BAD MEN: BOLLYWOOD’S ICONIC VILLAINS

by Roshmila Bhattacharya

  • Category Non-Fiction
  • Format Paperback
  • Imprint Rupa
  • Price 395
  1. ISBN: 978-93-6156-160-3
  2. Pages: 248 pages
  3. Date: 5th July 2024

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Did you know that ‘Lion’ Ajit did not care for the ‘Lily, don’t be silly’ jokes, or that Simran’s Bauji in DDLJ was modelled on an old lion? What did Manoj Kumar tell Pran that convinced him to accept Shaheed?
Who was the strange woman who called Tanuja Chandra and changed her mind about casting
Ashutosh Rana as Lajja Shankar Pandey in Sangharsh?
Why did a fresh-faced Danny Denzongpa insist on playing the much-older, wheelchair-bound Thakur in Dhund, and how did he make him unforgettable?
For decades, Bollywood’s khalnayaks have terrorized us, tormented us, and trapped us in their dark universe. Yet, we are still mesmerized by them.
So, it may interest you to know that for a long time, Gulshan Grover’s siblings would watch his films first so his mother could be whisked away from the auditorium just before he tore off a woman’s clothes on screen or was beaten black and blue.
Or that after Sadak’s release, Sadashiv Amrapurkar’s daughters were asked ‘Does your father clap his hands like Maharani?’
This book is an attempt to not just decode the blackguards of Hindi cinema but also understand
the men behind the monsters, through the author’s personal interactions with the actors as well as conversations with their family, friends and colleagues.
Full of interesting anecdotes about iconic films, performances and dialogues, it proves that even
Bad Men can make for a good read.

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

Roshmila Bhattacharya is a senior journalist who, in a career spanning over three decades, has
worked with Filmfare, The Asian Age, Screen, Zee Premiere, HT Café and Mumbai Mirror. She has contributed to The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Telegraph, National Herald, Deccan Herald, Deccan Chronicle, Free Press Journal and Rediff.com, breaking several stories on the national platform. She was a columnist for over 15 years and continues to find enjoyment in the field of journalism.
In July 2019, she released her first book, Bad Man, a biography of Gulshan Grover. Her second
book, Matinee Men: A Journey through Bollywood, was published by Rupa Publications in December 2020. It is listed amongst the ‘20 Best Bollywood Movies Books of All Time’ by Book Authority, and The Times of India recommended it as one of the eight books every Bollywood lover should read. She is also the author of Spooked! Bollywood’s Encounters with the Paranormal, published in December 2023. In July 2022, Tera Chhalaava, a crime anthology series for which she had written four stories, was released on Hungama Play and MX Player.