Unknown Snippets : Of Our Own/ Known Bollywood

If you are a self proclaimed Bollywood fan like me, then please take a bow at Diptakirti Chaudhuri. We can be fans, but he is a Windmill. Like a surgeon he dissects every movie to understand the anatomy of Bollywood.

If you ask me to judge a person’s understanding of Indian Cinema, I would go by their knowledge of “Supporting casts” and “Character Artists” in a frame.
It is easy to identify a Kajol and an Aamir Khan of Fanna, but very few know, the girl who shared screen space as Kajol’s friend is "Shruti Seth". Similarly, between 2 heavy weights Dilip Kumar and Rajkumar( in Saudagar) was an insignificant newcomer called "Vivek Mushran".( he is now a sitcom regular).

So far so good, I have been maintaining my scales of rating, based on above parameters. But last week, Diptakirti shook me up, to say, Indian Cinema goes much beyond my self- set parameters.
His eye for details stretches to the extent of remembering Movies made within Movies. For Eg : In Amol Palekar’s Golmaal, Deven Verma is playing his double act for “Paarvati Ka Pati Kaun". In Om Shanti Om, when SRK rescues Deepika from fire –they are shooting for “Maa Bharti” (in the lines of Mother India, reflecting Sunil Dutt- Nargis Relationship)

Diptakirti Chaudhuri ,in his book “Kitnay Aadmi Thay” also talks about Innovative Introductions. Recall Amar- Akbar – Anthony. Within a span of 10 Minutes, a Family gets separated, children adopted and years later come together, to donate blood. Here comes – The Title.

The author’s knowledge base has room for unfinished and unmade movies. I never knew, Shekhar Kapur planned to make Taara Rum Pum with Mozart of Madras ( AR Rahman). Later with the same title, Yash Raj made a movie, which had nothing to do with AR Rahman.

Final Word on this Book:
Heuristic Lovers, please do not judge the book by its Cover. Cover Page says “Useless Bollywood Trivia”. After reading the book, I interpret it this way:
“Use- LESS OF Bollywood Trivia you know, there is much more you NEED TO KNOW”.

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