I've seen this a lot in the bookstores, but have never got around to buying it (or any of Nasreen Munni Kabir's other books, to be honest) simply because I wondered how different it would be from the film. Dialogues? Yes, I've heard them. But if she provides all that background... well, maybe someday. As soon as I've got through the huge pile of books lying on my bedside table.
Indeed, I can appreciate that point of view. I bought this book primarily for the dialogues to help me understand them better by being able to read them, and also as an item of fan memorabilia. I also bought it because it came with a DVD, and I needed that because I'd loaned mine and never gotten it back.
The wonderfully detailed background information she supplies in both the introduction and the reel-by-reel commentaries, was a real bonus. As I said, a book more for the paagal fans than others. For someone with your knowledge of and connections to the Golden Age films, it would definitely be a low priority read.
Thanks for the recommendation, Stuart! Will look this up when I'm in Bombay again.
"That sort of careful reporting inspires confidence in the reliability of Kabir's commentary" One misses such impartiality in most of such biographies.
Thanks for stopping by, Harvey! The only Bombay I know is just outside Auckland, New Zealand, you are coming up here to Aotearoa? ;)
I think the rigour of her work is the real highlight. One of my personal favourite bits is when she actually does offer a personal suggestion, based on her own research into a prop usedd in the film, of a possible reason for the prevalence of all the Christ imagery in the film.
I've seen this a lot in the bookstores, but have never got around to buying it (or any of Nasreen Munni Kabir's other books, to be honest) simply because I wondered how different it would be from the film. Dialogues? Yes, I've heard them. But if she provides all that background... well, maybe someday. As soon as I've got through the huge pile of books lying on my bedside table.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I can appreciate that point of view. I bought this book primarily for the dialogues to help me understand them better by being able to read them, and also as an item of fan memorabilia. I also bought it because it came with a DVD, and I needed that because I'd loaned mine and never gotten it back.
DeleteThe wonderfully detailed background information she supplies in both the introduction and the reel-by-reel commentaries, was a real bonus. As I said, a book more for the paagal fans than others. For someone with your knowledge of and connections to the Golden Age films, it would definitely be a low priority read.
Thanks for the recommendation, Stuart!
ReplyDeleteWill look this up when I'm in Bombay again.
"That sort of careful reporting inspires confidence in the reliability of Kabir's commentary"
One misses such impartiality in most of such biographies.
Thanks for stopping by, Harvey! The only Bombay I know is just outside Auckland, New Zealand, you are coming up here to Aotearoa? ;)
DeleteI think the rigour of her work is the real highlight. One of my personal favourite bits is when she actually does offer a personal suggestion, based on her own research into a prop usedd in the film, of a possible reason for the prevalence of all the Christ imagery in the film.