FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

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F 1 1 M I N D I A December, VU September 1947 and was subsequently allotted to one Said-ul-Rehman and Najam-ul-Hussein (ex-actor of Bombay Talkies) in partnership. Nandlal Oberoi lost over 10 lakhs of rupees in a day and ran out of the Punjab with his large family to save his people and save for his posterity the precious heirloom of Hinduism. For two long years he has been selling the few ornaments of the ladies of his family that could be smuggled on their persons and supporting his large family. But now he has reached a stage of destitution where only God or the government can help him. On the 20th August 1949, Nandlal Oberoi applied to the Minister of Rehabilitation of the East Punjab Government praying for the allotment of Naulakha Talkies at Ludhiana. This cinema is left behh.d by the same Said-ul-Rehman who has now been allotted Nandlal Oberoi's Regent Cinema in Lahore. Though Nandlal's Regent in Lahore was a bigger and more expensive cinema house than the Naulakha Talkies in Ludhiana, Nandlal prayed for its allotment to him to make some beginning of a new life and to provide his large family with at least a meagre living. But the Minister of Rehabilitation of the East Punjab Government has not yet granted Nandlal"s just and frantic prayer. The politicians in the East Punjab have been too busy with their own rehabilitation in the quickchanging ministries of the province to worry about the unfortunate refugees who have been mercilessly uprooted from their homes and thrown to the dogs. There are eight cinemas left behind by the Muslims in the East Punjab. They have all been sealed up by the East Punjab Government since the last two years as the Government have not yet made up their mind about them. They don't seem to know what to do with them. A better idea would be to consult the Pakistan Government. The Pakistan Government know well what to do with the Hindus, the Hindu women and the Hindu property. And they -put their expert knowledge on this subject into action quickly. If the Pakistan Government seal up a cinema on Jume Raat. it is allotted to a Muslim before the Juma prayers next day. And they somehow find the right Muslim for it. But the East Punjab Government could not find the right Hindu refugee all this time to run even the Naulakha Talkies at Ludhiana though Nandlal Oberoi has been knocking at the door every day. And there are seven more Hindu refugees to be found for the other seven theatres. It seems to be a problem big enough to cause another cabinet crisis in the East Punjab the way they seem to be reshuffling ministries these days to suit the different lengths of the Sikh beards. And if reports can be relied upon the Rehabilitation Ministry of the East Punjab Government intends to auction these eight cinemas left behind by the Muslims. Auctioning means giving the cinemas to the highest bidders. How can the impecunious, helpless refugees ever bid in an auction like this? When they have no money even to buy their daily rations how can they put up money to buy these cinemas? In an auction these cinemas will be bought by the non-refugee Hindus or Sikhs who have their money and estates in 10 Ashok Kumar and Nalini Jay-want give a new yogic pc in "Samadhi", an I. N. A. romance produced by | Mukherjee for Filmistan Ltd. tact. Then how does the Rehabilitation Ministry he the helpless refugees? Auctioning these cinemas would amount to cashil on the misfortunes of our helpless refugees. The on way to help those unfortunate people who have be thrown out of the West Punjab is to allot them the pi perty left behind by the Muslims. And these allotmei must be quickly done before the refugees take refu in another land from where no one ever returns. Giving Naulakha Talkies of Ludhiana to Nand Oberoi would be a good beginning and let us hope I Gopichand Bharpava begins his new lease as the Prii Minister of the East Punjab with a merciful act befo the Sikh beards grow longer and reshuffle the Ej Punjab Cabinet again. NEW TECHNIQUE OF CENSORING! Film producers, due to the very nature of th( profession which needs art and imagination, are perha the most intelligent people in the countrv. The mo laws you thrust on them to improve the films, the mo ways they find to circumvent these laws. The newly organised Censor Board in Bombay wi the adoption of the new production code stumped the for a while and they stood up in protest when SI Morarji Desai, the Home Minister, reversed the decisH of the Censor Board and banned "Jugnu" riaht in t midst of its triumphant run at the Capitol Cinema Bombay. This righteous action of the Home Minister, ho' ever, made the members of the Censor Board f-ngry ai peevish and under the none-too-inspiring chairmansh