Kitnay Aadmi Thay - Diptakirti Chaudhuri

Completely Useless Bollywood Trivia

Lights! Camera! Trivia! 

What was the name of the film they were shooting in Rangeela?. 

What was the Amul hoarding when Shahenshah released?.

Who has the longest-winning streak in Filmfare awards?.

Did Johnny Walker get his name from the whiskey or was it the other way round?. 

If Bollywood questions keep you awake at nights, this is the book you want to read. 

Packed with 50 lists and 500+ entries, it is a multiplex of pointless Bollywood gyaan.

Separated in eight logic-less sections and without a contents page(or index), it is a book for dipping into and zipping through.

Remember your favorite Bollywood film- fast, action-packed, mad, packed with colorful characters and a little bit of everything?

Well, they made this book out of it.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.in ] 

Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 3.56 out of 5 (72 Ratings, 15 Reviews)

My Rating:  4 out of 5.  
My Comments: A must for all the Bollywood trivia buffs !  

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A Journey Down Melody Lane by Raju Bharatan

The Hindi film music industry is more than 80 years old.
It has given us numerous evergreen melodies.
The author, Raju Bharatan is a veteran film journalist and historian who was a regular witness to the  conceptualization, evolution and release of several of these melodies. 

In this book he shares his personal experiences with the singers, music composers, lyricists, film directors and producers.
Some of the notable ones he discusses at length are Naushad,  Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Geeta Dutt, C. Ramachandra, Shankar-Jaikishan, Kalyanji -Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Vasant Desai, Talat Mehmood, R.D. Burman, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, A. R. Rahman, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand and Yash Chopra.

The book also talks about the ego clashes and politics behind the music making scenes which brings out the fact that the much revered musical geniuses were after all human beings with frailties of their own.

There are lots of  trivia interspersed in the book. 
Just to mention a few:

•  Lata Mangeshkar was addicted to Wrigley’s chewing gum, loved wearing jeans, but never wore it outside her hotel room during concerts in America. 
• Rafi was the original choice for the popular songs from the movie Aradhana, instead of Kishore Kumar;
• The famous "Aye Mere Watan ke logon" song  was to be sung by both Lata Mangeshkar and her sister Asha Bhosle. But the lyricist Pradeep had not forgotten to inform the latter.

Almost all the melodious songs are based on classical ragas. The author provides the names of the underlying raga for most of the songs he mentions in this book. I like this approach because this information is helpful in recognizing a raga when it is being played in its pure form.

I bought  this book expecting it  to be an authoritative history of  Hindi film songs , which it is not.
Otherwise it is quite an informative and entertaining read for Hindi film music buffs.
 

   

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Coffee with Mozart

[Author: Julian Rushton; Publisher: Duncan Baird Publishers; Hardcover: 148 pages ]
This pocket-sized biography of the world renowned Western Classical music composer Mozart is written in an interesting format.

It is in the form of imaginary chat between the author and Mozart over a cup of coffee shortly before the death of the musical genius in 1791.

The conversation covers a fairly wide gamut of  Mozart's life - his upbringing; his wonderful compositions; his achievements; his relationships with his father, social superiors and fellow artists; his religious and political beliefs; his precarious finances.

During this conversation Mozart comes out as quite a friendly and helpful person, despite his egotism and tendency  to be whimsical and moody.

The author has helpfully provided a short conventional biography of Mozart in the beginning of the book to set the context for the readers who may not know much about Mozart's life.

Not sure how much  a lay person will appreciate this book. But Western Classical music lovers may find this book an interesting read.

 

 Links 

• Goodreads Ratings and Reviews -  Average Rating 3.09 / 5;  22 ratings; 2 reviews
• Mozart - Wikipedia Article
• Essential Mozart Classics
• My Favorite Mozart's Compositions on You Tube
• 40th Symphony 
• A Little Night Music
• Rondo Alla Turca

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The Immortals

[Author: Amit Chaudhuri; Publisher: Picador; Paperback: 424 pages ]

This novel has three main characters - Nirmalya an adololescent boy, his mother Mallika Sengupta and their music teacher Shyamji.
Set in the backdrop of Mumbai of 1980s and Hindustani classical music as the underlying theme the book explores the relationship between these characters in a very laid-back leisurely manner as the story unfolds.
The Immortals has  several awards to its credit and was also shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book 2009.
The story does not have a conventional plot . Reading experience was more like watching a documentary film. The ending was rather abrupt. In fact the author could have chosen to end the story at any point of time in the narration and it would not have made any difference.
However the poetic style interspersed with subtle humor employed by the author while he sketches the characters and describes the city of  Mumbai (then Bombay) of thirty years back in time kept me fully engrossed till the end.
Readers used to fast paced novels with twists and turns may not appreciate this book.
But definitely a good read as far as I am concerned.

 
Links 

•  Author's website
• Goodreads Ratings and Reviews -  Average Rating 2.98 / 5;  97 ratings; 23 reviews

 [Please feel free to leave your comments below or bookmark/share this post]

Balasaraswati - Her Art and Life

Author:        Douglas M. Knight Jr.

Published :  2011

Publisher:    Tranquebar Press

Hardcover:  340 pages
 

I love Indian classical music - both Hindustani and Carnatic.  But I am rather indifferent to and ignoramus about Indian classical dances. If at all I watch them on TV, it is more to listen to the music accompanying the dance. 

Therefore prior to reading this book I only knew Balasaraswati , the famous Bharatanatyam dancer ,as a teacher of Carnatic vocalist Jon Higgins. Therefore this book written by her son-in-law Douglas M. Knight Jr. enlightened me a lot about her life, her values, her struggles, her personality, her dancing style and her dedication to the traditional style of Bharatanatyam .

The book has seven chapters.

Chapter 1 From the Heart of the Tradition – This chapter begins with a brief introduction to the art and the history of Bharatanatyam.  It also discusses the customs of the Devdasi community which Balasaraswati belonged to.  It then traces the genealogical tree of  Balasaraswati  - from  her great-great-great-great grandmother Papamma  who was a court musician and dancer in Thanjavur court towards the last quarter of 18th century, to  the music legend “Vina” Dhanammal.  Balasaraswati was Vinal Dhanammal’s granddaughter.

Chapter 2 – Madman at the Gate (1918-27)- The childhood of Balasaraswati is covered in this chapter. We get to know how her passion for dance was first revealed when as a child she started imitating a mad beggar  who used to come regularly and dance in front of her grandmother Vina Dhanammal’s  house. Short life sketches of her formal teachers Mylapore Gauri Ammal and Kandappa Pillai are also presented. This chapter describes at considerable length  the life and times of Vina Dhannamal around this period. The chapter ends with the  arangetram (first public performance) of Balasaraswati.

Chapter 3 -  Renaissance (1927-1936) –This chapter deals with early public performances of Balasaraswati  especially in Madras Music Academy. It also describes her North India tour along with Uday Shankar’s troupe.

Chapter 4 – Reconstruction (1936-1947) – During the period mid-thirties to mid-forties the art of Bharatnatyam went major changes. Rukmini Devi Arundale was quite successful in her attempt to present a “reconstructed” Bharatnatyam which was almost devoid of Sringara-rasa (the divine erotic element). This impacted the traditional Bharatnatyam dancers like Balasraswati and the invitations for her to perform started dwindling. This dark period in her life forms the major portion of the narrative in this chapter.

Chapter 5 – Dancing for Murugan (1947-1961) – Things started changing for better for Balasaraswati during this period. She began her teaching career by establishing a dance school. She started performing frequently once again all over India and won many accolades like Sangeet Natak Academy award and the Padma Bhushan. All these are described in this chapter.

Chapter 6 – On the Back of a Peacock (1961-1972) – This chapter focuses on the performances of Balasaraswati  on the global stage in the sixties and early seventies and the recognition she received. Starting with East-West encounter in  Tokyo,  it goes on to describe her professional engagements in the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and the Edinburgh festival.

Chapter 7 – Something Great and Grand (1972-1984) – The concluding chapter is about the last decade of Balasaraswati’s life. While she continued teaching dance both in India and USA, her performances were now  drastically reduced due to her ill health. She passed away in 1984.

This is a very well researched book and based on interviews with Balasaraswati’s family members, friends, fellow artists as well as published/unpublished  writings about her and reviews of her performances.  However couple of very obvious errors  regarding dates have crept in (year of formation of Indian National Congress was 1885 not 1887as mentioned; India became a Republic in 1950 not 1947 as mentioned). These needs to be rectified in the next edition.

More than 50 illustrations adorn this well produced book . But the highlight of the book is 16 plates of high quality black and white photographs which successfully capture the beauty, grace and emotion of Balasaraswati’s dance.

A must read for all the Indian classical music and dance  lovers!

Links:

• An interesting and amusing photograph from the book - Balasaraswati and her close friend M.S. Subbulakshmi (the famous Carnatic vocalist) in 1937.
  

• Other Reviews of this book
• http://www.narthaki.com/info/bookrev/bkrev1a.html
• http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?279255 
• http://woollywesterneye.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/book-review-knight-douglas-m-jr-balasaraswati-her-art-life/ 

• Documentary on. Balasaraswati - produced by her grandson Aniruddha Knight

• Video recordings of Balasaraswati's performance

• T. Balasaraswati dancing Deva Devanum Shabdham. Taken by Samuel Scripps 1976 
• Recording of T. Balasaraswati singing raaga alapana for Krishna ni   
• Balasaraswati performing Krishna Nee Begane Baaro - A clip from "Bala" -Satyajit Ray's documentary.

Personal Trivia:

• Balasaraswati's year of birth (1918) and year of death (1984) is same as that of my maternal Grandma !
• Balasarswati had a brother called Varadan who died when he was 55 years old. My maternal Grandfather's name was also Varadan and he also died at the age of 55 !
• Balasaraswati had reservations about men dancing certain styles of Bharatanatyam that were self-consciously imitative of feminine qualities" (as mentioned in Page 249 of the book). And so do I ! However her grandson Aniruddha Knight turned out to be a dancer. See a video recording of his performance.

[This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!]

Raga Mala

Author: Ravi Shankar
Published: 1999
Publisher: Element Books Ltd.

This is an autobiography of the world-renowned sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, written on the occasion of his 75th birthday (now he is 89).
A very fascinating and almost a complete account of his life - his childhood, his teens as a member of his brother Uday Shankar's dance troupe, his learning sitar from his guru Ustad Allaudin Khan, his painstaking efforts to introduce and popularize Indian Classical Music in the West, his l collaborations with Western musicians of several genres Pop (Beetles, especially George Harrison who learnt Sitar from him), Jazz (John Coltrane, who named his son as Ravi after him) and Classical (Lord Yehudi Menuhin, who has written the Afterword for this book), his affairs with several women finally culminating in his marriage to Sukanya when he was in late sixties , his daughter Anoushka.
There are lot of sepia toned photographs (and some colored photos too) of excellent quality showing glimpses from various phases in his life.
Overall a very beautifully produced book, edited and introduced by George Harrison of Beetles fame.
A must read for lovers of Indian classical music.