Idle Cinema Musings #4

MY TOP 5 BOLLYWOOD BOOKS (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)
1.       DON’T DISTURB THE DEAD – THE STORY OF THE RAMSAY BROTHERS (AUTHOR: SHAMYA DASGUPTA)

2.       FUNKY BOLLWOOD – THE WILD WORLD OF 1970S INDIAN ACTION CINEMA  (AUTHOR: TODD STADTMAN)

3.       PARVEEN BABI – A LIFE (AUTHOR: KARISHMA UPADHYAY)

4.       RD BURMAN – THE MAN, THE MUSIC (AUTHORS: ANIRUDHA BHATTACHARYA, BALAJI VITTAL)

5.       40 RETAKES – BOLLYWOOD CLASSICS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (AUTHOR: AVIJIT GHOSH) 

Popular Hindi cinema or Bollywood as it is now commonly known as, has seen a splurge of books in the recent years. After having been starved for good books on hindi cinema, fans are now spoilt for choice, as almost every month or two there are new books out on the shelves, waiting to be picked up. Publication houses have successfully managed to tap an area that was waiting to be discovered. The huge interest in Bollywood in India (and amongst the NRI crowd too) has finally been acknowledged and is now being milked to the hilt. It is but natural that this demand has led to huge quantities of Bollywood related literature and trivia, anecdotes and reminisces, interviews and reviews flooding the market. Not all of it is worthwhile to be honest Actually a large number of these books are quite low both on quality as well as information (Wikipedia and hearsay seem to be the most common sources).However there are a few books that stand out from this deluge of Bolly-books, that deserve special attention and mention. They need to be cherished and appreciated. Here are my top 5 books from the hundreds I have read so far. These are not in any particular order, but are indeed my personal top five books on hindi cinema…at least as of now…until something even better comes along:

DON’T DISTURB THE DEAD – A STORY OF THE RAMSAY BROTHERS (SHAMYA DASGUPTA)
Eve since I read about the arrival of this book, in an article in India Today magazine, I was waiting with unbridled joy and nervous anticipation. Rarely had I been so keen to get a hold of a book, as I was with this one. After all The Ramsay Brothers were amongst my favourite Bollywood people and I always felt they had been treated shabbily by critics and film lovers alike. They had created a very specific niche for themselves in hindi cinema, and I for one thought it was high time that it was recognized. Shamya Dasgupta’s book did just that…and more !!!
Right from the fascinating cover (what more iconic than the gruesome Saamri from Purana Mandir, the Ramsay’s biggest commercial success) Dasgupta gets it all right. He charts the beginnings of the famous brothers, starting with the father. The story of the fabulous brothers is told simply but with the necessary and relevant details. Interesting anecdotes, personal recalls from the brothers, and some fine analysis of their work, makes this book enjoyable and riveting at every point.
There is an underlying honesty throughout the book. Not even once does Dasgupta try to elevate the brothers as great filmmakers or anything even close to that. And there is a disarming honesty by the men themselves, as they speak about their work. And what eventually comes across is their love and passion for cinema and the firm belief in their kind of cinema. And that is infectious. Once I finished the book (in 2 straight nights) I picked up all the available dvds and immersed myself to indeed “disturb the dead”…what a fascinating journey that turned out to be. Thank you Ramsay Brothers. Thank you Shamya Dasgupta.

FUNKY BOLLYWOOD – THE WILD WORLD OF 1970S INDIAN ACTION CINEMA  (TODD STADTMAN)
If there ever was a true labour of love then this is got to be it. It was serendipitous to stumble across this book on a rare search in Amazon. It was exactly the kind of book I was looking for and for it to fall right on to my lap was more than a blessing. Todd Stadtman takes us through the heady 1970s Bollywood, discussing, analyzing and introducing to us some absolute gems. If anyone was waiting for Bollywood to step out of its (tired and clichéd) stereotypes, Stadtman surely must have been listening. He picks and chooses some absolute gems and the way he goes about them, only goes to bring out his true love and passion for Indian cinema. Talking about the likes of KSR Doss, Brij and Manmohan Desai, Todd Stadtman reveals to us what a lot of Indian fans did not know or truly appreciate till then. He calls Dharmendra, the action hero, “genetically bred” for this kind of cinema…and one knows one has a classic in their hands. The book is studded with some lovely pictures and amazingly apt (and funny) descriptions. The list of films chosen is superb and yes this is a book which even talks of bit players like Shetty, Mac Mohan et all…bit players yes….but oh so crucial for the history of that period of hindi cinema.
Putting it simply….THIS BOOK IS A GEM !!!

PARVEEN BABI – A LIFE (KARISHMA UPDHYAY)
This is another book I was very keen to pick up. Simply because so little has been known to most of us about this enigmatic actress who lived a troubled life and died a lonely death. I started reading this book with a fair amount of circumspect, because I had never heard of the author before or her connection with the late Ms Babi. But by the end of the night (I started reading it one evening) I had finished more than half of the book. It was simply unputdownable. The journey of a simple, sprightly girl from Junagadh to the topsy-turvy world of hindi cinema, searching for her own self in the Bombay of the 1970s is a fascinating one, lined with tragedy and sorrow. Parveen Babi’s is the classic sad case of a life wasted simply because no cared enough to get her treated. She practically died untreated of an ailment she was seriously suffering from.
Had this been a work of fiction, it would have been a definitive depiction of urban alienation and human disconnect. But unfortunately, this was real life and hence an unbearable tragedy. Moving, telling, pathetic at times, but always riveting. One of the best written books on hindi cinema I have ever read.

RD BURMAN – THE MAN, THE MUSIC (ANIRUDH BHATTACHARYA AND BALAJI VITTAL)
Two things make it difficult for me to talk about this book objectively. The subject matter and the author. The former being perhaps my single most favourite personality connected to hindi film music and the latter being a very good personal friend. But then what is life without such wonderful challenges?
Even if it is coming from me, make no mistake, this IS a magnificent book. Never before has RD Burman been so well humanized. A far cry from the mythical memoirs we have been subject to (not just on Rd but most film celebrities), RD Burman The Man The Music is an in-depth analysis of the music of the man and the man behind the music. Written with an abundance of knowledge, a whole lot of empathy and tremendous passion, this book is not merely a book on Pancham, but a book on music of that period of hindi cinema, with RD at its helm. In an age where were used to (and almost expect) people talking about topics they’re not qualified to talk about, the authors come across as pleasant exceptions, with their knowledge and passion on everything they speak about here. Myths are broken with solid facts and musical analysis is qualitative and not just hollow hyperboles. It was most obvious thing to listen to RD Burman whilst reading this book, but what it did gloriously was, that it made us appreciate more, the work of the maestro. Every song I heard after reading this book, I appreciated more. I understood more. I loved more (if that was ever possible)

40 RETAKES – BOLLYWOOD CLASSICS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (AVIJIT GHOSH)
Now this is a true hidden gem. Not much was known about this book, at least I had never heard of it before or read any review about it, when I happened to see it amongst a plethora of Bollywood books during an Amazon search with the keyword Bollywood. I still don’t remember what made me pick this book up at the time I did, but whatever be the reason then, I am now convinced this was a happy accident.
From the time I picked this book up I knew I had a winner in my hands. For an avid fan like me, it was always difficult to find 40 films which I had not seen before or heard about. And moreover lists are always a dicey area to tread upon, given their inevitable subjectivity. Despite that, I was hooked. For starters, it did have movies I had not cared about much (some, I confess, I hadn’t even heard about). But once I went through this book, it made me hunt for these films and watch them and more often than not, I was not disappointed. Even some film from the list which I had heard of (and even seen before), I revisited with a fresher and different outlook. There is nothing more appealing and joyous for a movie lover to be exposed to new cinema not seen by him/her before. This book did just that for me. Exposed me to a bunch of films I had missed out or ignored (inexplicably) before. Thank you Avijit Ghosh for doing that.

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