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Kishore Kumar : The Ultimate Biography
'Zindagi ek safar hai suhana...' He was the most outrageous performer of the Hindi film screen - loved for his voice, adored for his comedy, and famous for his eccentricity. His big-screen performances - such as Half Ticket, Pyar Kiye Jaa, Padosan - could make you laugh hard, but his songs - like 'Koi humdum na raha', 'Badi sooni sooni hai', 'Ghungroo ki tarah' - could make you cry. This is the story of the voice of a generation, the legend - Kishore Kumar. Beginning with his time spent in Khandwa, Bhagalpur and Indore and going on to Bombay where Kishore moved to try his luck in cinema, this new biography by Parthiv Dhar and Anirudha Bhattacharjee tells it all. A product of over thirty years of research, it goes beyond Kishore's nearly three thousand songs and his varied contributions to cinema, and reveals unknown facts about his four marriages, his run-ins with the government in the 1970s, and his health issues. Kishore Kumar: The Ultimate Biography celebrates the music, the films and the genius of Kishore in the most definitive way for a new generation of readers.
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Gaata Rahe Mera Dil
Look behind the scenes of fifty celebrated songs, from an estimated repository of over one lakh! 'De de khuda ke naam pe' - When Wazir Mohammed Khan sang these words in India's first talkie, Alam Ara, he gave birth to a whole new industry of composers, lyricists and singers, as well as an entirely new genre of film-making that is quintessentially Indian: the song-and-dance film. In the eight decades and more since then, Hindi film songs have enraptured listeners all over the world. From 'Babul mora, naihar chhooto jaye' (Street Singer, 1938) to 'Dil hai chhota sa' (Roja, 1992), from the classical strains of 'Ketaki gulab' (Basant Bahar, 1956) featuring Bhimsen Joshi to the disco beats of Nazia Hassan's 'Aap jaisa koi' (Qurbani, 1981), from the pathos of 'Waqt ne kiya' (Kaagaz Ke Phool, 1959) to the exuberance of the back-to-back numbers in Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977), here is an extraordinary compilation, peppered with trivia, anecdotes and, of course, the sheer joy of music. Find out answers to questions like - With which unreleased film did Kishore Kumar turn composer? In which song picturization was dry ice first used? Which all-time classic musical was initially titled Full Boots? Where was the title song of An Evening in Paris shot? The idea for which song originated when the film-maker visited Tiffany's in London? Which major musical partnership resulted from the celebrations around an award function for a commercial jingle for Leo Coffee? How many of your favourites find mention here? Make your own list!