CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Jerry Pinto

Part 1: THE STARS

FROM THIS DAY FORTH CALL ME ‘HUNTERWALI’

Dorothee Wenner

THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY

Susmita Dasgupta

SHAH RUKH KHAN: A GLOBAL ICON

Anupama Chopra

MEENA KUMARI AND CHHOTI BAHU

Vinod Mehta

DARA SINGH: THE UNDISPUTED CHAMPION

Vir Sanghvi

THE SHOWMAN IN LOVE

Madhu Jain

THE MAN FROM KHANDWA

Pritish Nandy

Part 2: THE FILMS AND THE FILM-MAKERS

THE FALL AND RISE OF SHOLAY

Anupama Chopra

URDU, AWADH AND THE TAWAIF:

THE ISLAMICATE ROOTS OF HINDI CINEMA

Mukul Kesavan

TWO VIEWS OF GUIDE

Dev Anand

R.K. Narayan

THE MAN WHO WROTE WITH TEARS

Kidar Sharma

THE FOUNDING OF YASH RAJ FILMS

Rachel Dwyer

COOLIE

Connie Haham

THE STRUGGLER AND THE GODDESS

Suketu Mehta

Part 3: THE MUSIC AND THE MUSIC-MAKERS

THE FEMALE VOICE IN HINDUSTANI FILM SONGS

Ashraf Aziz

THE CURE OF ALL THE SORROWS OF THE WORLD

Jerry Pinto

BECOMING A PLAYBACK SINGER

Manna Dey

A.R. RAHMAN: BREAKING THE RULES

Kamini Mathai

FATHER, SON, A SUPERSTAR AND A SONG

Khagesh Dev Burman

REMEMBERING ANTHONY GONSALVES

Naresh Fernandes

Part 4: THE GOSSIP

SITARA: DANCING TIGRESS FROM NEPAL

Saadat Hasan Manto

CAT HOUSE NATTER

Shobhaa Dé

MARRYING HEMA

Ram Kamal Mukherjee

JAIRAJ … AND HIS THREE KISSES

Bunny Reuben

TWO LOVES OF DILIP KUMAR

Bunny Reuben

Part 5: RINGSIDE VIEWS

A FORGOTTEN AFFAIR

Dada Kondke with Anitaa Padhye

SEX IN INDIAN CINEMA

B.D. Garga

BALRAJ IN BOMBAY

Bhisham Sahni

MY FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH THE FILMWALAS

Khushwant Singh

BOMBAY’S GIANT POSTERS

Adil Jussawalla

YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE

Kobita Sarkar

TALKING FILMS

Nasreen Munni Kabir

Part 6: THE FICTION

A VERY STRANGE MAN

Ismat Chughtai

THE FREE RADIO

Salman Rushdie

THE EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY

Khwaja Ahmed Abbas

DREAM QUEEN

Bhupen Khakhar

AASHA RANI BECOMES A STAR

Shobhaa Dé

Notes on Contributors

Copyright Acknowledgements