Kim's Review : HiFi in Bollywood

HiFi in Bollywood is Rishi Vohra's second book after "Once Upon the Tracks of Mumbai"

My autographed copy reached me through a long journey and courtesy the generosity of friends from Bombay to London via Ahmedabad.

In this book, Rishi keeps up his comfortable writing style which makes the book easy to breeze through, but the story itself is much more interesting and told with a lot more authenticity. This genre seems like a natural one for him, given his background and the writing clearly reflects his comfort with his subject - Bollywood aka HiFi (Hindi Film Industry - a term introduced by Salman Khan, that has not yet caught on in the public imagination)

Rayhan Arora is a very identifiable lead character -forced to take up "professional" studies by a domineering father when his real interest lies in  the creative field of film-making. Rayhan isn't one of the millions wanting to be an "actor", he wants to become a "director".

The characters he meets along his journey may seem stereotypical, but there's also something genuine about each of them. He doesn't focus so much on the big stars, as he does on the "aam aadmi". He again brings home the reality of life in average middle class Mumbai

I did enjoy this book, much more than  "Once Upon the Tracks of Mumbai", but then this isn't such a "difficult" subject either. Empathising with Babloo was a little difficult as there was a bit of pity thrown into the mix. In "HiFi in Bollywood", its much easier to empathise with Rayhan.

Given the sheer improvement in the last year and a half, I look forward to reading more of Rishi's books in the future, especially as he seems to be getting more comfortable with his voice and the characters he puts down on paper.

Rating : 3.75 / 5

Brajesh's Review : Madhubala - "I Don't Want to Die"

Given my adoration of Madhubala, I was so happy to receive this gift from my wife. The small comic like, 40 page life story of Madhubala is part of a series titled “Discovery Books” by General Press.

I think the concept is outstanding to have short 50/- MRP booklets to educate the interested reader. Topics and personalities covered in this series range from Amitabh, Sachin, Lal Bahadur Shastri to AIDS, Jama Masjid & Delhi.

Unfortunately the book didn’t even have material to to do justice to 40 pages. It felt more like a badly written long essay on Madhubala. The themes of Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi’s (Madhubala) strict father and her legendary affair with Yusuf Bhai (Dilip Kumar) is repeated umpteen times. It would have been better to edit the book further by 40% or get some additional material to avoid this useless repetition.

For a fan of Madhubala there is enough new material for a quick read. But the poor quality of writing and lack of authentic insights mean that I won’t be recommending this series to anyone.

Rating : 2.5 / 5

Brajesh's Review : 100 Films to See Before You Die

Anupama Chopra has compiled this collection of reviews of "her" 100 favourite movies. While the book is dominated by Hindi and English cinema, it also has a lovely sprinkling of Japanese, Cantonese, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, French, German, Iranian and a silent movie as well.

Each review is about a page-long and is accompanied by a listing of awards for the movie, details on movie cast and the director in a trivia box. This makes the book interesting to read and more importantly helps one to make one's own list of films to watch.

After going through the book, here is a short summary of my list. I have already watched 32 movies from this book and have resolutely marked 30 as must-watch. This wish-list includes movies like, A Street Car Named Desire, Amadeus, Bicycle Thieves, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, City of God, Lawrence of Arabia, The Player, Shining, Vertigo and Z to name just a few. It even has 2 Hindi Classics - Kabhie Kabhie and Pyasaa which I have somehow missed watching.

If like me, you love making to-do-lists, this book would be a great help to make your own "have to watch" movie list.

Rating : 3 / 5

Brajesh's Review : Sholay : The Making of a Classic

You aren't allowed to call yourself a Sholay fan if you haven't read Sholay : The Making of a Classic".

I re-read "Sholay : The Making of a Classic", on the day I was going to watch Sholay 3-D. Half of the book bracketed each side of the movie for me. There couldn't have been a better setting to relish this masterclass. If you are obsessed with Sholay, like half of my generation is, you SHOULD order this book today.

Even if you don't remember each dialogue of the movie, like most people watching the 3-D version had, the book still has so much of the inside story that it's a blockbuster in itself.

Anupama Chopra writes with the confidence of a Bollywood insider and recounts fantastic snippets. Here is a sample of a few :-
- The movie actually started as just a 5 line story by Salim-Javed which was purchased for 50,000 by the Sippy's.
- Amitabh's marriage and Jaya's pregnancy actually derailed the shoot by over six months.
- Danny refused Gabbar's role and Dharmendra wanted to do Thakur's role.
- The most fantastic story is about the first fortnight, post the release of Sholay and how the entire industry and movie critics wrote-off the movie as a flop. The Sippy's were then being asked to do a salvage operation by re-shooting the ending or cutting it by 45 minutes. Like any master creator they didn't listen either to the critics or to the stupid box-office pandits. We must thank God for the unadulterated version, which then turned into the best movie ever made in the Hindi film industry.

Rating : 4.5 / 5

Brajesh's Review : The Popcorn Essayists - What Movies do to Writers

I highly recommend "The Popcorn Essayists" to every movie and literature lover. It is an awesome collection of essays on how movies impact writers and writings.

"Two languages in conversation" by Kamila Shamsie is the jewel in this collection. A deep, insightful and emotional commentary on how the two mediums differ and grow richer when they come together. Malin Suri's story on dressing like Helen and performing "Piya Tu Aab To Aaja"on Time Square is a lesson in breaking free and expressionism.

I discovered Kaurismaki through Anjum Hasan and learned about the secret meaning in Maula Jatt through Musharraf Ali Farooqi. Jaishree Mishra writes about life as a member of Censor Board and Sumana Roy deconstructs Ritwik's Ajantrik.

Overall the book is like a brilliantly presented salad with ingredients for all. Simple yet complex, sweet yet sour, rich yet basic, profound yet elementary. Strongly recommended.

Rating : 4 / 5

Brajesh's Review: Kitnay Aadmi Thay?

This is a landmark book for me. This is the first time I have got an acknowledgement by the author and I can tell you, I felt awesome when I accidentally discovered the same.

Dipto is a dear friend, & I was eagerly looking forward to this book, after his previous one on Cricket - I pre-ordered the same :-). I must say the joy of discovering your name in print is an unmatched feeling, and in my case this has inspired me to do a book of my own :) Diptakirti Chaudhuri, I will hopefully reciprocate this acknowledgement one day.

Thank You Diptakirti Chaudhuri :) You are a gentleman and a friend I will treasure always.

Now back to the book content, being written by a friend I obviously have not rated the book, but any self-confessed bollywood fan MUST own this one. The book is constructed like a mosaic of trivia and that adds to the discovery and journey. What makes this book unique is it does not get caught in the clichéd lists and I must say the books gets better post intermission.

The second half has more commentary, the authors point of views on lists which are very hilarious and these make second half better.

Not Rated

Brajesh's Review: Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro is a thoroughly researched book on a cult phenomenon, very well constructed with great insights by Jai Arjun Singh. Gets 0.5 extra for my love for the film.

Rating 3.5/5




 

Kim's Review: The Bollywood Cookbook

I can never resist stopping and browsing at a bookshop. and heaven help my poor husband if there is a Book Sale on!

Since we are still in transit, we are living in a guest house where the kitchen is guarded by the (well since they are so young, I can't call them Maharaj's)  Rajkumars of the guest house and I am on a cooking break. We are living out of the suitcases we were able to carry with us on the flight and the rest of our possessions lie in a warehouse until we find a home.

But this could not deter me from buying books at the fantastic 10-90% discount sale at Om Bookshop across its locations in Delhi and NCR. I finally managed to sneak into one of their outlets when the husband wasn't around and came back with a load of books, one of which was The Bollywood Cookbook: The Glamorous World of the Actors and Over 75 of Their Favorite Recipes by Bulbul Mankani.

The book has over 75 recipes as well as part interviews, part nuggets and photographs of the Film Stars whose contributions have  been used in the book. Hence this book can also double up as a coffee table book and the reproduction of some old film posters like "Guide",  "Bobby", "Umrao Jaan", "Pakeezah" could spark off some interesting conversations.

The pictures are lovely and the printing quality is good. The photos of the food that accompany the recipes can easily tempt you into cooking from the book. Some of the traditional recipes like the Manglorean Coconut curries have been given a low fat, low cal twist by the stars, their parents or their cooks.

Contrary to what is sometimes perceived as my indiscriminate picking up of cookbooks, I do read a couple of recipes to get a feel of whether the author is being authentic to the taste of the dish and if ingredients will be easy to find. This book scores high on both counts. Just like someone who reads music, can visualise and hear what the notes will sound like, some foodies who are avid cooks will have an idea what the finished product will taste like, just by reading a recipe.

The reason I don't bake is because I can't follow precise instructions, so I do jiggle with the quantities recommended to suit my own tastebuds and mood, so I cannot tell you how accurate the measurements are. And I have not yet been in my own kitchen to put the recipes to the test, but they seem to have potential.

Some of the stars also share their favorite restaurants with you. I was suprised to see that 2 of Nandita Das's favorties, Aap Ki Khatir and Swagath in Delhi mirrored my own. It somehow makes them more human to read their likes and dislikes about food.

The recipes are Pan Indian and some of them have an International twist to them too. Contributions from Shah Rukh Khan, the Bacchans, the Roshans, Shabana Azmi, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor among others, span Lucknowi, Mughal, Manglorean, Parsi, Marathi, Rasta and Bengali recipes. So it does give you a wide range of cuisines to choose from.

My only crib about this book so far, is that on page 127 where the recipe is for Suneil Shetty's Uppitu, the accompanying picture is of some paneer dish.

If Bollywood and Food are dual interests to you, then this book is worth your while. Even if just one of the 2 interests you, there is still a lot you can get out of this book.

If you would like to sample a few pages of the book before buying it online, this Amazon link lets you Look Inside.