By ASIF ANWAR ALIG
Encyclopedia of Bollywood—Film Actors, compiled by Renu Saran,
Diamond Pocket Books Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi – 110020 (India), 260pp, Indian
Rupees195, Soft (ISBN: 978-81-288-2899-7.
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ollywood needs no introduction today. Its
advent as world’s largest film industry and admiration by millions across the continents
brings its worldwide popularity. Dubbing Hindi movies in other languages was tough
nut to chew some five decades ago yet Hindi films were popular in the far off
Russian and European regions.
Boom in communication & information
technology sectors proved a blessing in disguise for its easy reach to millions.
Cinema lovers can straightforwardly recognize most Hindi film actors and actresses.
New generation isn’t abreast of many talented actors of early period yet.
Hindi cinema—metaphorically denoted as Bollywood—attained several breakthroughs
since inception. The huge entertainment industry from India’s finance capital
Mumbai (earlier Bombay) appeals to global cinema lovers. Often denoted with Indian
cinema’s sobriquet Hindi movies—Bollywood is the narrower version of India’s diverse
film industry accommodating multilingual movie productions besides popular Hindi
movies.
Assamese; Bengali; Telugu; Tamil; Bhojpuri; Nepali; Brajbhasa; Rajasthani;
Tulu; Punjabi; Bihari; Chattisgarhi; Oriya; Gujarati; Marathi; Haryanvi; Manipuri;
Kannada; Malayalam; Kashmiri; Kosli and Konkani cinemas are the integral parts
of India’s film medium.
Bollywood, as world’s largest film producer, maintains an undisputable ascendancy.
A derivation from the erstwhile Bombay like Hollywood for the US film industry,
it attained worldwide fame over the decades. Referred for regional Bengali cinema
since decades until identified with the other regional cinema—Telugu in Telangana
& Andhra Pradesh states, Tollywood inspired creation of Bollywood term in the
1970s while India overtook America as world’s largest film producer country.
By
1932, Tollywood term was used in India as earliest possible Hollywood-inspired idea.
It denoted with Bengali cinema from Calcutta’s (now Kolkata) Tollygunge area
until Indian cinema had its nationwide polarity.
Indian cinema began its journey with Dadasaheb Phalke directed country’s
first silent feature film Raja Harishchandra (1913). Until
1930s, India produced at least 200 movies annually. Ardeshir Irani directed India’s
first sound movie was Alam Ara (1931). It was a big
commercial success and so did it bring new resurgence in the entertainment
industry. Its success paved the way for creative filmmaking in the coming years.
Themed on the Great Depression, World War II and India’s freedom struggle to
partition violence plots, Indian cinema from early 1930s to late 1950s was educative
and pathfinder for a big social change.
Eminent filmmakers incorporated social issues in the movie plots. Bollywood
had its ‘Golden Age’ from the late 1940s to 1960s with the production of finest
movies ever. Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa (1957) & Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and Raj Kapoor’s Awaara (1951) & Shree 420 (1955) were critically acclaimed movies with strong socio-cultural
themes.
Epic movies like Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957) and K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1960) are magnum
opus even today. Bimal Roy’s Madhumati (1958) brought the
reincarnation theme in Bollywood films. Producer-directors Kamal Amrohi and
Vijay Bhatt gave the mainstream Hindi movies new direction. Such brilliant filmmakers
nourished new talents over the period.
Actors Dev Anand; Dilip Kumar; Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt ruled over
Bollywood for several decades. Equally did these decades witness the emergence
of many bright actresses like Nargis, Vyjayanthimala; Meena Kumari; Nutan; Madhubala;
Waheeda Rehman and Mala Sinha et al. They showcased exemplary talents by 1950s
while commercial Hindi cinema was already thriving.
Emergence of Parallel Cinema movement especially Bengali cinema left irrefutable
impact during that era. Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar (1946) and Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zamin (1953) were early
examples as Parallel Cinema movement’s brainchild. Guru Dutt and Satyajit Ray emerged
as greatest of the Asian filmmakers of all time with indomitable contribution to
Indian cinema. They produced several exemplary Bollywood movies. 
Bollywood had big transformation in the late 1960s and early 1970s with
romance and action themed movies gaining momentum. Actors Rajesh Khanna; Dharmendra;
Sanjeev Kumar; Shashi Kapoor and actresses Sharmila Tagore; Mumtaz and Asha
Parekh dominated those decades. Mid-1970s Bollywood was at the zenith with the themes
of romance, violence, gangster and banditries. It welcomed Amitabh Bachchan,
Mithun Chakraborty, Anil Kapoor and Sunny Deol et al to rule over Bollywood actively
till early 1990s. Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha remained the dominant actresses
in that period. Filmmaker Shyam Benegal produced realistic Parallel Cinema films
during 1970s. By then commercial cinema had equally become popular. 
Successful amongst commercial movies of that decade were Sholay (1975) and Deewar (1975) to bring Amitabh
Bachchan into limelight. Family centric and love themed musicals Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988); Maine Pyar Kiya (1989); Dil (1990), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) projected new generation cinema in the late
1980s and early 1990s. Actors Aamir Khan, Salman Khan & Shahrukh Khan to actresses
Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi and Juhi Chawla attained remarkable positions during that
period. The decade was an entry point for the new actors and directors to experiment
a distinct genre of Hindi films. Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, Manisha Koirala,
Tabu and Urmila Matondkar gave extensive performances to get recognized as the critically
acclaimed actors.
Bollywood’s popularity increased further across the continents in the decade
beginning with 2000. Manifold revolution in filmmaking from cinematography to innovative
story lines and implementation of technical advancements like animation and
special effects were projected through the movies Koi... Mil Gaya (2003); Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003); Veer-Zaara (2004); Dhoom (2004); Hum Tum (2004); Dhoom 2 (2006); Krrish (2006) and Jab We Met (2007) etc. They changed Bollywood’s filmmaking perspective. 
Popular actors of today Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor and
Abhishek Bachchan et al and actresses Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Aishwarya
Rai, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra attained their respective positions in
Hindi cinema in the mid-2000s. Beginning from 2010s, the rise of new generation
actors Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor to actresses
Vidya Balan, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma and Parineeti
Chopra reflected Bollywood’s new talent pool. 
Bollywood attained popularity in Canada and the US in last one decade
due to admiration of large chunk of South Asian communities. Several Indian
movies do more business in the US today than those from rest non-English
speaking countries. Fiji; Sri Lanka; Australia and New Zealand are the countries
where Bollywood movies are immensely popular. Salaam Namaste (2005) was the first Bollywood film shot entirely in Australia and which
was a huge success Hindi movie that year. Likewise, Heyy Babyy (2007); Chak De! India (2007) and Singh Is Kinng (2008) were the rest box office successes abroad.
The book Encyclopedia
of Bollywood—Film Actors is a compendium of Bollywood actors. Ironically
it doesn’t cover the niche areas of Bollywood’s vastness but still interest cinema
lovers to maximum extent. Alphabetically summed brief biographies of famous and
infamous actors inform about the film actors. Ironically, not a single actress has
been included in this book. Brought cursorily, biographies showcase struggling
phases of actors to attaining remarkable positions in the entertainment
industry—Bollywood.
This book has many old and new names
together from Amitabh Bachchan to Dilip Kumar to Mukri to Jeetendra to Dharmendra
and Amjad Khan to name a few out of 172 film actors included. Contemporary
actors John Abraham, Arbaz Khan, Sunil Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan and Aamir Khan
have been highlighted for their contributions to bring Bollywood on the global
canvas. Non-inclusion of actresses is the biggest setback and therefore disappoints
sincere readers.
Revised edition of this book should have mandatory
inclusion of actresses to increase reader interest. Its reprint with the updates
from Bollywood’s evaluation since silent movies era to todays’ technologically
empowered films would prove valuable contribution on Bollywood literature for the
future generations.
This review article first appeared in Ceylon Today, April 16, 2017 edition.
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