild beasts of the jungle to eternal shame. If the film is admitted to be the most powerful medium of propaganda why have we had such an unfortunate result? The reasons are mainly political. The two main groups of politicians shout counter-slogans at each other every day tearing the two communities further away from each other. Political ambitions of different leaders are taking a tragic toll from the masses every day in the different towns of India. Human blood has become pretty cheap in this country. The chastity of women, to protect which Indians have died in millions through ages, has today become a victim of political vendetta. Indians, who once respected and worshipped women, are nowadays seen desecrating the very wombs that have given 400 million cradles to this unhappy land of ours. Political fanaticism has reached brutal heights and the brotherhood of centuries has been squandered with a fanatic fury unknown to Indians before. With murder, rape and arson, the present is frightening enough and no one can say what the future has in store for us. Will the Hindu-Muslim unity films solve this tragic problem? Will such films ever promote better feelings between the two great communities of India? We do not think so. And why? The very idea of planning a film on the theme of Hindu-Muslim unity is in itself an admission that there exists a disunity between the two communities. How does this admission compare with the oftrepeated claim by kindly politicians that the Hindus and the Muslims are brothers and as such have the same culture and traditions? For centuries, owing to the numerous acts of commission and omission by both the communities, the Hindus and the Muslims have been made willing targets by political adventurers to promote their own ambitions and designs. With the advent of the British in India, the apple of discord between the two great communities became the most cherished dish at the Imperialist table of tlie empire builders. The tree yielding this poisoned apple has been nourished with the blood of millions in India during the last two hundred years. When a film, therefore, tries to preach unity between the two great communities, it helps onlv in reviving bitter memories of the past written in riots, murder, rape and arson. When people see sympathetic scenes of Hindu-Muslim amity on the screen, they are instantly reminded of the dead each partv has contributed to the communal inferno at some time or other. The best intentioned film thus becomes the cause of more embitterment. In the present political context the HinduMuslim unity as a theme for motion pictures is perhaps the most complicated subject to handle. This tragic problem of our national life has become the most severe headache of our leading politicians and they are already at their wits' end in trying to find a solution. With the politicians in this perplexed state, how can one expect our film producers, most