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Published: 22 August 2017

Last Updated: 03 November 2017

Number 5 2017/08/20

Ai Mere Watan Ke Logo

Yesterday, I mentioned the "Saga of the Compiler's Odyssey". You can read it here.

I am sure everybody knows about the famous Lata non-film song which made Chacha Nehru cry. The poet wrote the last word in the title as LOGO (not LOGON), Lata sang it as LOGO (not LOGON), the record says it is LOGO (not LOGON). So stop saying LOGON, at least for this song.

May be you feel that LOGON is correct grammatically, may be you were taught that way, may be you have known this all your life. No matter. The poet, the singer and the record disagree. So LOGO, not LOGON.

In fact the usage Ai Mere Watan Ke Logo is grammatically correct, as is Aao Bachcho Tumhen Dikhaayen (as Pradeep sings) or Bhaaiyo or Bahno (as Amin Sayani says). Look at any reputable Hindi grammar book published in the earlier times. They all agree that there is no N at the end in this case.

So, once for all LOGO, not LOGON.

Now you know!

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Published: 22 August 2017

Last Updated: 03 November 2017

Number 4 2017/08/19

One Man Archive Army

So, three Censor Boards were set up in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras soon after 1918 and another one in Lahore in 1927. Our Knight on a quest was in Bombay, so he approached the Central Board of Censors there. They said, we were established in 1951 and we can help you with films censored after that. What do I do for films before that, he asked. Somebody mentioned  the Govt Dept of Archives. Off he went to the Archives and he found bonanza!

In collaboartion with the National Film Archives of India, Poona, he was able to examine the old gazettes on microfilm containing info about 1000 silents and talkies. This was about 80% of the films What about tthe remaining? The next important center was in Calcultta, so he went there.

The Calcutta Censor Board told him that they did not have anything, of course. He asked, Where do you keep all your junk? They pointed to a dirty and dilapidated room. Holding his nose, he ransacked it and found nearly disintegrated forty year old gazettes. He took them all to NFAI, where they are now. I presume they have been microfilmed. Prakash Magdum ji would know.

That one man archive army was a double graduate, Mechanical Engg and Electrical Engg. He was an Assistant Sound Recordist and Editor for "Vish Vaman (1936)"  a talkie made in Jabalpur. The film was financed by a beeDee maker.

His name is (Late) Bhaskarrao Vishnu Dharap, owner of Alka Talkies, Poona, who was commonly known as B V Dharap. Har Mandir Singh declared him to be his Godfather in his "Saga of the Compiler's Odyssey".

Thanks again to the magic of modern science and internet, I am able to show you a page from a gazette of 1922. You can see one silent Indian film and many foreign ones, because these foreign films had to be  re-censored in India before they could be shown here.

[As usual, right click, view image and magnify or just download.]

Now you know!

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Published: 22 August 2017

Last Updated: 03 November 2017

Number 3 2017/08/18

Filmographies

My mentor and guru Prof R K Pathria always proof-reads my books. When reading my book on Indurani he was surprised to know that only one of her films survives. He wanted to know how I prepared the list of her films and if I am sure that these films were even made!

So I told him briefly about the meticulous record-keeping habits of the British (rivaled by the Nazis!). British Govt passed the Indian Cinematograph Act of 1918, which required all films headed for public exhibition to obtain a censor certificate and be notified in the official Gazette.  Censors had to watch the film and give a certificate of approval or reject it.

Where are these gazettes? Nobody had any idea. Then around 1966, one tireless man went on a quest to track these down and prepare the first reliable filmography of Hindi films. Who was that man? Stay tuned.

Now you know!