Verve review

Sunday Hindustan Times, Mumbai review

Indiafm Review - 4/5

http://www.indiafm.com/features/2007/08/10/2931/index.html

By Faridoon Shahryar, August 10, 2007 - 14:26 IST

Shahrukh Khan is the proverbial outsider who has made it Huge in the big and complex world of Hindi Films. In spite of being pitched against three generation of superstars he continues to lord over the Box Office. It was apt for Author/ Journalist Anupama Chopra to choose him as the pivotal character in her brilliant book King of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema (Warner Books) where she chronicles the growth of Hindi Films industry (popularly known as Bollywood) from a disorganized murky business to corporate sophistication through the life and times of one of its biggest stars Shahrukh Khan.

The interesting part about this book is that it effortlessly meshes together the happenings in the film world with the socio-political and economic changes in the country. SRK has been presented as the symbol of a new modern India in the era of globalization that is hungry for success and yet remains glued to the ground realities of family-n-friendships. The class-divide, the cultural upheavals, the gradual shift from poverty to relative affluence has been wonderfully conjoined with the growth of SRK, the struggling actor who got a three scene obsolete role in Pradip Kishan’s In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, becomes nation’s rage with his first TV serial Fauji, enters films and becomes the biggest draw at the ticket window.

Chopra in an uncharacteristic manner starts off with the story of Bhavesh Sheth, a portly spectacled fan who danced with SRK during the Temptations Tour in 2005 in US. Sheth’s admiration and reverence for Khan symbolizes the global icon that Shahrukh Khan has become over the years. In a surprising move, after the first chapter Bollywood Dreams, the author traces the roots of this big superstar in the next chapter Peshawar: The Street of the Storytellers, to small gullies of Peshawar in Pakistan where his father Meer Taj Mohammad was born (ironically, Dilip Kumar and Prithviraj Kapoor belonged to Peshawar as well). Chopra with her riveting style binds the interest as Meer an upright freedom fighter makes a tumultuous journey from Pakistan to India after 1947 as the train of humanity burned on the pyre of hatred.

It is worthy of note that Shahrukh Khan’s dad made a half hearted attempt in films (the father-son duo have an uncharacteristic similarity) and in a typical filmi style he pulled out his would-be wife Fatima Latif from an accident site and gave her his own blood. Here one must note that as you get engrossed in reading the book, you can notice that it moves almost like a film script as the visuals keep flashing. The writer has based her narrative on exhaustive interviews that she has conducted with Shahrukh Khan and lots of people related with him whom she has credited at the end.

The obvious question that one may ask is that, is it a biography? Well, yes and no. It is a biography because it tells the story of Shahrukh Khan from the times when he wasn’t even born, till today. But then one realizes it is more than a biography. It is actually a comment on the varied changes in India and Bollywood (which it seems is the mirror that portrays the picture of change happening in the country). Like for example, the parallel between birth of SRK in 1965 in a lower middle class family and the humungous ascendance of Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s makes for gripping reading. For a couple of decades later both were pitched against each other as to who the bigger Don in the Hindi Films is.

The two biggest events that altered SRK are the untimely deaths of his parents at relatively young age. Chopra sensitively delves into the most horrendous times in the chapter Life after Death that proved as turning points in Khan’s life. He had nothing left to do except hoping to make it big in the world of films. His love story with Gauri was another ordeal for it took a couple of years for the lady to accept his proposal. The author’s details of Khan finding Gauri on the far flung Gorai Beach in Mumbai are straight out of a Hindi film. It makes for amorous reading though.

Several chapters in the book are spent on Shahrukh’s transition from being a television star to a big movie star in spite of his unconventional looks and no filmi connections, how the second lead in Deewana and last choice roles of Baazigar and Darr made him a name to be reckoned with. But one knows most of this stuff as it is part of the folk lore. It’s when Mobsters and Movies starts off on an ominous note of underworld ringing in havoc in the film world that you read on unabated. Once again the author details the circumstances that lead to the rise of underworld in Bollywood, the chills that Gulshan Kumar’s cold blooded murder sent down the film fraternity and then SRK received his first call from Abu Salem, “Haan kya chal raha hai”.

Khan had been warned by senior police officer Rakesh Maria that he is on the hit list of underworld and SRK was amongst the first few from the film industry to have been provided by police protection. The insecurity of the big star when faced with the looming underworld or when a new star in Hrithik Roshan is said to have usurped him has been poignantly presented by Chopra. In fact these passages are so engrossing that you can hear the soundtrack of life playing in your ears as the visuals dissolve from one to another.

There are times when you feel that Chopra is presenting things from SRK’s angle but she also balances by objectively assessing his failures (especially the debacle called Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani) and the adverse feedback to the Pepsi ad that showed a Hrithik look-alike with braces being made fun of. In all, it’s a well rounded package that entertains you with its zestful pace. The author obviously likes the Raj-Rahul phenomenon associated with Shahrukh Khan and it seems she is endorsing his point of view when she says, “In 2005 alone, he endorsed approximately 34 different products. Shah Rukh was the ubiquitous symbol and conduit of the new consumerist society.”

Anupama Chopra’s writing style is simple, informative, engrossing and at no point of time she tries hard to grab attention. It just flows. The only eye sore of the book is the attempt at translating some of the Hindi film names to English. How would you react when you’d see the following: Maine Pyaar Kiya (I Have Loved), Hum Aapke Hain Kyun (Who Am I To You?), Dil To Pagal Hai (The Heart is Crazy) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Something is Happening)? Lost in translation, isn’t it!

One of the reasons that makes this book special is some rare pictures of Shahrukh’s family, his TAG theatre days but the one that stands out is a twenty year old scrawny Shahrukh holding Gauri by her elbow. When you see this picture you realize it has really been a long road for this man from the by-lanes of Okhla in Delhi to the realization of his Mannat at Bandra Bandstand. The fairy tale continues….

King of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema: A must buy for anyone who wants a better perspective on the workings of Hindi Films.

Star Rating: ****

Asia Pacific Arts, UCLA Asia Institute review

Big Fish and Bigger Dreams

http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/070824/article.asp?parentID=76446

By Ada Tseng

Anupama Chopra's latest book King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema encapsulates all that is endlessly fascinating about the man and the movies.

When it comes to international phenomena, it often seems like Americans are the last to know. Back in 2000, Shakira had made four albums and sold more than 8 million records worldwide before anyone in the US mainstream batted an eye in her direction. One had to go abroad to realize what a fanatical following the English boy band Blue boasted. Even today, Utada Hikaru just became the world's biggest selling digital single, and one would likely be hard-pressed to find a typical American who knows who she is.

We always talk about international stars "crossing over," whether it be Gong Li in Miami Vice, Aishwarya Rai in Bride and Prejudice, or Rain making his first English-language album. But recently, it seems to be a testament to America's self-indulgence that we assume all international stars need or want to come here in order to "make it big."

While in some cases there might be some truth to the numbers, Indian cinema (more prevalently known as Bollywood) is likely the most prominent example of an international phenomenon that has the power and numbers to trump the ego of Hollywood.

On June 23, 2007, ABC News ran a story about Shah Rukh Khan titled "The Biggest Movie Star You've Never Heard Of." When the question of transitioning to Hollywood comes up, director Koran Johar points out that Khan's Bollywood audience is already bigger than most Hollywood actors could ask for: "unless they are going to give Shah Rukh a parallel role to Tom Cruise's in a Hollywood film, why should he bother working there?"

Churning out over 800 movies a year (in comparison to the roughly 500 films a year that Hollywood makes), Bollywood movies are entrenched in Indian culture in a way that most countries cannot claim of their film industries. Adding an estimated 20 million non-resident Indians across 110 countries plus the numerous fans spanning but not limited to Malaysia, Poland, Germany, Indonesia, South Africa, and the Middle East, Bollywood might not be making more money (movie prices there don't compare to the shameless overcharging going on in the US), but they're selling more tickets around the globe. And eyeballs amount to a certain amount of clout.

Although there have been many books written about Indian cinema, Anupama Chopra's King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema is one of the first Bollywood books picked up by a major American publishing house: in this case, Warner Books. Expecting an international release from the beginning, Chopra had a unique challenge: how do you portray a mega star to an audience where everybody already knows every single minute detail surrounding his being, and also have it translate to readers in another community who may be completely ignorant of his existence?

As a writer, Chopra was very aware of this tight-rope straddle, and her strategy was to look beyond the actor. Instead of purely focusing on personal anecdotes, Chopra recognized the value of analyzing the evolution of the Bollywood film industry through the lens of Shah Rukh Khan.

What does it mean to have a Muslim superstar ruling cinema in a country that is predominantly Hindu? What kind of shift did it bring to Indian cinema when a charismatic, global yuppie figure, shaped by young twenty-something filmmakers, took over the previous dark, gritty, anti-establishment film hero that Amitabh Bachchan embodied? Why did Bollywood actors in the 1990s court commercial advertisements so freely and actively turn themselves into brands? How has the way that Shah Rukh has navigated his career been influenced by the twists and turns of Bollywood, which itself is constantly evolving to fit new market conditions and audiences?

As a result, Chopra assumes a role that is equal parts storyteller and film scholar through her numerous interviews with Shah Rukh Khan and individuals who had instrumental roles in his life.

Much is made out of author Anupama Chopra's family ties: married to director Vidhu Vinod Chopra, sister of director Tanuja Chandra and author Vikram Chandra, daughter of scriptwriter Kamna Chandra. But Chopra is a distinguished journalist in her own right, with over twenty years of experience working in print journalism both in India and the United States. She earned her MA in journalism from Medill, worked at Harper's Bazaar, India Today, and Variety Asia as well as writing for New York Times and Los Angeles Times. She's also authored two other books, including the British Film Institute-published Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge ("The Bravehearted Will Take the Bride"), which incidentally is what inititally inspired her to take on the story of Shah Rukh Khan.

In an interview with her superstar subject, Chopra says: "A journalist asked me, did Shah Rukh Khan do this book because you are Vidhu Vinod Chopra's wife. What is an appropriate response to that?" Shah Rukh Khan jokes "I did this book in spite of the fact that you were Vidhu Vinod Chopra's wife."

Most recently, Chopra taken on a new journalistic challenge: television. Since January of this year, she has scripted and hosted a film review show titled Picture This on NDTV, where she covers Hindi films and Hollywood releases that come out each week.

What she discovered from this experience is the extensive reach that television has. Compound this with the modern online world, with technology bringing easy access to information on a global scale, and one gets to the heart of how the world is getting smaller, and people are starting to take notice of world influences such as Bollywood.

Today, mainstream publications such as The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times regularly make the effort to review Hindi cinema. But Chopra observes that it wasn't until the last four or five years that American papers started writing about Bollywood.

"When I joined India Today [an equivalent of Time magazine in India] in 1993, Hindi film cinema in mainstream coverage was still very restricted," says Chopra. "It was still seen as something that wasn't taken very seriously because there was only one kind of film journalism, which was the more tabloid magazine journalism. It was just not seen as something that was part of mainstream intelligentsia culture."

In July of 2005, The New York Times commissioned a story from Chopra about the evolution of the Hindi cinema heroine -- how she is increasingly becoming less virtuous, as previous tradition had called for, and dabbling in more bad behavior.

"I think that was a sort of an experiment [for The New York Times]," says Chopra. "But that story ended up on the top ten most e-mailed stories list. It was then that they realized there is a huge interest in Hindi film. Maybe it's not from the mainstream American audience, but there is a global audience that is thrilled with the movies. That happened fairly regularly with the stories that I did."

Perhaps it is time for mainstream consumers to take off the domestic blinders and take a look outside of the good ol' American box. One of the reasons Anupama Chopra distinctly chose Shah Rukh Khan as the subject of her internationally-minded book (as opposed to Amitabh Bachchan) was because of Khan's distinctly global appeal.

One point Chopra emphasizes in King of Bollywood is that the character of Shah Rukh Khan that he displays to the masses is an ever-confident, charismatic romancer that is just as home in Indian culture as in Western culture. So it makes sense that a 2003 Neilsen EDI survey reports that seven out of the top ten Hindi films in the UK from 1989 onward starred Shah Rukh Khan. Chopra, and others in the Indian film industry, banks on his ability to reach outside the Indian community through his sheer likability. I mean, this is a man who charmed his way out of being a victim of Abu Salem, a mafia don who had specifically targeted Khan in the late 90s. (But that is a whole other story. Read Chapter 14: Mobsters and Movies.)

In addition to perpetual acting work (next up is his hockey flick Chak De India), Khan is also venturing into producing and setting up a special effects studio called Red Chillies to pursue his passion for science fiction. So even with new competition (Hrithik Roshan) and though Khan might not come out to Hollywood any time soon ("When I land in Los Angeles, Steven [Spielberg] is never there," he jokingly laments in Chopra's interview), the wheels of his twenty-year career are still turning in deliberate directions.

In the end, as Chopra's choice as the quintessential metaphor of Indian cinema's modern fluidity, Shah Rukh Khan -- like the Bollywood movie industry as a whole -- still aims to make a film that has undeniable worldwide impact.

Date Posted: 8/24/2007

Globe and Mail review

King Khan: Hooray for Bollywood!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070825.BKKING25/TPStory/TPEntertainment/Movies/

SPARKLE HAYTER

August 25, 2007

KING OF BOLLYWOOD

Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema

By Anupama Chopra

Warner, 250 pages, $31.99

He is a Muslim who is worshipped by hundreds of millions of Hindus, Christians and, of course, Muslims, all over the world. He's often called India's Tom Cruise, and India's Tom Hanks. But unless you have Indian ancestry or have been to India or Pakistan, chances are you've never heard of Shah Rukh Khan, a.k.a. SRK or, as he's affectionately known, King Khan.

Nobody could have predicted that this short Muslim guy lacking conventional good looks would one day become the biggest star in the world. Hindi cinema tends to be ruled by dynasties. New stars are usually the children and grandchildren of past movie heroes and heroines, or come from other powerful families in India. Shah Rukh had no such connections.

How Shah Rukh defied the odds to become King Khan is the subject of Anupama Chopra's smart biography, The King of Bollywood.

Disclosure: Anupama Chopra and I have the same literary agency and we know each other slightly. It was that connection, discovered with a simple Google search, that scored me an electronic file of the book well in advance of publication. As a long-time lover of Hindi cinema and Indian film in general, and as a fervent Shah Rukh fan, I was looking forward to this read, and Chopra did not disappoint me. Her book is not just an insightful biography of Shah Rukh, it's a witty and thoughtful history of the Wild West that is Bollywood and, by extension, a portrait of the New India.

Shah Rukh Khan was born in Delhi in 1965 to Meer and Fatima Khan. His father's family had been followers of Badshah Khan, a colleague of Gandhi's and his Muslim counterpart in the non-violent movement to obtain Indian independence. They were educated people with an artistic bent who always struggled for money; Shah Rukh and his sister were brought up in "genteel poverty." Meer was a secular Muslim. Fatima was devout yet modern. She prayed five times a day. She also worked as a family magistrate, helped promote Indira Gandhi's birth-control program in the Muslim slums and ran several businesses after her husband's death in order to support the family.

As a child, Shah Rukh liked Urdu poetry, dress-up, mimicry and Hindi movies. He was an exemplary student, who studied under the Irish priests of the Congregation of Christian Brothers. At an early age, he demonstrated a talent for creative pranks (one of these, involving a brown suede shoe, is laugh-out-loud funny). When he was caught, his good grades, quick wit and personal charm always got him through.

Surprisingly, acting was not SRK's first choice for a career. When he did go to Mumbai, home of the Hindi film industry we know as Bollywood, it was not to find an acting role, but to find an ex-girlfriend who had spurned him, a young Hindu woman named Gauri whom he later married. While he was there, a few people saw his potential and steered him into acting.

Things were rough, but he struggled and persevered, making do with supporting roles in small films or on TV, displaying a multitude of talents, moving with ease between comedy and drama, heroes and anti-heroes, until he finally got his big break.

His entry into Hindi films in the 1990s coincided with rapid and dramatic change in India. Shah Rukh came of age in the 1980s, when action films and Amitabh Bachchan's "Angry Young Man" characters still personified the average Indian's frustrations with the country's institutions and injustices. These roles made Bachchan a virtual god. When economic liberalization came to India, after decades of socialist-inspired entropy, the country needed a new persona to symbolize new problems. Shah Rukh was the Everyman, the boy next door - not, Chopra says, "an inaccessible celestial being but simply the most charismatic member of the family," who evolved into "an articulate global Indian who was equally at ease in a nightclub in Paris or in a village in the Punjab."

Chopra's most important point is this: As a Muslim married to a Hindu, and as a modern, free-thinking man who nevertheless respects the best Indian and Islamic traditions, Shah Rukh Khan bridges the gaps in the Indian imagination and soothes the conflicts of rapid industrialization. This is important not just to India, but to most of the world. The United States, and the West in general, are no longer looked to for help with democratic ideas in the developing world. India, the world's largest democracy, with more than 20 official languages and as many major cultures, has more relevance for people in tradition-bound countries who are seeking social and economic progress without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. For all its fantasy, Bollywood more accurately reflects their daily conflicts than Hollywood can.

This translates into huge popularity for Shah Rukh all over the world, especially in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East (as well as Korea, East Africa and Germany, which has three magazines about Bollywoodfor non-Indian readers).

Chopra quotes the director Mahesh Bhatt declaring that Pakistan will never go to war with India because Shah Rukh lives there. It's hardly an overstatement. Despite the banning of Indian films in Pakistan, SRK's videos are everywhere, and you can't walk through a bazaar without seeing his photograph every few steps. In Afghanistan under the Taliban, when all movies were forbidden, Shah Rukh's movies circulated widely in a samizdat-style system.

Though she clearly has a great affection for her subject, Chopra doesn't omit his flaws. Shah Rukh can be cocky - which both helped and hurt him coming up - and he seems to hold a grudge for a long time, though without apparent vindictiveness.

Chopra, a respected film journalist with an impeccable family pedigree - she's the sister of Vikram Chandra (Sacred Games) and the wife of Bollywood director Vidhu Vinod Chopra - has an insider's view of King Khan. But you needn't be an insider. She's such a gracious and interesting guide that you don't have to be a Bollywood fan, or know anything about it, to enjoy the ride.

When you've finished the book, head to the video store to rent Veer-Zaara, Dil Se, Main Hoon Na, Dil To Pagal Hai, Devdas, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna or any of the more than 60 movies Shah Rukh Khan has made.

Sparkle Hayter is a novelist and the Indian film consultant for a major movie network. She lives in Mumbai, India.

Indapost.com Review

http://indiapost.com/article/lifestyle/838/

Life and times of Shahrukh Khan
Wednesday, 08.22.2007, 12:16am (GMT-7)

India Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: The sharply observed, addictively readable and serious content book by Anupama Chopra has a provocative title, 'King of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan and The Seductive World of Indian Cinema.' Published by Warner Books, the 222 page hardbound book was launched at India Splendor (the six day event celebrating films, the heritage and culture of India) in Los Angeles and New York and is the first book on Hindi film to get an international release.

It spotlights the international phenomenon, the box office gold, Shahrukh Khan who generates Beatles/Presley hysteria across the world. It is a giddy explosion of anecdotes, cinema varities and remembrances, tartly affectionate and focuses the world's attention on the power of the cinema idol. In this case Shahrukh Khan in the exploding $1.5 billion Bollywood industry is the face of a glittering, incredible India. This is the man who has launched films that are celebrated in Greece, Indonesia, Peru, Ethiopia, Hamburg, UK, US and Switzerland.

The book traces the life and times of a middle class Muslim boy from Delhi who later became a rage in the second most populated country. But it is not only a biography but a pitch perfect narrative of the turbulent history of the Partition, the mohalla in Peshawar where Khan's father was born, the euphoria of Indian independence, Mumbai the mecca of producers, actors, musicians, writers and poets, the disillusionment of the 1960s and the entrepreneur in a Silicon valley environment. The book took four years to complete as Chopra followed Khan everywhere, emailing and SMSed him all over the world.

The book begins with an anecdote. If a thirty three year old, portly Bhavesh Sheth of small town Dalton, Georgia, a father of a toddler could dream of dancing with Shahrukh Khan onstage and have his dream come true, the reader can easily accept the fact that weekly 7,000 people in South Korea gather at a club to watch Bollywood films, subtitle them in Korean, and run Bollywood dance classes. Back in India, when Shahrukh flicks cigarette butts, people pick them up as souvenirs.

Crafting each film and he has made fifty of them, Shahrukh Khan has established himself as a legend and plays each role in his distinctive style putting his indelible stamp on every performance. Anupama Chopra ignites the charisma of the screen idol by making him an accessible figure- a dynamic original, a synthesis of ebullient cultures(he married a Hindu) deeply emotional but a down to earth image of a man filled with potent talent and fusing the world of fantasy and make believe with raw experience. The combination is irresistible.

Chopra tells us of SRK's dreams of becoming an army officer, his agonizing courting of Gouri who later became his wife, his ambitions of becoming a talk-show host like Oprah Winfrey and how death made him a star. The stories tumble one after another on the pages, his cocky confidence, his conversations with the powerful dons, his fascination with books, the intrigues and conspiracies in the hierarchy of Bollywood, the big budget spectacles, the chamchas, the scalpers, they are all there. Anupama Chopra also writes in an exhilarating articulate manner of the 20 million Indians in the world, who have discovered Hindi films to be more than entertainment.

"They were a way to bind the community," she writes, "to maintain an emotional chord with the distant motherland, and buy inexpensively a dose of Indian culture for second generation children who were growing up as hyphenated hybrids."

The narrative crackles with dialogue, quotes, gossip, revelations, heartbreak, romance drama and the marketing of Shahrukh Khan. As Anupama Chopra writes, it was Aditya Chopra, Yash Chopra's son who told Shahrukh Khan that though he was a star, he could never become a superstar unless he became every girl's fantasy lover, every sister's brother, and every mother's son. "And of course Shahrukh became the superstar.

They are all great stories, enthralling, funny, moving and like Shahrukh Khan's movies the book too should be a sold out event anywhere in the world. Anupama Chopra comes from a literary/ cinema family. An gifted film critic and journalist she has written about the Indian film industry since 1993 and for publications as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Variety and India Today. She received an MA in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism in Northwestern University and has a BA in Literature from Bombay University.

She has authored 'Sholay- the making of a Classic', which won a National Award in India as best book on cinema. This was followed by an analysis of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge published by the British Film Institute. She presently reviews films weekly on NDTV. Her husband is the famed Vidhu Vinod Chopra of Munnabhai and Eklavya fame while brother Vikram Chandra is the well known author of Sacred Games.

Sister Tanuja Chandra (Sur, Zindaggi Rocks) is one of the few women directors in Bollywood. I met Anupama Chopra at a panel discussion/book reading in Los Angeles at the 6 day event India Splendor, hosted by MC Global Trust in association with UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television, Artwallah, and ICM. I asked her how in the world of petty jealousies, arguments, extortion, murder, corruption, jail sentences, Shahukh Khan reigns. She replied simply, "He is compelling, the Bollywood dream. He is deified and at the same time grounded even while he is venerated and serenaded around the world."

When I asked if it was not too early to write a book about him Anupama Chopra merely smiled and said, "This is a good time when India is the buzzword and world attention is on everything pertaining to India. He is an international icon."

'King of Bollywood' book launch event, Mumbai