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Anupama Chopra walks the tightrope as she continues her love affair with the film industry even as she gives it the objective eye.
Pre-1993, when Bollywood was being bankrolled by the underworld, the industry was almost blas about its murky associations, says author Anupama Chopra.
In her new book, First Day First Show, she quotes a producer-director, "What is the problem if people are taking money from these people? Their money is not contaminated. It doesn't matter as long as you make the film and repay them."
Anupama laughs, "Back then, I was nave enough to ask producers 'Are you the mafia?' People visited Dubai to pay homage to Dawood.
The money was generous, paid on time and there were bankrolled shopping sprees. When the industry became a target with the shootings, it was a dark, weird time. Now I don't hear of them funding the industry."
The petite writer is chatty even though she is in a rush to prepare for her trip to Cannes. Three years ago, when she was on the jury, she nearly collapsed while chasing Hollywood stars for interviews and trying to catch all the films. "I had to shoot in a wheelchair," she says, bursting into peals of laughter.
Her book chronicles the evolution of what was essentially a chaotic cottage industry into its current more sanitized avatar.
Twenty years ago, Anupama returned with a master's degree from a top journalism school in the US, to become a film journalist when Bollywood was "decidedly infra dig." Her love affair with it became more personal when she married filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra in 1996.
After Mission Kashmir released (2000), they received threats and had to get tight security. In her book, she remembers abandoning an Iranian film festival halfway because "we figured if we made Vidhu see one more depressing neo-realist Iranian movie, he would shoot us himself."
The book compiles articles on the underworld, plagiarism and includes spicy, starry tidbits. The impact of Madhuri's choli is explored, as it spawned songs about khatiyas and khatmals. She writes about how Abhishek defied surefire success and how the young brigade changed the rules of the industry. Anupama also delves on the aspiration value of the industry - dreamy wannabe actors who believed that if Ajay Devgan can make it, why can't we?
First Day First Show shows Anupama's soft spot for one Khan, the subject of her previous book King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan. He has written a witty foreword, at one point describing how he was offered a script where 'a woman was to take out her breast and put her milk in my mouth, which quenches my thirst.' His director said breastfeeding was one of the most beautiful sights in the world and got angry when Shah Rukh pointed out it was odd that she was feeding a 29-year-old.
Apart from the anecdotes, Shah Rukh wonders 'if we have lost a certain madness, a certain rawness and passion.' Anupama says, "There is a romantic nostalgia for a time when Yash Johar would play for broke. I can't imagine it would be pleasant if it was the last throw of the dice for you. We're in a better place, a more exciting time. I don't have those nostalgia pangs."
In an industry driven by relationships, was she wary of stepping on toes? And did it affect her husband's relationships with the industry? She laughs, "He doesn't have any relationships. He should worry about ruining mine! My reviews tend to slice people deeper than the books. I spend most of my time hiding behind pillars at parties. The beauty and bane of Bollywood is that relationships will also come before anything else. But we're nowhere as ruthless as Hollywood."
On the 'new and improved' industry, she says, "Some things don't change. Scriptwriters still copy films. But there are far more who care about the craft. Stars are more professional but powerful, which is a bit scary.
Stars have also become smarter. For one, they're not doing that many movies. I remember a time when there was an association rule that a star could not do more than 12 films at once! Hollywood is now interested but they did what most producers do went for the name and the pedigree as opposed to the story. But like William Goldman said, 'In the movie business, no one knows anything.'"
In her new book, First Day First Show, she quotes a producer-director, "What is the problem if people are taking money from these people? Their money is not contaminated. It doesn't matter as long as you make the film and repay them."
Anupama laughs, "Back then, I was nave enough to ask producers 'Are you the mafia?' People visited Dubai to pay homage to Dawood.
The money was generous, paid on time and there were bankrolled shopping sprees. When the industry became a target with the shootings, it was a dark, weird time. Now I don't hear of them funding the industry."
The petite writer is chatty even though she is in a rush to prepare for her trip to Cannes. Three years ago, when she was on the jury, she nearly collapsed while chasing Hollywood stars for interviews and trying to catch all the films. "I had to shoot in a wheelchair," she says, bursting into peals of laughter.
Her book chronicles the evolution of what was essentially a chaotic cottage industry into its current more sanitized avatar.
Twenty years ago, Anupama returned with a master's degree from a top journalism school in the US, to become a film journalist when Bollywood was "decidedly infra dig." Her love affair with it became more personal when she married filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra in 1996.
After Mission Kashmir released (2000), they received threats and had to get tight security. In her book, she remembers abandoning an Iranian film festival halfway because "we figured if we made Vidhu see one more depressing neo-realist Iranian movie, he would shoot us himself."
The book compiles articles on the underworld, plagiarism and includes spicy, starry tidbits. The impact of Madhuri's choli is explored, as it spawned songs about khatiyas and khatmals. She writes about how Abhishek defied surefire success and how the young brigade changed the rules of the industry. Anupama also delves on the aspiration value of the industry - dreamy wannabe actors who believed that if Ajay Devgan can make it, why can't we?
First Day First Show shows Anupama's soft spot for one Khan, the subject of her previous book King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan. He has written a witty foreword, at one point describing how he was offered a script where 'a woman was to take out her breast and put her milk in my mouth, which quenches my thirst.' His director said breastfeeding was one of the most beautiful sights in the world and got angry when Shah Rukh pointed out it was odd that she was feeding a 29-year-old.
Apart from the anecdotes, Shah Rukh wonders 'if we have lost a certain madness, a certain rawness and passion.' Anupama says, "There is a romantic nostalgia for a time when Yash Johar would play for broke. I can't imagine it would be pleasant if it was the last throw of the dice for you. We're in a better place, a more exciting time. I don't have those nostalgia pangs."
In an industry driven by relationships, was she wary of stepping on toes? And did it affect her husband's relationships with the industry? She laughs, "He doesn't have any relationships. He should worry about ruining mine! My reviews tend to slice people deeper than the books. I spend most of my time hiding behind pillars at parties. The beauty and bane of Bollywood is that relationships will also come before anything else. But we're nowhere as ruthless as Hollywood."
On the 'new and improved' industry, she says, "Some things don't change. Scriptwriters still copy films. But there are far more who care about the craft. Stars are more professional but powerful, which is a bit scary.
Stars have also become smarter. For one, they're not doing that many movies. I remember a time when there was an association rule that a star could not do more than 12 films at once! Hollywood is now interested but they did what most producers do went for the name and the pedigree as opposed to the story. But like William Goldman said, 'In the movie business, no one knows anything.'"
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