Flick Geek

How did you pick up different subjects for this book?
I always scribble down interesting nuggets about Bollywood. There are various inspirations for chapters. For instance, the inspiration for “Hello, Hello: 10 Uses of Phones” started with a conversation with a friend who asked me, ‘when did a mobile phone first appear in a Hindi movie’. In the chapter on “Reboot: 8 Decades of Reincarnation” I was reading an interview of Raj Kumar Santoshi, post the release of Khakee. Santoshi mentions that Amitabh’s character in Khaakee was an older version of his character in Zanjeer. So I thought of similar characters.

Your previous book Kitnay Aadmi Thay was a compilation of 50 lists from Bollywood. Is this book a sequel?
Kitnay Aadmi Thay has 50 chapters. My publishers were wondering ‘why don’t we make a book that acts as a trivia for Bollywood movies!’ The idea was to keep the chapters short, so that even if you pick up the book watching TV, you get interesting trivia. In this book, there are 100 chapters, which are broken down into 18-19 sections.

How do you ensure the information is accurate?
If it is a particular scene, I make it a point to see it on YouTube before putting it in. The most difficult part is to verify when something happened for the first time.

Do you love everything about Bollywood?
My wife can’t tolerate movies like Dabangg but I like them. Rarely do I dislike any Bollywood movie. My interest lies in superhero films such as Ra.One and Krrish.