Helen: The Life and Times of an H-bomb

Main Saare Zamaane Ke Gham Ki Dawaa Hoon.

(I Am The Cure Of All The Sorrows Of The World.)

Lyrics From Helen S Song In The Film Adhikaar (1971)

It Is Now Over Two Decades Since The Hindi-Film Heroine Drove The Vamp Into Extinction, And Even Longer Since The Silver Screen Was Ignited By The True Bollywood Version Of A Cabaret. Yet, Helen Nicknamed H-Bomb At The Height Of Her Career Continues To Rule The Popular Imagination. Improbably, For A Dancer And A Vamp, She Has Become An Icon.

Jerry Pinto S Gloriously Readable Book Is A Study Of The Phenomenon That Was Helen: Why Did A Refugee Of French-Burmese Parentage Succeed As Wildly As She Did In Bollywood? How Could Otherwise Conservative Families Sit Through, And Even Enjoy, Her Cabarets ? What Made Helen The Desire That You Need Not Be Embarrassed About Feeling ? How Did She Manage The Unimaginable: Vamp Three Generations Of Men On Screen?

Equally, The Book Is A Wonderfully Witty And Provocative Examination Of Middle-Class Indian Morality; The Politics Of Religion, Gender And Sexuality In Popular Culture; And The Importance Of The Song, The Item-Number And The Wayward Woman In Hindi Cinema.