Cinema : Images and Issues

Contents: 1. Men behind women. 2. Sensuous and sensitive. 3. Now and forever. 4. Awards, theirs and ours. 5. Changing perceptions. 6. The heroine and Hindi cinema. 7. Holy aayee re. 8. Remembering Bimal Roy. 9. Two women and a man. 10. Straight from the heart. 11. Where have all the men gone? 12. Catholics and cinema. 13. Theatre new and old. 14. Chasing a mirage. 15. Husbands are oppressed too. 16. Surviving mayhem. 17. Summer of discontentment. 18. Albums must arouse curiosity. 19. Lagaan - picture perfect. 20. Romancing the rains. 21. Ready for change. 22. Trends and technology. 23. Audience is the king. 24. Going solo. 25. Coming of age. 26. Echoes of torment. 27. Guru-Shishya bonding. 28. Housing problems. 29. Navratri in films. 30. Historical heroes. 31. Seductive visuals. 32. Epic idols. 33. Bravo MAMI. 34. Real life stories. 35. Love is forgiveness. 36. Forever friends. 37. National pride. 38. Freedom without abuse. 39. Communicating with the common man. 40. Offensive lyrics. 41. Pride and prejudice. 42. Testing time. 43. Breakthroughs. 44. Courting new sensibilities. 45. On the global map. 46. Whose line is it anyway? 47. To Abba with love. 48. Analyse this. 49. Spiderman rules. 50. Role models. 51. Time for debate. 52. Nurturing the writer. 53. Immortal Ghalib. 54. Blame it on promos. 55. Setting new trends. 56. Joint families. 57. Magic is in novelty. 58. Blame game. 59. Indian summer. 60. Second serve. 61. Cheating on intentions. 62. They are playing my song. 63. Cries and whispers. 64. Assembly line entertainment. 65. Feel like a woman. 66. Documenting superstars. 67. Cross of superstars. 68. The men are back. 69. The show goes on... 70. Shadows of the past. 71. The changing face of love. 72. Waiting to exhale. 73. Taking sides. 74. Glamour - reel to real. 75. Speculations and solutions. 76. Misplaced passions. 77. A poignant evening. 78. Et Tu Sahara. 79. Can strike be a solution? 80. Melody and moments. 81. Psychophancy. 82. It's a man's world. 83. If tomorrow comes. 84. Family function. 85. Fragrant memories. 86. Farewell stereotypes. 87. Saturation point. 88. Breaking the jinx. 89. God of wisdom. 90. Krishna and the film hero. 91. We created a monster. 92. CAS, an embarrassment. 93. Contrived morality. 94. Autumn romance. 95. Once more with hope. 96. Shift in audience choice.

""Whenever I'm asked what I enjoy most about my profession, it does not take me time to respond that I'm here, because I like writing and because I love Hindi cinema. And my job provides me with an opportunity to dabble in both.

"Reproduced in the book are fragmented frames of cinema. Some explored as academic study, while some retained as stubborn memories that refuse to fade. The collective images celebrate an undying passion for the fascinating medium.

"The concerns for the issues, I admit, came in much later. After one had sufficient exposure and the confidence to disagree and debate. One discovered that the same films evoked different responses and interpretations during different decades of growing up. And perhaps that's the essence of cinema. To break illusions and conjure new images. Compiled in the book are some scattered observations and impressions from an editor's notebook."(jacket)