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Books on Bollywood are a new literary genre in the making Bollywood is coming alive in fine print. A spate of innovative books is not only documenting Indian moviedom for posterity but also throwing meaningful light on the evolution of mainstream cinema. "I think for the first time there is a whole range of books now that reflects the incredible range of Bollywood itself," Udayan Mitra, publishing director at Penguin India, says. "The readership of film books has grown. The top three trends seem to be visual books, star biographies and memoirs."
Lipika Bhushan, chief marketing manager at Harper Collins, says: "Our books under the Film Series sell more than general books. Our title R.D. Burman: The Man And Music is in its third reprint, having sold more then 5,000 copies. We have published three non-fiction volumes on individual blockbusters." The series so far has covered three landmark movies — Deewar, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and Disco Dancer. While Amar Akbar Anthony releases in December, a coffee-table book on silent cinema and a volume on Navketan Films are in the pipeline. Penguin has published three major film titles this year — a biography of K.L. Saigal by Pran Nevile, Flashback, the autobiography of Bob Christo, and First Day, First Show by Anupama Chopra. Two more books, The Greatest Show on Earth edited by Jerry Pinto, and Sounding Off, an autobiography of Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty, are slated for release this year. Writer Jai Arjun Singh's take on the making of Kundan Shah's Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron is a story of how the movie came to be despite the odds. Made on a budget of less than Rs.7 lakh, it went from a quiet showing at the box office to become the country's first successful black comedy. "Jaane Bhi... is a part of my childhood. But as a writer and journalist, I could appreciate it better because it was an interesting film struggling on a low budget. Some called my book seriously funny," Singh says. "I think a separate Bollywood literary genre is starting to happen. Publishers are taking the initiative to organise literary projects on Bollywood," Singh says. The book, Disco Dancer: A Comedy in Five Parts, by screenplay writer Anuvab Pal, tries to probe what made the world go into raptures over the Mithun Chakravarty-starrer. Bollywood commentator and columnist Anupama Chopra describes her anthology of film writings, First Day, First Show, as a "ringside view" of the industry. "I thought putting
the articles together would create an interesting snapshot of modern
Bollywood." — IANS
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Bollywood
became a literary inspiration in the early 1990s, with books like Starry
Nights by Shobaa De and Show Business by Shashi Tharoor. On
offer now are popular movie screenplays, pictorials and racy novels.