Matinee Magic: Films, Stars, Superstars, and a Boy From Patna

Lights! Camera! Action! With these three iconic words, hearts raced, emotions overflowed, and a world of drama, romance, music, and magic came spectacularly alive. The 1970s were when Hindi cinema exploded—and the term Bollywood came into existence. There were stars, superstars and hysterical fans. Films were watched again and again, songs and dialogues memorized, matinee idols worshipped. In Matinee Magic, Anirudha Bhattacharjee dives into that heady decade, from Sholay to Amar Akbar Anthony, Ranga Khush to Bhuvan Shome. Riots at ticket counters, films watched in secret and friendships forged over cinema. And at the heart of it is the author, a movie-mad boy from Patna, standing in serpentine queues outside Veena, Ashok, Pearl, and Elphinstone. Insightful, engaging, funny, intimate, and packed with rare, unseen photographs, Matinee Magic takes us back to a time when Rajesh Khanna inspired mass hysteria, Amitabh Bachchan became the face of rebellion, Dharmendra redefined the macho man, and Kishore Kumar and R.D. Burman changed the meaning of music for ever. This is nostalgia at its very best: when dreams wore technicolour, heroes seemed invincible, and the impossible felt tantalizingly within reach. WHAT THIS BOOK OFFERS • A vivid memoir of growing up in 1970s Patna through films, songs and cinema halls • A nostalgic account of Hindi cinema’s most explosive decade • Insights into stars and superstars including Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and others • Rich commentary on Hindi film music, including Kishore Kumar, R.D. Burman, S.D. Burman, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and others • Rare photographs, illustrations and visual material from the author’s collection and other sources • A foreword by filmmaker Sriram Raghavan