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Journalism of Courage
Zubaan8217;s Women in Indian Film series focuses on some celebrated, forgotten and lesser-known faces of cinema
The 8217;70s Indian cinema saw the emergence of the angry young man. That paled the presence of women in films and in public imagination in the years to come. Some of them, like Saira Banu, Zeenat Aman and Mumtaz, have come out of the screen shadow for a fresh introduction8212; in the form of mini-books on them. Giving them company are some all-time greats in the field of cinema like Jaya Bachchan, Nutan, Aparna Sen and Smita Patil. Madhuri Dixit and Farah Khan are the more contemporary faces while Aarti Bajaj, film editor, is one of those faces which go unrecognised in the industry.
Zubaan8217;s latest release, Women in Indian Film, profiles the life and work of 10 from the world of cinema. The idea: to introduce readers to these artists in the absence of any writing on them. And the pocket books seem to do a fine job of that.
The series brings out trivia like Jaya Bachchan8217;s embarrassment when asked to shake her hips in Zanjeer as well as her discomfort when asked to wear backless choli, spaghetti-strap blouses and exaggerated eye-liner. There is more. When Patil went to Cannes for the special screening of Nishant, she didn8217;t have right clothes and 8220;ended up borrowing clothes and jewellery from Shama Zaidi8221;. The book on Dixit talks about her rise to the peak which coincided with the angry young man giving way to the NRI hero. The volume on Sen maps her journey from a shy 15-year-old making the debut in Satyajit Ray8217;s Samapti to becoming a director par excellence.
8220;We picked writers who deal with films and they selected the person they wanted to write about,8221; says Urvashi Butalia, founder of Zubaan. Priced at Rs 595, Women in Indian Film is the first of the series which will talk about significant women in various fields. The series, which required nearly one year of coordination and work, was released on Thursday at the British Council by Farah Khan.
8220;The 30-odd-page volumes try to give a private, personal and new insight into these personalities,8221; says Nasreen Munni Kabir, the series editor. 8220;With the rise of Amitabh Bachchan, most of the women stars didn8217;t enjoy much prominence. That8217;s the reason we chose to talk about someone like Mumtaz, instead of bigger names like Meena Kumari or Madhubala,8221; she adds.
Another criterion that both Butalia and Kabir stressed on for the series was to make the selection 8220;less predicable8221;. This, surely, will make the series an interesting read, leaving the readers wishing for more.
