Nasreen Munni Kabir – författare

Deriving its name from its American equivalent, Bollywood is the highly successful Indian movie industry predominantly based in Bombay and Madras. Every day more than 14 million people go to the cinema across India to watch films produced by this massive and powerful industry. In India, movies are not just a form of entertainment but practically a religion. Streets in major Indian cities are lined with colourful posters of Indian movies and their stars. Movie stars are treated like demi-gods, no match even for American standards of celebrity obsession. More than any other cultural or political institution of the twentieth century, the cinema has captured the hearts and minds of India's growing population of almost one billion, even against the stark backdrop of the vast country's struggle with poverty and hunger and often tense Muslim-Hindu relations. The experience of actually going to the movies in India is as much a part of the Bollywood phenomenon as are the stars themselves and Bollywood Dreams documents this important aspect of understanding the important role Bollywood plays in contemporary Indian culture. "Going to the cinema" Torgovnik says, "is about going to see the actors larger-than-life. It is about living the glamorous life for a few hours and leaving your daily hardships behind." Once inside the movie theatres, the audience can expect at least three hours of entertainment, including several song and dance numbers, love scenes, action sequences and most surely a happy ending. Each film includes the necessary ingredients for success: action, violence, music, dance, romance and morals. The themes of the movies are often social issues such as communalism, ethnicity, religion and caste, and the movie theatres themselves are often full of lively interaction between viewer and star. Cheers and boos pervade the atmosphere: the audience becomes a part of the film and, likewise, the film becomes a part of them. Bollywood Dreams begins with a vignette of the touring caravans that bring Bollywood on the big screen to India's villages in portable tents. We then follow the Indian film from its creation on the movie set, to the larger-than-life stars, directors and character actors, to the editing chamber, to the city streets where ubiquitous promotional posters abound and, finally, to the multitude of movie theatres that abound in India.

Tabla virtuoso, composer and percussionist Zakir Hussain is an international music phenomenon. The eldest son of the legendary Ustad Allarakha, Zakir gave his first public concert at the age of seven and was immediately hailed a child prodigy. In later years, his masterful dexterity and creative genius led to his becoming one of the most sought-after accompanists to the very best of Hindustani classical musicians and dancers. Zakir Hussain is equally recognized as one of the foremost contemporary jazz and world music percussionists; he has performed at innumerable concerts both as a solo artist and with renowned jazz musicians on the grand stages of the world, from the Royal Albert Hall to Madison Square Garden. He has acted in James Ivory's Heat and Dust and Sai Paranjpye's Saaz, and scored music for directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci (Little Buddha), Aparna Sen (Mr. & Mrs. Iyer) and Ismail Merchant (In Custody, The Mystic Masseur); he has also played the tabla for countless 1960s Hindi film soundtracks. In an in-depth conversation with Zakir Hussain, Nasreen Munni Kabir takes the readers through the story of his life: how he was deemed an 'unlucky' child; the early years of growing up in Mahim; his training from age four with his extraordinary father; and his experiences and memories working with a host of legendary musicians, including Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Ustad Vilayat Khan.