Product Description

Choosing the best 200 Hindi movies since the 1940s, this book gives concise reviews of the films. The entries are arranged genre wise.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #290312 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 175 pages

Customer Reviews

Essential Indeed...
As a white girl who grow up without the life-long exposure to Hindi cinema that many asians have, but who is nonetheless a massive Bollywood fan, I put this on my Christmas list a couple of years back, hoping it would fill in the gaps in my knowledge. It's done that and more, acting as a useful and fascinating guide to many of the key films in the genre, to which I refer again and again.

The volume begins with a short Foreword by 'Big B', Amitabh Bachchan, who says, quite rightly that "[Subhash K. Jha] has captured the entire relevant history of films and everything connected to it 'under one roof'."

The author, Jha, is a journalist and critic, whose insider knowledge is shared throughout the book. He has chosen 200 of the best Hindi films made between the 1940s to the book's publication in 2005. The guide is organised into 9 film genres, such as 'Drama', 'Comedy', 'War Drama' and 'Romance', with a chapter even dedicated to 'Parallel Cinema'. Some of these sub-genres overlap quite a bit, and it's not always easy to guess where a certain film might be listed ('Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', for example, is in the Drama section, when it could easily have been located in Family Drama, or Romance instead.) However, the index is exhaustive, so if you're looking for a particular film, it is easy enough to locate it. There is comprehensive cross-referencing through the guide.

Within each of these chapters, the films are arranged in chronological order. For each film featured in the guide, a comprehensive listing of the title, year, cast, director, composer and lyricist is provided. This is followed by a fascinating and informative text giving facts, trivia and insight about the film, and accompanied by photographs from it. At the same time, running along the bottom of every page is a timeline of 'Films and landmark events', which is great for contextualising the movies. The final chapters constitutes a list, for each decade, of the top ten hits, and top ten flops, as well as the top heroes and heroines for that period. My only quibble is that, as is inevitable with a book such as this, it is out-of-date almost as soon as it is published ('Black', from 2005, is the most recent film listed). One can only hope that new editions of the guide are brought out regularly.

The Essential Guide to Bollywood is just that: essential reading and an easily accessible reference guide to the key films of Bollywood. I would recommend it to Bollywood beginners, as well as to old-hands, who will find the trivia and anecdotes with which is filled, eye-opening. For anyone, it's an invaluable source of information on the major output of Mumbai's movie industry.