Not Quite Family: An Intimate Memoir of Bollywood

by Khalid Mohamed

English 328 pages 1 edition

Bollywood Confidential! Khalid Mohamed grew up movie struck, watching films at halls near his house with his grandmother. Once he became a reporter at The Times of India , his beat eventually took him to the movie world–and right into the heart of the lives of icons he had always admired. He developed a rapport with stars like Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dharmendra and with actresses like Raakhee, Smita Patil, Karishma Kapoor, Rekha and others whom he interviewed, cast in his movies or got to know as people away from the interview circuit. With some, it was quite the family affair. But friendship, as he discovered time and again, was fickle, lasting only as long as he gave favourable reviews to their films. Where he used his sharp critical scalpel, the welcomes froze. Not Quite Family is an account of Khalid Mohamed’s exciting years in the Bombay film world. It is also an emotive rendering of the Bombay that was–temperate and gracious. As the city is increasingly smothered by skyscrapers and dust, he takes us behind the curtain to show us the lives of the stars of Juhu-Vile Parle, Pali Hill and Worli.