FilmIndia (1946)

December, 1946 FILMINDI A to do their duties loyally, Bombay will not be such an unclean city after all. CONNIVING AND WINKING A report from Rangoon says that black-marketing in cinema tickets is rampant on a big scale with the cinema owners conniving and the local authorities winking. It is not unusual to expect an admission ticket at three times its original price in lean times, while for pictures like "Bathing Beauty", prices six times more have been demanded with impunity and paid without protest. The Rangoon Film trade seems to be a business in No-Man's land, and every one but the filmgoer seems to be content with the present chaotic conditions. HULLO, PREMIER KHER! Cinema films took a further toll of human lives on the 25th of October in Andheri, a suburb of Bombay. Six persons were killed and eight others received burns in a fire which broke out in a tin shed occupied by number of labourers and their families. One of the rooms in the tin shed was tenanted by a manufacturer of celluloid bangles who is reported to have stored a large quantity of discarded cinema films. There is no Fire Brigade in Andheri and by the time a Fire Engine reached the spot from ten miles away, there were six dead bodies of human beings and eight others badly burnt. If that bangle manufacturer is not hanged under the pretext of an accident, we must say that there is something wrong with the sense of justice prevailing in the world of today. It would be well for the Congress Ministry to prosecute not only the bangle manufacturer but also the local Municipal Executives who permitted the films to be stored in a residential place in such a criminal and negligent manner. NO ONE'S BUSINESS The Footage Restriction Order, imposed during the war by the Government of India, restricting the footage of feature films to 11,000 feet, expired on the 30th of September 1946, giving all producers, and particularly the South Indian maniacs, an unrestricted licence to indulge in any and all orgies of fantastic music and dancing, with celluloid long enough to hang not only themselves but all their hoary ancestors. The Producers' Association in Bombay, has however, shown some accidental common sense by passing an advisory resolution that producers should stick, as far as possible, to the 11.000 footage nd only in exceptional cases they should use a thousand feet more. No one is expected to listen and no one will. STRANGE PEOPLE It is reported that Producer Kardar recently put up a complaint before the Producers' Association against 'Anjam" an Urdu paper of De'hi, complaining of scurrilous writings by the paper against his picture "Shah Jehan". Surprisingly enough, members of the Association thought that it would not be practical to fetter the liberty of the Press in voicing « opinion about any picture ami they resolved: "That Messrs. Kardar Productions be informed that the Committee feel that it would not be feasible to take any steps as suggested by them and that the matter be re-considered later if necessary." GO AHEAD AND WIN Secretary R. K. Hardikar of the Indian Motion Picture Employees' Union, has sent in an interesting report of the work done by his Union so far. Claiming a membership of 2000 in Bombay, the Union has been able to secure an increment in Dearness Allowance for the workers of the Famous Cine Laboratory and the Central Studios: compulsory re-instatement of 85 employees dismissed by the Ranjit Film Company and a door keeper dismissed by the City Lights Cinema; legal action against Famous Pictures, on their refusal to recognise the Union, in their dispute about retrenchment done by the producers; hauling up Producers Brijrani and Mudnany before the Labour Officer for not paying the employees and for inhuman treatment accorded to them and securing refund of salaries for the employees of Hindustan Kalamandir. 57