Invaluable effort

While thousands of pages have been written documenting events and happenings having political connections, very few have been written on cinema that has found a back seat in the social realm of our country. Documenting of films and entertainment have more or less been ignored till yet. With time, Indian cinema has risen to great heights and has got into the psyche of the common man. In this context, it's become extremely important to write about our film industry that boasts of being the largest film industry in the world and is projected as being one of the top three industries in another fifteen years. The Essential Guide To Bollywood by Subhash K Jha is an invaluable book that not only details the best 200 Hindi films ever made from the '40s onwards but also leads the reader through film titles, genre-wise and following it up with a description of the film, its cast, its makers etc. The author, Subhash Jha, comes out triumphs by giving concise and enjoyable reviews along with anecdotes about artistes of that time and about the making of the film. The handbook also has a timeline of films and landmark events in Indian cinema, the entries of which are arranged genre-wise. So go ahead, take your pick of drama, comedy, action, romance and a lot more.

In memory
'Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo makam woh phir nahin aate...' the song is still remembered and hummed which was well-written by the late Anand Bakshi. Main Shayar Badnam - Anand Bakshi was recently published by Raj Kamal Publication, is well edited and compiled by Vijay Akela.

The book contains 151 best songs written by him and some interesting memoirs by personalities like Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Lata Mangeshkar, Rajesh Khanna, Pyarelal, etc.