By Teresa Rehman
The Tri-City News
The idea for this article came to me when I saw four brand new Bollywood biographies on our new books shelf:
Bonding, A Memoir by Vyjayantimala Bali, traces the life of this beautiful and brilliant Bharat Natyam dancer, actress, physician's wife and current politician.
Ten Years with Guru Dutt, Abrar Alvi's Journey by Sathya Saran follows the legendary director and actor through the eyes of his close friend Alvi.
Begum Akhtar: Love's Own Voice by S. Kalidas documents her troubled and tempestuous life through the narratives of some of her closest friends and associates. Akhtar - witty, vibrant and engaging with the world at various levels, was a much-loved classical diva of 20th century India, with nearly 400 songs to her credit. The last of the great female singers from the courtesan community, Akhtar effortlessly transcended that label to marry a barrister. A bonus with this gem of a publication is a beautiful CD of 13 gazals, thumris and dadras (semi-classical songs of unrequited love). I was fortunate to be introduced to Akhtar by my Urdu professor at UBC in the mid-1980s.
The Act of Life: Amrish Puri, An Autobiography with Jyoti Sabharwal, follows the life of this Bollywood villain, cold-blooded don, ruthless politician, lecherous viper, who even won accolades from Steven Spielberg. The 400 pages of this book keep this immortal villain alive in our hearts and proves to be a memorable trip down Bollywood memory lane.
Bollywood movies are glorious, colourful spectacles of romance, action, drama, song and dance. India has the world's biggest film industry, which produces some 900 moves a year, watched by passionate fans around the globe.
Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief: Inside the World of India Moviemaking by Stephen Alter provides a firsthand look into the world of Bombay (Mumbai) films. Alter, a writer who grew up in India and has inside access to Bollywood, acts as translator and tour guide in this book.
Although I have watched only a handful of Bollywood movies, these books bring back many memories of my years as a teenager growing up in Fiji. Many Sundays, I would iron sarees for my mom and aunt, help them get dressed in all their finery and see them off when the taxi arrived to take them to the most current Bollywood blockbuster. Throughout the week, they would share the story of the movie with us, so it was not necessary for me to see the Hindi movies (besides, I preferred to go to the English ones with my friends).
In Coquitlam Public Library's collection, we also have two biographies of Madhubala: Her Life, Her Films by Khatija Albar and Madhubala: Masti and Magic by Alpana Chowdhury. Both look at the tragic, short life of the most beautiful Hindi film heroine ever.
Life and Films of Dilip Kumar by Urmila Lanba provides insight into the life of the Tragedy King - actor, director, producer and retired member of parliament.
This article would be incomplete if I neglected to mention our collection of biographies of Indian singers and musicians as all Hindi movies are musicals. In Search of Lata Mangeshkar by Harish Bhimani is a fascinating account of the best-known and most respected playback singer in India. Journey with a Hundred Strings: My Life in Music is an autobiography by (Pandit) Shiv Kumar Sharma, master santoor player who was credited for revolutionizing the use of this musical instrument from its historical use as an accompaniment with other instruments to its current use as a solo instrument.
In our collection, we also have two fantastic music CDs performed on santoor by Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma: A Sublime Trance with Shafaat Ahmed Khan on tabla and Rageshri (my all-time favourite CD) with Ustad Zakir Hussain on tabla.
Finally, Bapi - The Love of my Life is an intimate story of Shankar's musical legacy by daughter and sitar player Anoushka Shankar. We also have Ravi Shankar: In Portrait, a two-DVD set with a booklet that follows two years of the musician's life in India and America against the backdrop of seven decades of innovative collaboration with western musicians including George Harrison, John Coltrane and Yehudi Menuhim. Archival footage shows key performances filmed from the 1930s to the present day. Two CDs, entitled Ragas and Talas and Sound of the Sitar, featuring the legendary tabla maestro Ustad Alla Rakha on both, completes our collection of the works of this great musician.
Check your local library for these and other Bollywood books, movies and DVDs, and Indian music CDs of various genres.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Teresa Rehman is the community services librarian at Coquitlam Public Library.
