The author Mohan Siroya, although has been a freelance journalist as his passion for last 57 years, this book 'Golden Sojourn in Bollywood Wonderland’ contains a compendium of articles in English, clippings of which he has preserved carefully, which were published in the various Indian Print media and thereafter on web portals between Dec. 1959 to Dec. 2009 pertaining to the stars, celebrities, film makers and or craftsmen associated with the world of Hindi films. This biggest film making industry of the world in India is looked in awe and wonders, not only for the glamour quotient but the pot- pouri of films made covering various facets from pure escapist entertainment extravaganza to the realistic, earthy films with almost miniscule budget and brand new-comers.
The Interviews chapter of the book covers almost a hundred celebrities and stars who have made this film industry. The frank Tate-e-Tate between those new comers or even established stars unravels the journey of their evolving with the ever growing size and demands of the films. Serious Industry buffs, Students of mass media, Schools and College libraries will relish the Research based Surveys, Polls and Statistical Analysis of the Achievements and failures. Here the author has included film reviews in frank and fearless way as the web portals or the writer’s own print magazine could afford to give vent to his personal assessments. The detailed analytical reports of Indian International Film Festivals will not be found even in the achieves of Directorate of Film Festivals in India. In the chapter of Analytical articles, the author has given an impression to be more prudish or an idealist than the practical cinema goer, disregarding the commercial, marketing and entertainment aspects of films- taking liberties to go against the social mores and taboos. Of course, the values and perceptions of morality and societal bonds have now changed tremendously in the bygone century. Then there is also the splash of Gossips and noble and brighter sides of star personas by way of nostalgia. Lastly the author has also included a few of the Homage and tributes of those who are no more with us after giving their sterling contribution to the growth of this film industry.
I hope, the people connected with films and Film buffs of not only from India but also the foreigners (Thanks to' Slumdog Millionaire’) would take interest in this compendium as to how the Bollywood has evolved over the years.
This book is no doubt bulky, but as the author has revealed in his say, it was an onerous task for him to pick and choose only the selective pieces from thousands of published articles. He had to keep aside articles on many other related areas of this Entertainment industry like Music, TV Serials/Shows, Events, Accounts of awards functions and a few more satirical and analytical published articles. He plans to compile that in the Volume II.
I wish him all the best.
Basu Chatterjee