FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

FILMINDIA July, 1949 fuse as gently as you can but then he goes a step further and stretching his hand across you offers some to your wife saying: "Lev behen, pista khao". She doesn't know what to do and looks at you appealingly and you save the embarrassing situation by nodding your permission to her to take them. With trembling hands she takes the pistas and your generous neighbour gives a handful more to her and she coyly says "bas". And then the neighbour gives you a handful saying, "turn bhi khao yar" and you with all anxiety to terminate this excessive affection accept the pistas. That establishes a brotherhood between you and your neighbour and you soon forget the pan stain on your trousers though it is difficult to run away from the different odours round about you. You wonder why theatre owners don't insist on filmgoers taking a bath before a show and cleaning their teeth and wearing clean clothes and learning good manners. You feel that people who can afford to pay for those high-priced seats three or four times a week can as well meet your requirements. "BACHCHEKO DOODH PILAO" The lights go off now and once again you are seeing the picture. The villain has now got hold of the. heroine and he is beating her almost Mohana is aggressive and Gope is in distress in "Patanga", produced by Varma Films. 'Bachcheko doodh pilao mercilessly. That wakes up the tiny tots in the audience and from almost every female lap comes a scream of fear. The little ones are reminded of their domestic quarrels and start piping loudly till there is an almost unbearable din in the theatre. Now come shouts of protest from different quarters "bachcheko bahar le jao" and some even give helpful suggestions shouting "Doodh pilao". You have no child of your own yet and you wonder why people have to expose these liabilities of their privacy to such public ridicule. Now you are witnessing an emotional scene between the hero and the heroine and the high-flown dialogue seems to go over the heads of several people. The Sikh turban opposite your wife suddenly starts talking in Jullundari Punjabi to a little woman by his side and explaining the situation in loud and vivid words. The Sikh voice is so near you that you miss the screen one completely. But you can't complain as in the dark that turban looks like perching on a broad wall. PERPETUATING THE FRAUD! In the midst of this emotional sequence comes the squad of interval hawkers collecting money and searching for glasses with torchlights. They bend and see everywhere, disturb a score of people and excavate one glass from the meshes of legs in the darkness. There is now the bill to pay with the coin jingling annoyingly on a china saucer and the flashlight lighting up the saucer at quick intervals. That emotional scene is completely ruined by now and so is your taste for the picture. " Some one behind you now starts coughing violently and in doing so drowns the final climax of the story. The picture ends as suddenly as it had begun — a favourite trick with Indian producers — and before the national flag is even flashed on the screen, your entire neighbourhood seems to be rushing for the exits, trampling on your toes and pushing you back into the seats every time vou stand to respect your nation's flag. You return home angry and sulking and your wife is sore and blue in parts she would not like you to see. But when your neighbour asks you next day how you liked the picture you say with devilish delight: "It was wonderful. You must see it with your wife". And thus you help to perpetuate the fraud that entertainment is in India. 46