FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

' ..ril, 1949 FILM INDIA c a single week only in the city of Bombay. That i ns a loss in revenue of Rs. 80,000| per month or Rs. 1 ),000 per year in Entertainment Tax in Greater Bomalone. It is not difficult to calculate the annual probial loss on this basis — and even the huge loss in reue all over the country in over 2000 cinemas. We want to ask our Revenue Minister as to how he ifies this generosity to the freebooters entailing such luge loss in state revenue while the Finance Minister ixing every thing from the cap to the shoe to make | life of millions more miserable every day. When people have to pay some tax or other even on food which thev primarily need for living why should bands of freebooters be provided with free entertain\t every week? It is, to say the least, very unfair that the necessities tnillions should be taxed heavily while thousands pld be given free entertainment. In our opinion this racket of complimentary tickets t be completely stopped. If film producers, distri>rs and exhibitors wish to provide free entertainment heir friends, relations and lackeys, let them be mad? 0>ay at least the Entertainment Tax on each free ticket b' issue so that the State does not lose any revenue and / ^accused of being unfair. P IA. " HINDU DOMINION " INDEED ! I Though our best internationalist Pandit Jawaharlal firu keeps shouting himself hoarse from his Prime fluster's pulpit that India is a secular state and not a Mdu Dominion, somehow his voice does not seem to ,|ue reached the imperial ears of the British newsreel jjducer-. ™ To most of them India is still a " Hindu Dominion " tplch the white boys lost because of the perverse policy ▼the present Eabour Government in Britain. A recent H'sreel of the Gaumont British Pictures repeatedly desned India as a " Hindu Dominion " completely forsreti; the basic fact that there are still 40 million Muslims k r India not to mention Christians, Jew s, Parsis and ps. At another time, describing the Operation Kashmir, Gaumont British newsreel commentator actually said, andit Nehru poured in troops to save the Hindu mino in Kashmir ". How does all this sound in a secular state? \^ hat Churchillian school of politicians failed to do. the imont British newsreel department is probably tryto rectify. We admire the bull-dog tenacity of the ish people to hang on to their imperial traditions he face of reverses but surely not at the expense of historical truth that India is basically a secular state. Any newsreel that is designed to give news to mil s all over the world must primarily contain truth, ruthful news becomes so much propaganda and one iders whether the Gaumont British Pictures are stong to do some dirty anti-Indian propaganda to rei colonial imperialism. The Indian film censors who prick their ears at silly i harmless words in film songs certainly could not re been so deaf as to allow the Gaumont British Pices to describe India as a " Hindu Dominion " repealy in spite of the fact that India is a secular State. But how can one expect intelligent censorship from people who allow Sita to be described as King Ramachandra s sister in an Indian newsreel produced by the Films Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India? If Sita can be Ram's sister in defiance of the historical fact that she was his wife, why can't India be a " Hindu Dominion " and Pandit Nehru send troops to save the "Hindu minority"? Probably, when Bombay goes completely dry, our censors will become more sober. That is one argument for prohibition anyway. WHAT PRICE SCANDAL ! The Vigilance Branch of the Bombay C.I.D. arrested on 1st March 1949, two persons, Mrs. Shanti Bhorsikadam and Mr. Mohanlal Radhakison on a charge of " living on the earnings of prostitution of another person ". This " another person ", as the report states, turned out to be no other than a film actress called Veena Kohli who is alleged to have been supplied by the accused to a bogus customer for the purpose of prostitution for a sum of Rs. 500|-. The Vigilance Branch in this connection is reported to have received complaints from many respectful residents of Malabar Hill that many film actresses were carrying on prostitution in a clandestine manner arid thus vitiating the entire locality. This is not the first instance of its kind where a film actress is alleged to have been supplied for the purpose of prostitution. There are quite a fe%v more similar cases involving film actresses pending in the police courts of Greater Bombav. In another suit, a so-called film actress, Madame Kishori stands charged with alleged murder. The disgusting case of adultery between film actress Gita Nizami and Director Vedi has caused not a little sensation, the way it has been publicized in bold and ratchv headlines by our film rags all over the country. The drunken brawl of film actresses Protima Dasgupta and Besum Para with film actor Himalayawalla at the Riti Hotel in Bombay made thousands of people wonder about the way in which film folks live. The very fact that cases like these continue to disgrace whatever little vestige of reputation that is left to the credit of the Indian film industry with an increasing frequency and that procurers, pimps and their fellow-professionals can manage to thrive on the flesh of film actresses (both the genuine and the pseudo variety), tells its own tale. As so often pointed out in these columns in the past, it is not by talking tall about "morality clubs" in the Producers' Association and conniving at the evil from within that this scandal parade on our film front can be effectively checked but only when the movie moeuls become conscious of the loss of their prestige which thev ne^d so badly in these days of our freedom to negotiate with the Government over different industrial problems. No progressive industry in the world can afford to tolerate such diseusting scandals if it is ever to secure the patronage of the people and the government. If the producers are not prepared to debar those convicted and sentenced for such serious offences as prostitution, rape, adultery and the like from working in