Jerry Pinto strikes a pose for our cameras with a copy of Helen — The Life and Times of an H-Bomb ; (above) photo-journalist Pradip Chandra with his book, AB — The Legend

Would you like to read about Helen or the fabulous Kapoors? Or, would you rather flip though a book filled with close-ups and action shots of Amitabh B? Or, will you be filling your bookshelf with books on Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt and Shah Rukh Khan?

Let’s face it, Bollywood has become fashionable. And, now that it has made the long celluloid trek to respectability, it’s also being written about more than ever before. There are coffee-table creations with beautiful pictures and paper and there are in-depth studies by journalists or movie buffs. Even the children of the stars are putting their thoughts down on paper. Says Pramod Kapoor of Roli Books, “It’s a welcome trend that authors are coming forward to write on well-known film personalities.”

Take a look at the recently launched book Helen ? The Life and Times of an H-Bomb (Penguin) by poet and writer Jerry Pinto. In it, he describes the phenomenon of Helen who rose to fame as a vamp in hundreds of Hindi films enthralling viewers for more than 30 years. Then there’s The Kapoors: The First Family Of Indian Cinema (Penguin) written by journalist Madhu Jain, which deals with the life of the Kapoor family from Prithviraj Kapoor till Kareena Kapoor. And also, there’s photo-journalist Pradeep Chandra’s book, AB ? The Legend on Amitabh Bachchan (Rupa) and Rinki Bhattacharya’s tribute to her father, Bimal Roy ? A Man of Silence (Harper Collins).

Everyone agrees that there’s plenty of material. Says Pinto, “Since we produce a large number of films every year, there’s enough material to write on these personalities.”

In his book, Pinto explains how Helen who was never really considered heroine material vamped three generations of Hindi film males: Prithviraj Kapoor in Harishchandra Taramati; Raj Kapoor in Anari and Rishi Kapoor in Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan. He tries to capture Helen’s magical touch, which enabled her to last so long. Says Pinto, whose book runs into 250-odd pages and is priced at Rs 275, “Commercial cinema the world over offers heroines five years of shelf-life compared to 30 years for men. It gives dancers a year or so before the hunt is on for someone younger and more exotic. Helen is the only dancer I can think of who reversed this gender equation.”

Pinto prefers to call the book more “the construction of Helen, the dancer” and he has done in-depth research on everything from the clothes and make-up to the cabaret numbers. He worked on the book for three years but wasn’t able to interview Helen as she refused to help him. Therefore, Pinto says, “I saw every one of her films that I could lay hands on. She’d acted in 700 films.”

On the other hand, what makes Madhu Jain’s book so fascinating is that she has gone into detail focusing on almost every member of the Kapoor family ? right from Bashesharnath Kapoor, father of Prithviraj, to Kareena Kapoor. Jain, a journalist with India Today, feels that writing on this family was an obvious choice.

“This is the only family running for four generations from the silent era till today. The idea was to deal with the ways they relate to each other and not just talk about their films,” she maintains.

The 400-page book, priced at Rs 595, took five years to complete and is based on extensive interviews with relatives of Prithviraj Kapoor, technicians associated with Raj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor and friends of the family. Though some of the Kapoors like Shashi, Randhir, Neetu and Rishi took great interest in it, others like Babita, Karisma and Kareena refused to be interviewed.

(From top): Mushtaq Sheikh; the cover of Sheikh’s Still Reading Khan; Nasreen Munni Kabir; Madhu Jain with a copy of The Kapoors; Rinki Bhattacharya with her tribute to her father, Bimal Roy — A Man of Silence

At an entirely different level, there’s Rinki Bhattacharya’s book on her father titled Bimal Roy ? A Man Of Silence. In her book, Bhattacharya presents various aspects of her father Bimal Roy, the maker of such path-breaking films as Sujata, Bandini, Do Bigha Zameen, Devdas and Madhumati.

Bhattacharya, however is not happy at the way her book has shaped up and wants to write another one in the near future. “The information in the present book is unstructured and I could not do it full justice. But now I’m ready to start on another book on my father as I have lots of information and pictures on him.”

The tough part, she says, is authenticating the material since most of the people associated with her father have died. For instance, nobody knows Bimal Roy’s exact birth date even though they’ve been celebrating it on July 12 every year. “My father was born in East Bengal in 1909 and at that time, there used to be many births in one household. Even when he established himself, he was against celebrating his birthday, as he was a very private person. We too never bothered asking him about his birthday,” laughs Bhattacharya, who’s established the Bimal Roy Memorial Committee to keep alive his memory through music and films.

What’s the most popular subject for writers? Inevitably, it’s the Big B, Amitabh Bachchan who has dominated the Hindi screen like nobody before him. So, there are already books on Bachchan like Amitabh Bachchan: The Legend by Bhawana Somaaya and To Be or Not To Be: Amitabh Bachchan by Khalid Mohamed. But the most recent one to hit the shelves is by photo-journalist Pradeep Chandra titled AB ? The Legend and it’s priced at Rs 995. As a photo-journalist with several newspapers like The Indian Express and The Week, Chandra spoke to various people from the film industry like Om Puri, Prahlad Kakkar and Shyam Benegal. Also, the book has other writers like Pritish Nandy, Govind Nihalini and Shobhaa D? expounding on Big B.

The book deals with every aspect of Bachchans life, starting with his early days of anonymity. It also analyses each and every phase of his life with great detail ? his struggles in the film world, the birth of the angry young man, his stint as a host on Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Plus and life as a character actor today. Says Chandra, “What makes my book different is its sheer look. Though content-wise it is rich, it also has memorable pictures of Amitabh Bachchan.” Another original touch is that it has portraits of Bachchan in various moods by artists and sculptors like Subhash Awachat, Chintan Upadhyaya, Baiju Parthan and Arzaan Khambatta.

The authors have, mostly, figured that