About the Book
Some like Farah
Khan and Zoya Akhtar had sterling
antecedents but it took a tough childhood and intermittent assignments on film
sets to win the box office with Om Shanti
Om and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara; while Ashutosh Gowariker auditioned for folk dances and failed with his
debut film, Lagaan created cinematic history; and Anurag Basu had to first dance as
a background extra and later overcome cancer to witness Barfi win hearts and awards. These and other hitherto unfamiliar
stories of directors belonging to the "100 crore
club" like Rohit Shetty
and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra; the adventurous, Kabir
Khan; and the maverick, Mahesh Bhatt take us through the unusual lives of 15
filmmakers of extraordinary films.
Sonia Golani achieves the incredible by sitting each director
down to candidly discuss the hype around the Oscars; the exclusivity of the
"100 crore club"; the effect of
corporatization and much more. Decoding
Bollywood is more about demystifying the "world of Bollywood"
than a mere decoding of 15 directors who have created benchmarks in their respective
genres for generations to follow.
About the Author
Sonia Golani has a BA (Hons.) in
History from Lady Shri Ram College and a Masters degree from the University of
Delhi. An entrepreneur, she manages her firm, Management Consultants· Group which
specializes in recruitment of professionals (MBAs and CAs) for Banking,
Financial Services, Insurance and FMCG sectors.
She had the
distinction of securing a second rank in Rajasthan State in class X Board
exams. Later while pursuing ISC from Maharani Gayatri Devi Girl's School, she
topped her school. In college,
she was elected as Treasurer, Students' Union.
Her second
book, My Life, My Rules:
Stories of 18
Unconventional Careers was
published to much acclaim in 2013. Passionate about
life and its nuances, she plans to write several books, ' play golf, help
people make better careers for themselves - and
hopefully do all of this with equal fervour!
Author's
Note
It gives me
great pleasure to present my third book, Decoding
Bollywood: Stones of 15
Film Directors. After having
written about two themes close to my heart viz., "women in leadership
positions" covered in my first book, Corporate Divas and "following your heart" covered in
the second, MY Life, My Rules: Stones
of 18
Unconventional Careers, I
decided to write a book on Bollywood, the most popular name for the Mumbai film
industry (even though unacceptable to many), which touches the lives of
millions through one way or the other.
I am one of those
millions of Indians who grew up watching Hindi movies: from the iconic Sholay, when I must have been about six
years old, to Satte Pe Satta; Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak in my teens; Bhaag Milkha Bhaag recently; art house cinema like Arth and Saaransh; and evergreen classics like Awara, Mother India, Mughal-e-Azam,
Aradhana and Anand. I reckon most of us would concede that
you can't live in India and be oblivious to either Bollywood
and cricket, the two main pillars of entertainment which continue to'
obsess the nation. That I am a resident of Mumbai, the film capital of the
country, was another compelling reason to write a book on this subject.
Coincidentally, 2013 commemorating the centenary year of Indian cinema, also made it the most opportune time to have a book
of this kind.
As
the title suggests, Decoding
Bollywood: Stones of 15 Film Directors is
essentially an account of my interactions with some of Bollywood's
most prominent directors. Considering
the timelines, logistics and the framework of the book, fifteen directors have
been covered in this edition from several others who have undoubtedly made
significant contribution to Indian cinema.
These stories
are not meant to offer a critique of the directors' films; my attempt is to delve
into the professional and personal journeys of fifteen filmmakers in order to
unravel and decode some aspects of the Hindi film industry. Amongst several
other things, my conversations explore the creative world inhabited by some of
the most talented minds in the world of cinema; their insights and learnings of the business; Bollywood's
elusive quest for the Oscars; the use of marketing blitzkrieg for a film's
success, professional ethics and so on.
It is my
belief that the best way to understand the world around us is through
conversations with people who walk this beautiful planet with us as
co-travellers, One to one conversations make the world come alive in a more
humane way and help make better and deeper sense of our surroundings, cutting
out the clutter and noise of information overload, where many a time the more
significant aspects related to individuals tend to get lost. It is to capture
this understanding, sans the glitz, that I follow the conversation format and
write the books I do.
I have
personally known several people who were attracted by the glamour of the film
industry and at some point had either wanted to become film stars or
filmmakers. But most of them knew very little about the dynamics of the film
world that existed in Mumbai. Today, even though Bollywood-related information
occupies a lot of space in newsprint and the electronic media, there are
perhaps very few books that give a glimpse into what it entails to achieve
success in the tinsel town. It is therefore my attempt to present a cohesive
picture of the industry through the stories of these filmmakers- directors, who
are in more ways than one captains of their ships, the bosses on the film set.
The story of each director brings out some interesting facts and nuances of the
industry and that in my view is the key take away from the book for every
reader, those who seek a breakthrough in the industry or are simply interested
in films and its world.
My close
interactions with these creators of cinematic magic brought home several
facts-why a particular director makes the kind of movies he or she does; often,
how movies reflect the persona of a director; their take on life; point of view
on a subject which is quite often drawn from their respective milieus and so
on.
While writing
this book, one significant aspect that became conspicuous about Bollywood is
how production houses in Mumbai work more like family enterprises and many of
the key players of the industry are actually related to each other. This is
best defined by the Chopra-Johar clan. The late B R
Chopra who directed and produced memorable films like Naya Daur (1957)
and the television serial, Mahabharat (1988), had set up his production
house in Mumbai in the late Forties which is now run by his son, Ravi Chopra. B
R Chopra's younger brother, the late Yash Chopra
founded the powerhouse Yash Raj Films in the early
Seventies, now managed by his son, Aditya Chopra. Hiroo
'Chopra' Johar, mother of Karan Johar
who runs the highly successful Dharma Productions is Brand Yash
Chopra's youngest sister. These relationships bring out a certain facet of the
industry and a reference to this aspect is in no way meant to undermine the
talent and abilities of different individuals who despite filial connections,
have shone out on the strength of their own
abilities.
It was
interesting when I learnt that the internationally acclaimed film director, Shekhar Kapur is legendary actor
Dev Anand's sister's son. Or that Farah Khan's
mother, Menka 'Irani' Khan
and Salman Khan's father, Salim
Khan were cast as the lead pair in one of the films in the early Sixties,
produced by Menka's mother. Padmini
Kolhapure, a popular actress of the Eighties and aunt
of Shraddha Kapoor of Aashiqui 2 fame, is related to the Mangeshkar
clan and so on and so forth. Through the stories of Zoya
Akhtar, Farah Khan, Rohit Shetty and Mahesh Bhatt in this book, the readers get a
perspective of those who come from film families and have deep roots in the
industry. Yes, clans and kinships do exist but what's heartening and uplifting
about the Mumbai film world is an innate respect for talent irrespective of
connections or well-embedded "roots". Over the years, the industry
has embraced many, who started from scratch but had the requisite talent, a
fire in the belly and a deep desire to achieve, by bestowing them with
unparalleled fame and success.
This book also
covers stories of directors who came from an academically oriented background
to Mumbai to pursue their dreams and made their way to the top with no previous
industry connections, whatsoever. Prakash Jha and Sudhir
Mishra, featured in this book, owe their success in some measure to the
training imparted by the Film and Television Institute of India or FTII (even
though Prakash did not complete the course and Sudhir
was not even on its rolls) and the National Film Development Corporation of
India (NFDC). What is remarkable about their stories is both began by being
associated with parallel cinema in the late Eighties and managed to make a
successful transition to mainstream, contemporary cinema.
During the
writing of this book, I discovered how most filmmakers ascribed the desire to
make films as some sort of a compulsion, an uncontrollable urge that made them
give up their regular professions to be able to tell stories. The book covers
advertising professionals like R Balki and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, documentary filmmaker Kabir
Khan and actor Nandita Das, who yielded to their
strong inner calling, leveraged their experiences and succeeded in making
outstanding films. Nagesh Kukunoor,
a post graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, gave up a
promising career in the United States to come back to India and follow his
passion to be a filmmaker.
Contents
Acknowledgements |
IX |
Author's
Note |
XI |
The Unpretentious Braveheart:
Anurag Basu |
1 |
The Perfectionist: Ashutosh Gowariker |
17 |
The Trailblazer: Farah Khan |
30 |
Life is an Adventure: Kabir Khan |
42 |
In his Mentor's Footsteps: Kunal Kohli |
54 |
The Plain-spoken Philosopher: Mahesh Bhatt |
65 |
'Indie' Spirit Personified: Nagesh Kukunoor |
78 |
A Humanitarian First: Nandita Das |
89 |
The Soft-hearted Rebel: Prakash Jha |
99 |
The Effervescent Dreamer R Balki |
113 |
Quest for Originality: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra |
125 |
The Midas Touch: Rohit Shetty |
138 |
Romancing Cinema: Sudhir
Mishra |
149 |
Passion, Patience, Perseverance: Vipul Shah |
162 |
The Discerning One: Zoya Akhtar |
174 |
About the Book
Some like Farah
Khan and Zoya Akhtar had sterling
antecedents but it took a tough childhood and intermittent assignments on film
sets to win the box office with Om Shanti
Om and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara; while Ashutosh Gowariker auditioned for folk dances and failed with his
debut film, Lagaan created cinematic history; and Anurag Basu had to first dance as
a background extra and later overcome cancer to witness Barfi win hearts and awards. These and other hitherto unfamiliar
stories of directors belonging to the "100 crore
club" like Rohit Shetty
and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra; the adventurous, Kabir
Khan; and the maverick, Mahesh Bhatt take us through the unusual lives of 15
filmmakers of extraordinary films.
Sonia Golani achieves the incredible by sitting each director
down to candidly discuss the hype around the Oscars; the exclusivity of the
"100 crore club"; the effect of
corporatization and much more. Decoding
Bollywood is more about demystifying the "world of Bollywood"
than a mere decoding of 15 directors who have created benchmarks in their respective
genres for generations to follow.
About the Author
Sonia Golani has a BA (Hons.) in
History from Lady Shri Ram College and a Masters degree from the University of
Delhi. An entrepreneur, she manages her firm, Management Consultants· Group which
specializes in recruitment of professionals (MBAs and CAs) for Banking,
Financial Services, Insurance and FMCG sectors.
She had the
distinction of securing a second rank in Rajasthan State in class X Board
exams. Later while pursuing ISC from Maharani Gayatri Devi Girl's School, she
topped her school. In college,
she was elected as Treasurer, Students' Union.
Her second
book, My Life, My Rules:
Stories of 18
Unconventional Careers was
published to much acclaim in 2013. Passionate about
life and its nuances, she plans to write several books, ' play golf, help
people make better careers for themselves - and
hopefully do all of this with equal fervour!
Author's
Note
It gives me
great pleasure to present my third book, Decoding
Bollywood: Stones of 15
Film Directors. After having
written about two themes close to my heart viz., "women in leadership
positions" covered in my first book, Corporate Divas and "following your heart" covered in
the second, MY Life, My Rules: Stones
of 18
Unconventional Careers, I
decided to write a book on Bollywood, the most popular name for the Mumbai film
industry (even though unacceptable to many), which touches the lives of
millions through one way or the other.
I am one of those
millions of Indians who grew up watching Hindi movies: from the iconic Sholay, when I must have been about six
years old, to Satte Pe Satta; Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak in my teens; Bhaag Milkha Bhaag recently; art house cinema like Arth and Saaransh; and evergreen classics like Awara, Mother India, Mughal-e-Azam,
Aradhana and Anand. I reckon most of us would concede that
you can't live in India and be oblivious to either Bollywood
and cricket, the two main pillars of entertainment which continue to'
obsess the nation. That I am a resident of Mumbai, the film capital of the
country, was another compelling reason to write a book on this subject.
Coincidentally, 2013 commemorating the centenary year of Indian cinema, also made it the most opportune time to have a book
of this kind.
As
the title suggests, Decoding
Bollywood: Stones of 15 Film Directors is
essentially an account of my interactions with some of Bollywood's
most prominent directors. Considering
the timelines, logistics and the framework of the book, fifteen directors have
been covered in this edition from several others who have undoubtedly made
significant contribution to Indian cinema.
These stories
are not meant to offer a critique of the directors' films; my attempt is to delve
into the professional and personal journeys of fifteen filmmakers in order to
unravel and decode some aspects of the Hindi film industry. Amongst several
other things, my conversations explore the creative world inhabited by some of
the most talented minds in the world of cinema; their insights and learnings of the business; Bollywood's
elusive quest for the Oscars; the use of marketing blitzkrieg for a film's
success, professional ethics and so on.
It is my
belief that the best way to understand the world around us is through
conversations with people who walk this beautiful planet with us as
co-travellers, One to one conversations make the world come alive in a more
humane way and help make better and deeper sense of our surroundings, cutting
out the clutter and noise of information overload, where many a time the more
significant aspects related to individuals tend to get lost. It is to capture
this understanding, sans the glitz, that I follow the conversation format and
write the books I do.
I have
personally known several people who were attracted by the glamour of the film
industry and at some point had either wanted to become film stars or
filmmakers. But most of them knew very little about the dynamics of the film
world that existed in Mumbai. Today, even though Bollywood-related information
occupies a lot of space in newsprint and the electronic media, there are
perhaps very few books that give a glimpse into what it entails to achieve
success in the tinsel town. It is therefore my attempt to present a cohesive
picture of the industry through the stories of these filmmakers- directors, who
are in more ways than one captains of their ships, the bosses on the film set.
The story of each director brings out some interesting facts and nuances of the
industry and that in my view is the key take away from the book for every
reader, those who seek a breakthrough in the industry or are simply interested
in films and its world.
My close
interactions with these creators of cinematic magic brought home several
facts-why a particular director makes the kind of movies he or she does; often,
how movies reflect the persona of a director; their take on life; point of view
on a subject which is quite often drawn from their respective milieus and so
on.
While writing
this book, one significant aspect that became conspicuous about Bollywood is
how production houses in Mumbai work more like family enterprises and many of
the key players of the industry are actually related to each other. This is
best defined by the Chopra-Johar clan. The late B R
Chopra who directed and produced memorable films like Naya Daur (1957)
and the television serial, Mahabharat (1988), had set up his production
house in Mumbai in the late Forties which is now run by his son, Ravi Chopra. B
R Chopra's younger brother, the late Yash Chopra
founded the powerhouse Yash Raj Films in the early
Seventies, now managed by his son, Aditya Chopra. Hiroo
'Chopra' Johar, mother of Karan Johar
who runs the highly successful Dharma Productions is Brand Yash
Chopra's youngest sister. These relationships bring out a certain facet of the
industry and a reference to this aspect is in no way meant to undermine the
talent and abilities of different individuals who despite filial connections,
have shone out on the strength of their own
abilities.
It was
interesting when I learnt that the internationally acclaimed film director, Shekhar Kapur is legendary actor
Dev Anand's sister's son. Or that Farah Khan's
mother, Menka 'Irani' Khan
and Salman Khan's father, Salim
Khan were cast as the lead pair in one of the films in the early Sixties,
produced by Menka's mother. Padmini
Kolhapure, a popular actress of the Eighties and aunt
of Shraddha Kapoor of Aashiqui 2 fame, is related to the Mangeshkar
clan and so on and so forth. Through the stories of Zoya
Akhtar, Farah Khan, Rohit Shetty and Mahesh Bhatt in this book, the readers get a
perspective of those who come from film families and have deep roots in the
industry. Yes, clans and kinships do exist but what's heartening and uplifting
about the Mumbai film world is an innate respect for talent irrespective of
connections or well-embedded "roots". Over the years, the industry
has embraced many, who started from scratch but had the requisite talent, a
fire in the belly and a deep desire to achieve, by bestowing them with
unparalleled fame and success.
This book also
covers stories of directors who came from an academically oriented background
to Mumbai to pursue their dreams and made their way to the top with no previous
industry connections, whatsoever. Prakash Jha and Sudhir
Mishra, featured in this book, owe their success in some measure to the
training imparted by the Film and Television Institute of India or FTII (even
though Prakash did not complete the course and Sudhir
was not even on its rolls) and the National Film Development Corporation of
India (NFDC). What is remarkable about their stories is both began by being
associated with parallel cinema in the late Eighties and managed to make a
successful transition to mainstream, contemporary cinema.
During the
writing of this book, I discovered how most filmmakers ascribed the desire to
make films as some sort of a compulsion, an uncontrollable urge that made them
give up their regular professions to be able to tell stories. The book covers
advertising professionals like R Balki and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, documentary filmmaker Kabir
Khan and actor Nandita Das, who yielded to their
strong inner calling, leveraged their experiences and succeeded in making
outstanding films. Nagesh Kukunoor,
a post graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, gave up a
promising career in the United States to come back to India and follow his
passion to be a filmmaker.
Contents
Acknowledgements |
IX |
Author's
Note |
XI |
The Unpretentious Braveheart:
Anurag Basu |
1 |
The Perfectionist: Ashutosh Gowariker |
17 |
The Trailblazer: Farah Khan |
30 |
Life is an Adventure: Kabir Khan |
42 |
In his Mentor's Footsteps: Kunal Kohli |
54 |
The Plain-spoken Philosopher: Mahesh Bhatt |
65 |
'Indie' Spirit Personified: Nagesh Kukunoor |
78 |
A Humanitarian First: Nandita Das |
89 |
The Soft-hearted Rebel: Prakash Jha |
99 |
The Effervescent Dreamer R Balki |
113 |
Quest for Originality: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra |
125 |
The Midas Touch: Rohit Shetty |
138 |
Romancing Cinema: Sudhir
Mishra |
149 |
Passion, Patience, Perseverance: Vipul Shah |
162 |
The Discerning One: Zoya Akhtar |
174 |