More Than Bollywood

"This is the first book to tackle the diverse styles and multiple histories of popular music in India. It brings together fourteen of the field's leading scholars to contribute chapters on a range of topics, from the classic songs of Bollywood to contemporary remixes. The chapters in this volume address the impact of media and technology on contemporary music, the variety of industrial developments and contexts for Indian popular music, and historical trends in popular music development both before and after the Indian Independence in 1947. The contributors also address the subcontinent's historical relationships with colonialism, the transnational market economies, local governmental factors, international conventions, and a host of other circumstances that shed light on the development of popular music throughout India. To illustrate each chapter author's points and to make available music otherwise not always easily accessible, the book features a companion website of audio and video tracks." --

This is the first book to tackle the diverse styles and multiple histories of popular musics in India. It brings together fourteen of the world's leading scholars on Indian popular music to contribute chapters on a range of topics from the classic songs of Bollywood to contemporary remixes, summarized by a reflective afterword by popular music scholar Timothy Taylor. The chapters in this volume address the impact of media and technology on contemporary music, the variety of industrial developments and contexts for Indian popular music, and historical trends in popular music development both before and after the Indian Independence in 1947. The book identifies new ways of engaging popular music in India beyond the Bollywood musical canon, and offers several case studies of local and regional styles of music. The contributors address the subcontinent's historical relationships with colonialism, the transnational market economies, local governmental factors, international conventions, and a host of other circumstances to shed light on the development of popular music throughout India. To illustrate each chapter author's points, and to make available music not easily accessible in North America, the book features an Oxford web music companion website of audio and video tracks.

Here is the astonishing true story of Bollywood, a sweeping portrait about a country finding its identity, a movie industry that changed the face of India, and one man's struggle to become a star. Shah Rukh Khan's larger than life tale takes us through the colorful and idiosyncratic Bollywood movie industry, where fantastic dreams and outrageous obsessions share the spotlight with extortion, murder, and corruption. Shah Rukh Khan broke into this $1.5 billion business despite the fact that it has always been controlled by a handful of legendary film families and sometimes funded by black market money. As a Muslim in a Hindu majority nation, exulting in classic Indian cultural values, Shah Rukh Khan has come to embody the aspirations and contradictions of a complicated culture tumbling headlong into American style capitalism. His story is the mirror to view the greater Indian story and the underbelly of the culture of Bollywood. "A bounty for cinema lovers everywhere." --Mira Nair, Director, The Namesake and Monsoon Wedding "King of Bollywood is the all-singing, all-dancing back stage pass to Bollywood. Anupama Chopra chronicles the political and cultural story of India with finesse and insight, through fly-on-wall access to one of its biggest, most charming and charismatic stars." -- Gurinder Chadha, director of Bend it Like Beckham "The "Easy Rider Raging Bull" of the Bollywood industry and essential reading for any Shah Rukh Khan fan." --Emma Thompson, actress "Anu Chopra infuses the pivotal moments of Shah Rukh Khan's life with an edge-of-your-seat tension worthy of the best Bollywood blockbusters." --Kirkus

American-born ingénue Rakhee “Rocky” Varma knows a career in Bollywood is no fairy tale, but that truth hits home when her outspoken nature lands her in hot water with the media.Banished to her leading man’s crumbling mansion on the outskirts of Delhi until things cool down, she is wholly unprepared to meet her costar’s reclusive brother, Taj Ali Khan. Taj, a former action hero until a stunt gone horribly wrong ended his career, wears a cape of scars and a crown of rudeness.As his cynicism collides with her determination to stick it out in Bollywood no matter what, sparks fly.

"Justine Hardy follows the meteoric rise of Hollywood's new mega-star Hrithik Roshan" -- Back cover.

Discover historical insights, lesser-known facts, and incredible photography of iconic movies including Mother India, Mughal-e-Azam, Sholay, and Bajirao Mastani with this gorgeous celebration of the world's biggest film industry. Bollywood charts the world of Hindi cinema year-by-year from the pioneering studios of the 1930s, through the Golden Age, to the age of Big Money in the 21st century and it's biggest modern stars. With over 1,000 films produced every year, the glitter and charm of Bollywood is unrivalled anywhere else in the world. Bollywood takes you on a behind-the-scenes tour of Hindi cinema's biggest blockbusters, with stunning film stills and plot timelines, as well as insightful biographies of iconic stars including Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, and Shahrukh Khan. Bring the spectacle home and be enchanted by the glamour and colour of Indian cinema with this glittering homage to Bollywood!

Bollywood movies have long been known for their colorful song-and-dance numbers and knack for combining drama, comedy, action-adventure, and music. But these exciting and often amusing films rarely reflect the reality of life on the Indian subcontinent. Exploring the nature of mainstream Hindi cinema, the strikingly illustrated Bollywood’s Indiaexamines its nonrealistic depictions of everyday life in India and what it reveals about Indian society. Showing how escapism and entertainment function in Bollywood cinema, Rachel Dwyer argues that Hindi cinema’s interpretations of India over the last two decades are a reliable guide to understanding the nation’s changing hopes and dreams. She looks at the ways Bollywood has imagined and portrayed the unity and diversity of the country—what it believes and feels, as well as life at home and in public. Using Dwyer’s two decades spent working with filmmakers and discussing movies with critics and moviegoers,Bollywood’s India is an illuminating look at Hindi cinema.

Through their trademark blend of kaleidoscopic melodrama, lavish production values and gyrating dance sequences, Bollywood films are winning over a growing audience and earning an increasingly significant place in global popular culture. With a yearly average of between 150 to 200 productions, the prolific film industry of Bombay (Mumbai) moves at a frenetic pace. Casts and crews are caught up in endless shooting schedules. Composers and music directors constantly pen songs for playback singers to record and stars to mime to, as choreographers map out the Subcontinent and beyond in dance steps to be performed by legions of dancers. Palatial sets are constructed and then demolished by armies of tradesmen, and presses never cool between runs of film posters, printed to adorn much of the wall space in the city. Through its films Bombay remains a city of promise and endless possibilities, drawing impoverished rural migrants and Bollywood aspirant alike, all seeking the salvation either of the film industry itself, or the prosperity depicted in its films. Bollywood: Behind The Scenes, Beyond The Stars celebrates the Bombay film industry, shedding light on the people who work silently behind the scenes and on the fringe, offering a glimpse into the lives and work of some of Bollywood's biggest stars, and paying tribute to the city of mystifying contradictions. Book jacket.

Since their beginnings in the 1930s, Hindi films and film songs have dominated Indian public culture in India, and have also made their presence felt strongly in many global contexts. Hindi film songs have been described on the one hand as highly standardized and on the other as highly eclectic. Anna Morcom addresses many of the paradoxes eccentricities and myths of not just Hindi film songs but also of Hindi cinema by analysing film songs in cinematic context. While the presence of songs in Hindi films is commonly dismissed aspurely commercial this book demonstrates that in terms of the production process, musical style, and commercial life, it is most powerfully the parent film that shapes and defines the film songs and their success rather than the other way round. While they constitute India‘s still foremost genre of popular music, film songs are also situational, dramatic sequences, inherently multi-media in style and conception. This book is uniquely grounded in detailed musical and visual analysis of Hindi film songs, song sequences and films as well as a wealth of ethnographic material from the Hindi film and music industries. Its findings lead to highly novel ways of viewing Hindi film songs, their key role in Hindi cinema, and how this affects their wider life in India and across the globe. It will be indispensable to scholars seeking to understand both Hindi film songs and Hindi cinema. It also forms a major contribution to popular music, popular culture, film music studies and ethnomusicology, tackling pertinent issues of cultural production, (multi-)media, and the cross-cultural use of music in Hindi cinema. The book caters for both music specialists as well as a wider audience.

Take the trip of a lifetime into the past and present of Bollywood Fascinated by the high energy, high emotion, high color, endless dance routines, and sheer scale of Bollywood—but afraid you'll never really know your Ghazals from your Qawwalis, or your Khans from your Kapoors? Well, in the immortal line from the Hindi-language blockbuster Sultan, "No one can defeat you unless you accept defeat yourself," and there's no need to be defeated at all when you can sit back with Bollywood For Dummies and immerse yourself in the glamorous whirl of one of the most exciting movie industries on Earth. Starting with the time-travel adventure of the book’s main feature—the history of the Hindi-speaking industry from people and events of early to mid 20th century Mumbai—you'll also journey in space, taking fascinating documentary side trips to get to know Tollywood’s Telegu-language cinema in southern India, as well as the growing influence of Lollywood across the border in Pakistan. Written by the cohosts of Desi Standard Time, a podcast that explores Bollywood and South Asian movies and media, you'll see how the unique cinema culture of Bollywood in particular has become a global phenomenon, reflecting the rise of India as an independent nation and presenting its long history—and it’s exciting and multifaceted present—in new, influential, and enduring forms. Whatever you paid the price of entry for: the popular Bollywood "Masala" movie style that emphasizes music, comedy, romance, and action; sensitive critiques of a fast-changing society by the Indian Social Realism movement; new forms of music from Indian disco to Sufi boogie; or a look at the lives and talents of the great acting dynasties—it's all here. And there'll still be plenty more plot twists beyond these to surprise and delight you. Get to know the people who built Bollywood Discover the main music and dance styles Explore and recognize Bollywood’s influence on Western cinema Go social and join up with the liveliest Bollywood fan communities You're right to be excited: for newbies a whole new world awaits, and for aficionados, there's always so much more to know. So, sit back with this book, grab some popcorn or a plate of samosas—or why not both—and prepare to begin an electric feast to sizzle all your senses.