Bollywood trivia: Of Godly songs, and even Godlier male actors

Author Diptakirti Chaudhuri

Ah, don't we Indians love Bollywood! Especially all the gossip and behind-the-scenes action. If you are a Bollywood fanatic, Bolly Geek - The Crazy Trivia Guide to Bollywood by Diptakirti Chaudhari, is the book for you. It's a treasure trove of A to Z trivia from the world of Hindi cinema. Chaudhuri, a salesman by day, writer by night, and a filmy keeda the rest of the time, has curated a fun book about all the things you didn't know you wanted to know about Bollywood.

The title of every chapter is unique and catchy. Each chapter begins with a filmy quote, a brief, and ends with a quirky illustration. In case you don't want to read the book cover to cover, you can directly dive into chapters that interest you. We like the masaaledar nuggets on how to plan a filmy elopement, "Mithunism", and the clichés and craziness of Hindi cinema.

Jai almost lived

Sholay

In the first week after Sholay's release, the film's box-office reports were bad all over Bombay. Ramesh Sippy was desperate and was actively considering reshooting the climax to let Amitabh Bachchan's character live. Salim-Javed, the writers of Sholay, argued that the mild pain over Jai's death was part of the film's charm, but Sippy wanted to reshoot Jai's death before the film released in other parts of the country. This story is an apt primer to how stars' deaths are orchestrated in Bollywood, depending on their stature, not the demands of the script.

Good turn of bad fate

Don

Cinematographer Nariman Irani, to get out of debt, decided to produce Don, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman and Pran, who agreed to work at reduced or deferred fees. When the shooting was nearly complete, Irani - Manoj Kumar's regular cameraman - was working on Kranti at Bombay's Rajkamal Studios when a wall collapsed on him. What seemed like a simple hip replacement became very complicated due to Irani's high sugar levels, landing him in a coma, from which he never recovered, and passed away on December 10, 1977. However, Don was released in May 1978, with very little publicity and was expected to flop. But the film's entertainment quotient was high and is remembered until today as a cult classic.

Singing to God rocks!

Prayer songs happen every now and then in Hindi cinema. But it is rare for a song to become part of our life. After the release of "Ae maalik tere bande hum" from Do Ankhen Barah Haath, the government of Punjab made it the official prayer song for all schools in the state. Much like how Itni shakti humein dena daata from Ankush is now part of bhajan CDs, caller tunes and puja playlists. Director N Chandra once said, "I think half the politicians in Delhi have that bhajan as their caller tune, probably to hide their sins... The bhajan has gone much beyond the film."