The artists become the muses: Books about movies you must read

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Love films? Why not give these 8 books about movies a chance and dive into the good, the glamourous, and the down right scandalous world of the film industry?

It would not be wrong to say that literature and cinema are two sides of the same coin. The tradition of adapting books to screen goes back a long way. Right from the era of the black and white talkies to the OTT originals today, books have always been the source of inspiration for the world of cinema. But this relationship is not one-sided. There are also many writers who have been inspired by the silver screen and by what goes behind it.

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If you too share this interest, here is a list of ten books about movies that are inspired by the Hindi and the Tamil film industry and give their readers a peak into what goes on behind the curtains. With works ranging from literary novels to pulp fiction; from memoirs to a book for young readers, we hope you will find something to your liking from this list.

dream factory  in list of books about movie

Title: Dream Factory
Author: Sujatha || Translator: Madhavan Narayanan
Publisher: Harper Collins

Blurb: Recently translated into English by Madhavan Narayanan, Dream Factory is set in the Tamil film industry or Kollywood of the early 1980s. It follows the ups and downs in the lives of four different characters – Arun Vijay, a successful star; Premlatha, a heroine who wants to squeeze as much as she can from her career before the industry chucks her out as she gets older; Arumairajan, a young waiter who is ready to give up everything for becoming a successful lyricist and Manonmani, a small-time actress who has to face all sorts of indignities to get a good part. Through these four very different characters who belong to the same world and whose lives, however fleetingly, intersect each other at some point in the book, Sujatha shows his readers the truth of the tinsel-town from the perspective of the successful as well as the strugglers. A very fast paced book, Dream Factory is an immensely readable and deserves its place in our list of books about movies.

Price: Rs. 285 || Pages: 360

Title: Masooma
Author: Ismat Chughtai || Translator: Tahira Naqvi
Publisher: Speaking Tiger

Blurb: Ismat Chughtai was closely associated with the Hindi film industry and knew its darker side very intimately. In Masooma, a book about the movie industry, she narrates the story of a young massoma (literally, the innocent one) who is trapped in the clutches of those who turn her into Nilofer and exploit her under the guise of helping her find her feet in the industry. Translated from the Urdu by Tahira Naqvi, the original was published in 1962, but stays relatable even today, reminding that #metoo is not a temporary hashtag but should bring systemic change.

Price: Rs. 265 || Pages: 152

book cover of masooma in an article for books about movies

cover of mantos stars frommm another sky a part of the list on books about movies

Title: Stars from Another Sky
Author: Saadat Hasan Manto
Publisher: Penguin India

Blurb: Stars from Another Sky is subtitled ‘The Bombay Film World of the 1940s’ and is a collection of sketches and anecdotes written by Manto, who was also close to the film industry of that era. The collection gives its readers a peek into the personalities and incidents associated with the stars of yesteryears such as Ashok Kumar, Nargis, Sitara Devi, Noor Jahan, among others. Given that this was written at a time when the ‘stars’ were not under the constant scrutiny and public gaze like they are today, the book holds some pearls of insider information about people from the industry who are long gone, but who still live on through their works. 

Price: Rs. 250 || Pages: 182

Title: Scene 75
Author: Rahi Masoom Raza || Translator: Poonam Saxena
Publisher: Harper Perennial

Blurb: Rahi Masoom Raza was another literary stalwart who worked closely with the Hindi film industry and knew in inside-out. His Scene 75 is set in the cinema world of 1970s and follows the story of a young Ali Amzad, who travels from Benaras to Bombay in the hopes of becoming a successful screenwriter. He comes across a number of characters in his journey, all from different walks of society and all equally colourful. This book about the movie world doesn’t follow a straighforward structure and the stories of the various characters stem from and relate to each other. Considered a work ahead of its time in its scope, its writing and its technique, Scene 75 has been translated from the Hindi by Poonam Saxena.

Price: Rs. 200 || Pages: 224

book cover of scene 75 in an article for books about movies

Title: A Very Strange Man
Author: Ismat Chughtai || Translator: Tahira Naqvi
Publisher: Speaking Tiger

Blurb: Also translated by Tahira Naqvi, A Very Strange Man is a novel that is believed to mirror the life and the tragic death of Gurudutt. This book about movies tells the story of the actor-director-producer Dharam Dev, who falls in love with a young dancer whom he brings from Madras and gives place in his films. His wife, a successful playback singer, slowly drowns herself in alcohol and the end for Dharam Dev comes in the form of a heart-break and suicide. The triangle in the film does feel like a veiled reference to the actual trio and the cover of the book seems to point the same way. 

Price: Rs. 329 || Pages: 240

book cover of a very strange man in an article for books about movies
book cover of show business by shashi tharoor

Title: Show Business
Author: Shashi Tharoor
Publisher: Penguin India

Blurb: Tharoor’s Show Business is a novel in six ‘takes’, which tells us the story of Bollywood through the eyes of Ashok Banjara, a superstar. He is in a critical condition in a hospital, and looks back to his life and the various escapades of his life as an actor. Full of masala and gossip like a typical Hindi film, Show Business is a quick read that can be enjoyed by the fans of cinema who like to know what happens in the life of the superstars.

Price: Rs. 281 || Pages: 320

Title: Mansarovar
Author: Ashokmitran || Translator: N Kalyan Raman
Publisher: Penguin India

Blurb: Translated by N Kalyan Raman from the Tamil, Manasarovar is set in the cinema world of 1960s. It narrates the story of Satyan Kumar who is a successful actor in Mumbai and then shifts to Madras. He becomes friends with Gopalan, a writer. The novel, one of the best books about movies, goes beyond being a look at the film industry and talks of the pain and identity crises that people go through, irrespective of their position in the society. It is believed that Ashokamitran’s friendship with Dilip Kumar gave birth to the idea of this novel and that Satyan Kumar is based on the legendary actor himself.

Price: Rs. 194 || Pages: 184

book cover of mansaraovar in an article for books about movies
book cover of Bollywood Nights in an article for books about movies

Title: Bollywood Nights
Author: Shobhaa Dé
Publisher: Berkley

Blurb: A list on books about movies cannot be complete without this page-turner. Written in the typical Dé style, Bollywood Nights is a racy, pulpy look at the underbelly of the Hindi film industry which is not a place for the simple or the innocent. Aasha Rani is thrusted into this world by her mother and goes through every humiliation possible before making it big in Bollywood. And yet, being a big name is not a guarantee of success, and Aasha learns it the hard way. A typical masala novel, this has sex, affairs, heartbreaks, scandals, and everything else you can expect.

Price: Rs. 599 || Pages: 352

Title: That Thing About Bollywood
Author: Supriya Kelkar
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Blurb: That Thing About Bollywood is a book rather different than all the others on this list on books about movies. First of all, it is a book for young readers and secondly, this is not an exploration of the lives of the people who inhabit that world. It takes the typical  Bollywood trope of the ‘larger-than-life’ and its habit of breaking into a song and dance at the slightest of provocations and weaves them into the story of a young Indian-American girl Sonali who loves all things Bollywood, whose parents might be on the verge of a separation. When everything around her becomes brighter, when everyone gets a bollywood-like makeover and when they start dancing and singing at everything without realising that this is not how it happens in the real world, Sonali is worried. How will she cope up with this situation and return everything to normal forms the crux of this story. Kelkar weaves issues related to identity and growing up deftly in the book.

Price: Rs. 654 || Pages: 368

book cover of That thing about Bollywood with a brown girl dancing against yellow background

Dream Factory

Title: Dream Factory

Author: Author Sujatha, translated by Madhavan Narayanan

Publisher: Harper Collins

Price: Rs. 285

Pages: 360

Blurb:

Recently translated into English by Madhavan Narayanan, Dream Factory is set in the Tamil film industry or Kollywood of the early 1980s. It follows the ups and downs in the lives of four different characters – Arun Vijay, a successful star; Premlatha, a heroine who wants to squeeze as much as she can from her career before the industry chucks her out as she gets older; Arumairajan, a young waiter who is ready to give up everything for becoming a successful lyricist and Manonmani, a small-time actress who has to face all sorts of indignities to get a good part. Through these four very different characters who belong to the same world and whose lives, however fleetingly, intersect each other at some point in the book, Sujatha shows his readers the truth of the tinsel-town from the perspective of the successful as well as the strugglers. A very fast paced book, Dream Factory is an immensely readable and deserves its place in our list of books about movies.

Get the Book from Amazon

Masooma

Title: Masooma

Author: Author Ismat Chughtai, translated by Tahira Naqvi

Publisher: Speaking Tiger

Price: Rs. 265

Pages: 152

Blurb:

Ismat Chughtai was closely associated with the Hindi film industry and knew its darker side very intimately. In Masooma, a book about the movie industry, she narrates the story of a young massoma (literally, the innocent one) who is trapped in the clutches of those who turn her into Nilofer and exploit her under the guise of helping her find her feet in the industry. Translated from the Urdu by Tahira Naqvi, the original was published in 1962, but stays relatable even today, reminding that #metoo is not a temporary hashtag but should bring systemic change.

Get the Book from Amazon

Stars from Another Sky

Title: Stars from Another Sky

Author: Saadat Hasan Manto

Publisher: Penguin India

Price: Rs. 250

Pages: 182

Blurb:

Stars from Another Sky is subtitled ‘The Bombay Film World of the 1940s’ and is a collection of sketches and anecdotes written by Manto, who was also close to the film industry of that era. The collection gives its readers a peek into the personalities and incidents associated with the stars of yesteryears such as Ashok Kumar, Nargis, Sitara Devi, Noor Jahan, among others. Given that this was written at a time when the ‘stars’ were not under the constant scrutiny and public gaze like they are today, the book holds some pearls of insider information about people from the industry who are long gone, but who still live on through their works.

Get the Book from Amazon

Scene 75

Title: Scene 75

Author: Author Rahi Masoom Raza, translated by Poonam Saxena

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Price: Rs. 200

Pages: 224

Blurb:

Rahi Masoom Raza was another literary stalwart who worked closely with the Hindi film industry and knew in inside-out. His Scene 75 is set in the cinema world of 1970s and follows the story of a young Ali Amzad, who travels from Benaras to Bombay in the hopes of becoming a successful screenwriter. He comes across a number of characters in his journey, all from different walks of society and all equally colourful. This book about the movie world doesn’t follow a straighforward structure and the stories of the various characters stem from and relate to each other. Considered a work ahead of its time in its scope, its writing and its technique, Scene 75 has been translated from the Hindi by Poonam Saxena.

Get the Book from Amazon

 A Very Strange Man

Title: A Very Strange Man

Author: Author Ismat Chughtai, translated by Tahira Naqvi

Publisher: Speaking Tiger

Price: Rs. 329

Pages: 240

Blurb:

Also translated by Tahira Naqvi, A Very Strange Man is a novel that is believed to mirror the life and the tragic death of Gurudutt. This book about movies tells the story of the actor-director-producer Dharam Dev, who falls in love with a young dancer whom he brings from Madras and gives place in his films. His wife, a successful playback singer, slowly drowns herself in alcohol and the end for Dharam Dev comes in the form of a heart-break and suicide. The triangle in the film does feel like a veiled reference to the actual trio and the cover of the book seems to point the same way.

Get the Book from Amazon

Show Business

Title: Show Business

Author: Shashi Tharoor

Publisher: Penguin India

Price: Rs. 281

Pages: 320

Blurb:

Tharoor’s Show Business is a novel in six ‘takes’, which tells us the story of Bollywood through the eyes of Ashok Banjara, a superstar. He is in a critical condition in a hospital, and looks back to his life and the various escapades of his life as an actor. Full of masala and gossip like a typical Hindi film, Show Business is a quick read that can be enjoyed by the fans of cinema who like to know what happens in the life of the superstars.

Get the Book from Amazon

Mansarovar

Title: Mansarovar

Author: Author Ashokmitra, translated by N Kalyan Raman

Publisher: Penguin India

Price: Rs. 194

Pages: 184

Blurb:

Translated by N Kalyan Raman from the Tamil, Manasarovar is set in the cinema world of 1960s. It narrates the story of Satyan Kumar who is a successful actor in Mumbai and then shifts to Madras. He becomes friends with Gopalan, a writer. The novel, one of the best books about movies, goes beyond being a look at the film industry and talks of the pain and identity crises that people go through, irrespective of their position in the society. It is believed that Ashokamitran’s friendship with Dilip Kumar gave birth to the idea of this novel and that Satyan Kumar is based on the legendary actor himself.

Get the Book from Amazon

Bollywood Nights

Title: Bollywood Nights

Author: Shobhaa Dé

Publisher: Berkley

Price: Rs. 599

Pages: 352

Blurb:

A list on books about movies cannot be complete without this page-turner. Written in the typical Dé style, Bollywood Nights is a racy, pulpy look at the underbelly of the Hindi film industry which is not a place for the simple or the innocent. Aasha Rani is thrusted into this world by her mother and goes through every humiliation possible before making it big in Bollywood. And yet, being a big name is not a guarantee of success, and Aasha learns it the hard way. A typical masala novel, this has sex, affairs, heartbreaks, scandals, and everything else you can expect.

Get the Book from Amazon

That Thing About Bollywood

Title: That Thing About Bollywood

Author: Supriya Kelkar

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Price: Rs. 654

Pages: 368

Blurb:

That Thing About Bollywood is a book rather different than all the others on this list on books about movies. First of all, it is a book for young readers and secondly, this is not an exploration of the lives of the people who inhabit that world. It takes the typical Bollywood trope of the ‘larger-than-life’ and its habit of breaking into a song and dance at the slightest of provocations and weaves them into the story of a young Indian-American girl Sonali who loves all things Bollywood, whose parents might be on the verge of a separation. When everything around her becomes brighter, when everyone gets a bollywood-like makeover and when they start dancing and singing at everything without realising that this is not how it happens in the real world, Sonali is worried. How will she cope up with this situation and return everything to normal forms the crux of this story. Kelkar weaves issues related to identity and growing up deftly in the book.

Get the Book from Amazon

Sneha Pathak

Sneha Pathak

Sneha Pathak loves reading over everything else and has a degree in English Literature. She loves discovering new authors and new books. Her favourite genre is mystery/detective fiction, but she reads all genres with equal gusto and enjoys writing about them. When not reading, she can be found book-browsing.

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