Written by Salim-Javed


Book Description

The dramatic, entertaining story of the dream team that pioneered the Bollywood blockbuster Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar reinvented the Bollywood formula with an extraordinary lineup of superhits, becoming game changers at a time when screenwriting was dismissed as a back-room job. From Zanjeer to Deewaar and Sholay to Shakti, their creative output changed the destinies of several actors and filmmakers and even made a cultural phenomenon of the Angry Young Man. Even after they decided to part ways, success continued to court them-a testament not only to their impeccable talent and professional ethos, but also their enterprising showmanship and business acumen. Fizzing with energy and brimming over with enough trivia to delight a cinephile's heart, Written by Salim-Javed tells the story of a dynamic partnership that transformed Hindi cinema forever.




Sholay


Book Description

National Award Winner: 'Best Book On Film' Year 2000. Film Journalist Anupama Chopra Tells The Fascinating Story Of How A Four-Line Idea Grew To Become The Greatest Blockbuster Of Indian Cinema. Starting With The Tricky Process Of Casting, Moving On To The Actual Filming Over Two Years In A Barren, Rocky Landscape, And Finally The First Weeks After The Film'S Release When The Audience Stayed Away And The Trade Declared It A Flop, This Is A Story As Dramatic And Entertaining As Sholay Itself. With The Skill Of A Consummate Storyteller, Anupama Chopra Describes Amitabh Bachchan'S Struggle To Convince The Sippys To Choose Him, An Actor With Ten Flops Behind Him, Over The Flamboyant Shatrughan Sinha; The Last-Minute Confusion Over Dates That Led To Danny Dengzongpa'S Exit From The Fim, Handing The Role Of Gabbar Singh To Amjad Khan; And The Budding Romance Between Hema Malini And Dharmendra During The Shooting That Made The Spot Boys Some Extra Money And Almost Killed Amitabh.




Talking Films


Book Description

Poet, lyricist and screenplay writer, Javed Akhtar is that rare individual celebrated in the diverse worlds of popular cinema and of literature and letters. Zanjeer, Deewaar and Sholay, with screenplays written by him in partnership with Salim Khan, are milestones in the history of Indian cinema. Javed Akhtar's book of poetry, Tarkash, published both in Urdu and Hindi, has enjoyed enormous critical as well as commercial success. The songs he has written for the Hindi screen have also been trendsetters, and today Javed Akhtar is among the most respected names in the Indian film industry. Here, Nasreen Munni Kabir talks with this hugely creative writer about his early influences, his relationship with his parents, his life and work in films where he began as a clapper boy in the mid-sixties, and his successful partnership with Salim Khan. An original thinker, Javed Akhtar turns his analytical gaze to the conventions of Hindi cinema, its songs and its stories. He is illuminating about many aspects of screenplay, dialogue writing and lyric writing, bringing alive his understanding of these creative forms with his descriptions of the way well-known film dialogue and famous songs canme to be written. Akhtar speaks with clarity and honesty about his development as a poet and his growth as a politically-aware person. Sparkling with Akhtar's wit, intelligence and skill as a raconteur, this well-illustrated book will appeal to everyone interested in cinema and the arts.




Dark Star


Book Description

FOREWORD BY SHARMILA TAGORE The first-ever biography of the enigmatic Rajesh Khanna, the original 'superstar' If ever a life was meant to be a book, few could stake a stronger claim. Like a shooting star doomed to darkness after a glorious run, Rajesh Khanna spent the better half of his career in the shadow of his own stardom. Yet, forty years after his last monstrous hit, Khanna continues to be the yardstick by which every single Bollywood star is measured. At a time when film stars were truly larger than life, Khanna was even more: the one for whom the term 'superstar' was coined. Born Jatin Khanna to middle-class parents, the actor was adopted by rich relatives who brought him up like a prince. By the time he won the Filmfare-United Producers Combine Talent Hunt, he was already famous for being the struggler who drove an imported sports car.With seventeen blockbuster hits in succession and mass adulation rarely seen before or since, the world was at Khanna's feet. Everything he touched turned to gold. The hysteria he generated - women writing him letters in blood, marrying his photograph and donning white when he married Dimple Kapadia, people bringing sick children for his 'healing' touch after Haathi Mere Saathi - was unparalleled. Then, in a matter of months, it all changed. Khanna's career hit a downward spiral as spectacular as his meteoric rise just three years after Aradhana (1969) and never really recovered. Dark Star looks at the phenomenon of an actor who redefined the 'film star'. Gautam Chintamani's engaging narrative tries to make sense of what it was that made Rajesh Khanna and what accounted for his extraordinary fall. A singular account of a wondrous life.




Bollybook


Book Description

In how many Hindi films has the hero been afflicted by the Big C (cancer)? Who played a double role in Sholay? Which early Dev Anand movie had the song ‘Usne phenka leg break to maine mara chhakka?’ From Geet Gaata Chal (songs that became movies) to Nishabd (ten silent scenes of Amitabh Bachchan), every page in this bumper book is going to engross and entertain you.




Amitabh


Book Description

A remarkable insight into the films and times of India's greatest star-actor In an industry where fashions change every Friday, Amitabh Bachchan has been synonymous with cinematic entertainment for over thirty years. But beyond the labels of 'one-man industry' and 'star of the millennium', a number of issues pertaining to the star, his films and his era remain largely unaddressed. What is it that makes Amitabh Bachchan the star he is? Is it his undeniable genius as an actor, his ability to connect with the masses and the classes alike, or is it his writers and directors who project him in varied roles? Did his films in his heyday reflect the angst of his time, or did they ferment the spirit of anger and rebellion in the first place? Was he really the rebel as his 'angry young man' image suggests, or was there, behind all the sound and fury, a conformist subtext that called for restoration of the status quo? How relevant is Amitabh Bachchan today? In Amitabh: The Making of a Superstar, Susmita Dasgupta answers these and other questions that lie buried in the trail of glory the star blazed. In a warm and insightful analysis, the author traces the world-view and philosophy that have shaped the films of Amitabh Bachchan-from the angry young man of Zanjeer, the tragic antihero of Deewar and the entertainer of Amar Akbar Anthony to his more conservative turns in Mahabbatein and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. In the process, she not only chronicles the star's journey from a flop actor to a national icon but also brings to life a period in the history of Indian cinema which altered forever the economics of film-making in the country.




Talking Songs


Book Description

Is the universe infinite, or does it have an edge beyond which there is, quite literally, nothing? Do we live in the only possible universe? Why does it have one time and three space dimensions - or does it? What is it made of? What does it mean when we hear that a new particle has been discovered? Will quantum mechanics eventually break down and give way to a totally new description of the world, one whose features we cannot even begin to imagine?This book aims to give the non-specialist reader a general overview of what physicists think they do and do not know in some representative frontier areas of contemporary physics. After sketching out the historical background, A. J. Leggett goes on to discuss the current situation and some of the open problems of cosmology, high-energy physics, and condensed-matter physics. Unlike most other accounts, this book focuses not so much on recent achievements as on the fundamental problems at theheart of the subject, and emphasizes the provisional nature of our present understanding of things.




Khullam Khulla


Book Description

Son of a famous father. Father of a famous son. I am the hyphen between them. Only, Rishi Kapoor was and is so much more. Few actors in Hindi cinema have had this sort of a career arc: from the gawky adolescent pining for his schoolteacher (Mera Naam Joker, 1970) to the naughty ninety-year-old (Kapoor & Sons, 2016), Rishi Kapoor has regaled audiences for close to fifty years. He won a National Award for his debut, became an overnight sensation with his first film as a leading man (Bobby, 1973), and carved a niche for himself with a string of romantic musical blockbusters in an era known for its angst-ridden films. He was the youth icon that is still the toast of the satellite TV circuit. The songs he lip-synced are the bread and butter of all radio stations even today. Then there was the second coming after a brief hiatus in the 1990s - as one of the finest actors in mainstream Hindi cinema with powerhouse performances in films like Do Dooni Chaar, D-Day, Agneepath and others.Characteristically candid, Rishi Kapoor brings Punjabi brio to the writing of Khullam Khulla. This is as up close and personal a biography as any fan could have hoped for. He writes about growing up in the shadow of a legendary father, skipping school to act in Mera Naam Joker, the workings of the musical hits of the era, an encounter with Dawood Ibrahim, his heroines (their working relationship, the gossip and the frisson that was sometimes real), his approach to his craft, his tryst with clinical depression, and more. A foreword by Ranbir Kapoor and a stirring afterword by Neetu Singh bookend the warmest, most dil se biography an Indian star has ever penned.




The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee


Book Description

One of India’s best-loved film directors, Hrishikesh Mukherjee is perhaps best known today for his perennially popular creations like Anand, Chupke Chupke and Gol Maal. But Hrishi-da’s best work was provocative, wide-ranging and always aware of the complexities of people and their relationships. Often combining breezy narratives with serious ideas, his films created a distinct world with recurring themes. Jai Arjun Singh looks closely at Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s oeuvre, from well-known films like Satyakam, Guddi, Abhimaan and Khubsoorat to lesser known works such as Mem-Didi, Biwi aur Makaan and Anuradha. Combining a fan’s passion with a critic’s rigour, The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee is a must-read for anyone who takes their filmed entertainment seriously.




IN OTHER WORDS


Book Description

Javed Akhtar's poetry speaks of the urban milieu that envelops him. Helplessness, hunger and homelessness, crowds and solitude, f ilth and crime, fame and obscurity, rock-strewn footpaths and glass-studded skyscrapers: this cosmopolitan world he inhabits seeps into the tone and tenor of his writing. Akhtar's sharply observed poems stretch across time and space, articulate the extremities of hot and cold seasons, of walking barefoot on live-hot embers and the tenderness of kissing f lowers drenched in dew. These are bit tersweet verses from a man who has felt f irsthand the sharpness of sensation. The themes he speaks of are universal, yet the timbre of Akhtar's poetry is unique; it is not the echo of other voices. - Dr. Gopi Chand Narang