Bollywood Dreams: An Exploration of the Motion Picture Industry and its Culture in India

(Paperback)

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In Bollywood Dreams photographer Jonathan Torgovnik explores the beloved pastime of an Indian population of over 1 billion. As the largest film producer in the world with more than 800 films made each year, the Indian movie industry is a cultural phenomenon. Paying tribute to the stars, filmmakers, technicians and moviegoers who make this possible, Bollywood Dreams puts a human face on the fantastical, spectacle-rich films that compel more than 14 million people to the cinema on a single day in India. Bollywood Dreams is both a behind-the-scenes personal diary of the magic and contagious excitement of Indian film and a discerning photo-essay on the film industry's profound impact on Indian society. Singular in its conception, this book is unique in the way it introduces the general audience to the profound and spectacular way that Bollywood permeates everyday life in India. In this way Torgovnik's Bollywood Dreams stands as an important testament to the power of cinema in the twentieth century as both entertainment and social phenomenon. Deriving its name from its American equivalent, Bollywood is the highly successful Indian movie industry predominantly based in Bombay and Madras.

Reviews

"Bollywood Dreams provides a glimpse behind the shimmering surface to reveal the often grim reality on the other side...striking images juxtaposing the fantasy with the facts to great effect."Time Out

Author Bio

Jonathan Torgovnik began his career as a combat photographer in the Israeli army. In 1992 Torgovnik entered the photography department at the School of Visual Arts in New York where he graduated with a BFA degree. His photographs have been published in numerous American and international publications including Newsweek, Smithsonian, London Sunday Times Magazine, The Telegraph Magazine, Paris Match, and Stern, among others. Torgovnik's award-winning photographs have been included in numerous group and solo exhibitions in New York and Europe and have been acquired by museums such as The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and The Jewish Museum, New York. Author Nasreen Munni Kabir is a well-respected documentary filmmaker and author who has made several series for television on Hindi cinema, including Movie Mahal and In Search of Guru Dutt. She programmes Indian film seasons for Channel 4 UK and has organised festivals of Indian Cinema at the Pompidou Centre, Paris. Her books include Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema (1996), Talking Films: Conversations on Hindi Cinema (1999) with Javed Akhtar and Bollywood: The India Cinema Story (2002). Born in India, Kabir has lived in France and the United Kingdom for most of her life. In January 2000 Kabir was made a Governor of the British Film Institute.