Kolkata: It was long due – a biography on the Disco King of India, the action hero of 1980s and multiple National Award winner, Mithun Chakraborty. Journalist-turned-author/filmmaker Ram Kamal Mukherjee amalgamated his two years of research on the man who has reached cult status. MITHUN CHAKRABORTY: DADA OF BOLLYWOOD – one couldn’t have conceived of a better title to the book. Mithunda’s life and career have witnessed umpteen number of ups and downs including his stint in politics and the book hopefully would touch upon some of those aspects. So, are we in for some untold stories that might create a furore? Now, several books on Bollywood stars have stirred a hornet’s nest in the past. Here’s a dekkho:
1. Dilip Kumar’s The Substance And The Shadow
“I must admit that I was attracted to her both as a fine co-star and as a person who had some of the attributes I hoped to find in a woman…,” Dilip Kumar wrote in his autobiography about his co-star Madhubala. An explosive confession that many had been waiting for – it was one of the selling points for the book.
2. Dev Anand’s Romancing With Life
“A hint of suspicion crossed my mind. A couple of days earlier, a rumour had been floating around that Zeenat (Aman) had gone to Raj’s (Kapoor) studio for a screen test for the main role in his movie. The hearsay now started ringing true. My heart was bleeding,” he wrote. Dev Anand candidly opened up about his emotional connect with the lady he launched in Hare Rama Hare Krishna and how he was envious of Kapoor when he cast her in Satyam Shivam Sundaram.
3. Rishi Kapoor’s Khullam Khulla
In this book, Rishi Kapoor expressed his heart out on his father Raj Kapoor’s infidelity. “I was very young when my father had an affair with Nargis ji, and so was not affected by it. I don’t remember feeling anything was amiss at home either. But I do remember moving into the Natraj Hotel on Marine Drive with my mom during the time Papa was involved with Vyjayanthimala. My mother had decided to put her foot down this time. From the hotel, we shifted for two months into an apartment in Chitrakoot. My father had bought the apartment for Mom and us. He did all he could to woo her back, but my mother wouldn’t give in until he had ended that chapter of his life,” he wrote. Quite a revelation.
4. Karan Johar’s An Unsuitable Boy
“I wouldn’t like to give a piece of myself to her at all because she’s killed every bit of emotion I had for her for twenty-five years,” a peeved Karan Johar wrote about his childhood friend Kajol at a time when their friendship had bitten the dust for a while.
5. Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s An Ordinary Life
The main point of the controversy was his alleged affair with Miss Lovely co-star Niharika Singh, who issued a statement accusing Nawaz of using her name to promote the book. A remorseful Nawaz wanted to withdraw his book and apologise to those whose sentiments were hurt.
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