Murder in Bollywood


Book Description

‘Someone at this table has killed before, and someone at this table will kill again.’ Nikhil Kapoor, Bollywood’s biggest film director, made this shocking proclamation to his friends one night. Sameer Ali Khan, Bollywood’s badshah, seethed with rage. Nyra Oberoi, filmdom’s queen-in-waiting, turned her face away. Ishan Malhotra, producer extraordinaire, laughed out loud, while Kiki Fernandez, dress designer to the stars, looked afraid. Two nights later, both Nikhil and his wife, leading actress Mallika Kapoor, were found dead. It is up to Senior Inspector Hoshiyar Khan to solve the puzzle.




Perfect Murder


Book Description

Shakuntala Devi the mathematical genius often called the 'Human Computer' turns her attention to study the highly complex mental equations of a human mind gripped by greed, lust and selfishness. A tense drama of the gradual transformation of a successful lawyer into a scheming killer intent upon committing a Perfect Murder.




Haunting Bollywood


Book Description

Haunting Bollywood is a pioneering, interdisciplinary inquiry into the supernatural in Hindi cinema that draws from literary criticism, postcolonial studies, queer theory, history, and cultural studies. Hindi commercial cinema has been invested in the supernatural since its earliest days, but only a small segment of these films have been adequately explored in scholarly work; this book addresses this gap by focusing on some of Hindi cinema’s least explored genres. From Gothic ghost films of the 1950s to snake films of the 1970s and 1980s to today’s globally influenced zombie and vampire films, Meheli Sen delves into what the supernatural is and the varied modalities through which it raises questions of film form, history, modernity, and gender in South Asian public cultures. Arguing that the supernatural is dispersed among multiple genres and constantly in conversation with global cinematic forms, she demonstrates that it is an especially malleable impulse that routinely pushes Hindi film into new formal and stylistic territories. Sen also argues that gender is a particularly accommodating stage on which the supernatural rehearses its most basic compulsions; thus, the interface between gender and genre provides an exceptionally productive lens into Hindi cinema’s negotiation of the modern and the global. Haunting Bollywood reveals that the supernatural’s unruly energies continually resist containment, even as they partake of and sometimes subvert Hindi cinema’s most enduring pleasures, from songs and stars to myth and melodrama.




King of Bollywood


Book Description

Here is the astonishing true story of Bollywood, a sweeping portrait about a country finding its identity, a movie industry that changed the face of India, and one man's struggle to become a star. Shah Rukh Khan's larger than life tale takes us through the colorful and idiosyncratic Bollywood movie industry, where fantastic dreams and outrageous obsessions share the spotlight with extortion, murder, and corruption. Shah Rukh Khan broke into this $1.5 billion business despite the fact that it has always been controlled by a handful of legendary film families and sometimes funded by black market money. As a Muslim in a Hindu majority nation, exulting in classic Indian cultural values, Shah Rukh Khan has come to embody the aspirations and contradictions of a complicated culture tumbling headlong into American style capitalism. His story is the mirror to view the greater Indian story and the underbelly of the culture of Bollywood. "A bounty for cinema lovers everywhere." --Mira Nair, Director, The Namesake and Monsoon Wedding "King of Bollywood is the all-singing, all-dancing back stage pass to Bollywood. Anupama Chopra chronicles the political and cultural story of India with finesse and insight, through fly-on-wall access to one of its biggest, most charming and charismatic stars." -- Gurinder Chadha, director of Bend it Like Beckham "The "Easy Rider Raging Bull" of the Bollywood industry and essential reading for any Shah Rukh Khan fan." --Emma Thompson, actress "Anu Chopra infuses the pivotal moments of Shah Rukh Khan's life with an edge-of-your-seat tension worthy of the best Bollywood blockbusters." --Kirkus




Bollywood Wives


Book Description

'I absolutely LOVED this book!' Donna's Book Blog Zara Das is Bollywood's hottest actress, stalked by paparazzi wherever she goes. But behind the glamour lies the truth of how she reached the top. Zara's new film, a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice being shot in London, should overcome the scandal that threatens her career - until a dead body is found in her hotel room. Someone is determined to take Zara down - and will stop at nothing to expose her darkest secrets. Zara has spent years running from her past. But now it's caught up with her... A sexy, gripping novel set in the world of Bollywood, for fans of Jackie Collins and Crazy Rich Asians. Everyone's talking about Bollywood Wives: 'Wow!! Sexy, mysterious, suspenseful and full of delicious and devious surprises...Loved it!' Angela Marsons, author of Dead Memories and Silent Scream 'Bollywood Wives is so fresh and exciting...If you enjoy books filled with drama and characters that will keep you entertained and gripped, then I highly recommend it. Hooked From Page One 'This is a sultry, sexy and rather dark thriller that pulls out all the stops!...There were some very steamy scenes and some rather unexpected twists as well.' My Chestnut Reading Tree 'This is an engrossing read...It speaks up for strong female role-models' Jan's Book Buzz 'this is a real bonk buster of a novel...A great book for reading on a hot beach somewhere - and it certainly took me back to my Jackie Collins days!' Always Need More Books 'Bollywood Wives is a melting pot of thriller, crime, feminism, Real Housewives and Sex & the City, dressed in a sari' From Belgium With Book Love 'This is a sexy, thrilling and often tense story which brings Bollywood to London and will keep readers hooked from the very explosive start.' Jen Med's Book Reviews 'a firecracker of a story with something for everyone, from romance to suspense, and this is a book that is vibrant and addictive in all of the right ways!' Books of All Kinds 'Bollywood Wives is a well-made soap-operatic melodrama with a powerful cultural kick to it...Hooray for Bollywood and these wives.' Silver Screen Videos 'SO much drama, gossip, and angst. SO much fun to read! The perfect escapist story, a book to lose yourself in.' Audio Killed the Bookmark 'Wow - I don't think I have ever read a book like this before!... An addictive, glamorous and intense read.' The Writing Garnet 'I loved it... Highly addictive, classic storytelling and a huge dose of heart. Very good indeed.' Liz Loves Books 'Real Housewives meets Bollywood in a dangerous mix of sex, glamour and revenge. It's a real showstopper of a read.' Steph Broadribb, author of Deep Dirty Truth 'Full of glitz and glamour...I read it in a day.' Ayisha Malik - author of This Green and Pleasant Land 'Sex, mystery and a fascinating peek beyond the gold thread and jewel-coloured silks of Asia's own Tinsel Town. Move over, Jackie Collins!' Marnie Riches, author of The Girl Who Wouldn't Die




Bollywood


Book Description

A guidebook to Indian films.




Susanna's Seven Husbands


Book Description

Since his childhood; Arun has secretly been in love with Susanna; his dangerously alluring neighbour; who becomes his friend despite the wide difference in their ages. But Susanna has a weakness for falling in love with the wrong men. Over the years; Arun watches as Susanna becomes notorious as the merry widow who flits from one marriage to another; leaving behind a trail of dead husbands. It is only a matter of time before he too begins to wonder if there is any truth to the slanderous gossip surrounding the woman he is in love with. In this gripping new novella of love and death; Bond revisits his previously published short story of the same name; included here in an appendix. This edition also features the screenplay Saat Khoon Maaf; based on this novella and written by award-winning film-maker Vishal Bhardwaj and Matthew Robbins.




100 Bollywood Films


Book Description

Bollywood film is the national cinema of India, describing movies made in Mumbai, distributed nationally across India and with their own production, distribution and exhibition networks worldwide. This informative screen guide reflects the work of key directors, major stars and important music directors and screenplay writers. Historically important films have been included along with certain cult movies and top box office successes. No guide to Hindi film would be complete without discussing: Mother India, the national epic of a peasant woman's struggle against nature and society to bring up her family; Sholay, a 'curry western' where the all-star cast sing and dance, romance and kill; Dilwale Dulhaniya le jayenge, the greatest of the diaspora films, in which two British Asians fall in love on a holiday in Europe before going to India where they show their elders how to incorporate love into family traditions; Junglee, showing how love transforms a 'savage' (junglee) who yells 'Yahoo!' before singing and dancing like Elvis, creating a new youth culture; Pyaasa, dramatically shot in black and white film with haunting songs as the romantic poet suffers for his art in the material world; Fans of Bollywood film can debate Rachel Dwyer's personal selection of these 101 titles while those new to the area will find this an invaluable introduction to the best of the genre.




Bollywood Horrors


Book Description

Bollywood Horrors is a wide-ranging collection that examines the religious aspects of horror imagery, representations of real-life horror in the movies, and the ways in which Hindi films have projected cinematic fears onto the screen. Part one, “Material Cultures and Prehistories of Horror in South Asia” looks at horror movie posters and song booklets and the surprising role of religion in the importation of Gothic tropes into Indian films, told through the little-known story of Sir Devendra Prasad Varma. Part two, “Cinematic Horror, Iconography and Aesthetics” examines the stereotype of the tantric magician found in Indian literature beginning in the medieval period, cinematic representations of the myth of the fearsome goddess Durga's slaying of the Buffalo Demon, and the influence of epic mythology and Hollywood thrillers on the 2002 film Raaz. The final part, “Cultural Horror,” analyzes elements of horror in Indian cinema's depiction of human trafficking, shifting gender roles, the rape-revenge cycle, and communal violence. This book also features images (colour in the hardback, black and white in the paperback).