Helen: The Life and Times of an H-bombMain 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. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - reverend_allaby - LibraryThingA labour of love on a subject close to my heart. Although repetitive in places, as well as understandably awash with anglicized hindi, Pinto's book is required reading, despite the lack of competition, for any fan of the original 'item girl.' Read full review
Contents
introduction | 1 |
the making of an hlbomb1 | 13 |
the woman who could not care | 44 |
main gud ki dali | 63 |
good girls bad girls | 85 |
the cure of all the sorrows of the world | 102 |
she was dying to become a good girl | 119 |
the making of a legend | 187 |
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Common terms and phrases
Agha Ajit Amitabh Bachchan Aruna Irani Asha Parekh Ashok Kumar Asrani Bhagwan Bindu cabaret Chitra Chitragupta Colour Cuckoo dance dancer Dara Singh Dharmendra dressed Duniya Dutt falls in love Feroz Khan Filmfare gang Geeta girl hain Hema Malini hero hero’s heroine Hindi cinema Hindi film Hussain I.S. Johar Indian Jayshree Jeetendra Jeevan Johnny Walker K.N. Singh Kamini Kitty Lalita Pawar Laxmikant Pyarelal Madan Puri Mahipal Mala Sinha male married Mehmood Mehra mother Mumtaz naam Nadira nahin Nirupa Roy O.P. Nayyar Pics playing Pradeep Kumar Prakash Pran Prem Chopra Premnath Prod pyaar R.D. Burman raat Raj Kumar Rajendranath Rajesh Ravi Rehman Rekha Rita Roshan Sanjay Khan Sanjeev Kumar sexual Shakila Shammi Kapoor Shankar Shashi Shatrughan Sinha Sheikh Mukhtar Shyam sings song star Sulochana Sunil tera There’s Tiwari Tun Tun Usha Khanna vamp Vijay Vinod Khanna woman women Zeenat Aman