About 10 Best Filmmaking Books to Read in 2021
- Scorsese by Ebert :
Roger Ebert, the author of this book is the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times. Starting in 1975, he co-hosted a long-running weekly movie review program on television, first with Gene Siskel and then with Richard Roeper. In these reconsiderations, the author invites us into his thought processes, letting us see not just what he thinks, but how he forms his opinions. His insights into Scorsese are terrific, but this book offers the bonus of further insights into Ebert himself.” A film-by-film chronicling of the professional, yet passionate, Ebert-Scorsese relationship. A work of adoration and affection, which surprises the readers most is how Scorsese by Ebert emerges as a work of profound identification.” – Time” -This text refers to the edition of a book. For instance, the book traces the closeness Martin Scorsese and Roger Ebert feel for each other’s work back to their shared Catholic church upbringing, and particularly how it shaped their tendency to see women in a certain way—which Ebert describes as the “madonna-whore complex”.Time Out Chicago “Ebert, the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, is an unabashed fan of Scorsese, whom he considers ‘the most gifted director of his generation.’… Of special note are interviews with Scorsese over a twenty-five-year period, in which the director candidly discusses his body of work.” – Publishers Weekly “. This is one of the 10 Best Filmmaking Books to Read in 2021.
- Conversations With Pauline Kael by Will Brantley :
The author of this book Will Brantley, a professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University, is author of Feminine Sense in Southern Memoir and co-editor. (with Nancy McGuire Roche) of Conversations with Edmond White, both published by University Press of Mississippi. Conversations With Pauline Kael is basically a collection of interviews conducted between 1966 and 1994 by her. the book brings together roughly half of Kael’s published interviews along with a lively debate between Kael and Jean-Luc Godard. The interviews provide perspectives on Kael’s aesthetics, her politics, and her perceptions about what it is she does as a critic. They also contain discussions of films that Kael did not have the chance to review or that were released after her retirement in 1991. This book includes a number of early interviews with her and a few from after she retired from The New Yorker. Those last interviews are perhaps the most valuable because you get her insights on movies that she never got to review in print. This collection of her interviews will provide new and renewed pleasures for readers who have valued Kael’s critical voice in the second half of the century.
- Speaking of Films by Satyajit Ray :
Satyajit Ray the author of this book was one of the greatest filmmakers of his time. In 1992, he was awarded the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In the same year, he was also honored with the Bharat Ratna. Ray was also a writer of repute, and his short stories, novellas, poems, and articles, written in Bengali, have been immensely popular. Over the next forty years, Satyajit Ray came to be regarded as one of the world’s finest film-makers ever. Today, more than a decade after his death, he continues to be India’s most respected name in international film circles. The author discusses a wide array of subjects: the structure and language of cinema with special reference to his adaptations of Tagore and Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay, the appropriate use of background music and dialogue in films, the relationship between a film-maker and a film critic, and important developments in cinema like the advent of sound and color. He also writes about his own experiences, the challenges of working with rank amateurs, and the innovations called for when making a film in the face of technological, financial, and logistical constraints. The book gives a good insight into the man’s thinking process. A must-read for anyone who is even remotely interested in the art of film-making. This is one of the 10 Best Filmmaking Books to Read in 2021.
- Sahir Ludhianvi: The People’s Poet :
The author of this book Akshay Manwani turned to freelance writing after a brief career in the corporate world. He has since written on Indian cinema and popular culture for a variety of publications such as the Caravan, Business Standard, Man’s World, and Mumbai Mirror. Sahir Ludhianvi is probably the only songwriter in Hindi films whose poetry was accepted in its purest form and incorporated as a film song. So great was his stature as an Urdu poet that he never had to mold his poetry to suit the demands of film songwriting. This exhaustive biography traces the poet’s rich life, from his troubled childhood and his equally troubled love relationships to his rise as one of the pre-eminent personalities of the Progressive Writers Movement and his journey as a lyricist through the golden era of Hindi film music, the 1950s and 1960s.A summary from the book cover back says “A Progressive poet who loved and lived the good life; a ‘revolutionary poet’ who wrote some of the most enduring love songs of Hindi cinema; an atheist who created several remarkable devotional songs; an egotist who alienated several big-ticket music directors, yet stood up for a number of immensely talented newcomers; an idealist who waged a lone battle to have the contribution of lyricists acknowledged”.
- Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai: Urdu Memoirs of Cinema Legends
Yasir Abbasi completed his early education from Gorakhpur and Lucknow. Following his Masters in Mass Communication from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 2002, he has been involved with shooting documentaries and independent films and has won several awards at film festivals for his work. A rich and unusual treasure trove of translations from old Urdu magazines that were immensely popular from the 1930s to the 1990s -This text refers to the edition of a book. Peppered with heartfelt accounts and charming anecdotes, Urdu film magazines were in great favor with the public from the 1930s through the 1990s – a considerable period of seven decades. Unfortunately, as Urdu got progressively marginalized in later years, these magazines were not archived, for the most part; leading to their inevitable disappearance from popular imagination. Tracking down these lost publications, Yasir Abbasi followed leads – some futile, some fruitful – to obscure towns and people’s homes in a last-ditch effort to save valuable records of Indian cinema. This is one of the 10 Best Filmmaking Books to Read in 2021.
- Housefull:The Golden Years Of Hindi Cinema:
The book contains stories behind those famous, impactful movies that changed the face of Indian Cinema through the years. What could have been an amazing compendium of the Golden Years of Hindi cinema gets marred by shoddy writing and editing. Repetition of plot points and clunky hyperbole obscure the wealth of information about the great films and the artists. The book looks at some of the great directors of the times with a mix of anecdotes and facts, though it misses out on Nasir Husain who came into his own during this period. The part about directors is followed by a section on classic films where there is a bias towards Dilip Kumar Given the importance of music during this period, maybe a section on composers and lyricists would have been in order. The book is still worth a read for fans of Hindi cinema. This is one of the 10 Best Filmmaking Books to Read in 2021.
- Bioscope: A Frivolous History of Bollywood in Ten:
Diptakirti Chaudhuri the author of this book is a salesman by day and a writer by night. His primary passion and subject of writing is Hindi cinema, on which this is his fourth book. He lives in Bengaluru with his wife, son, and daughter. They don’t share his obsessive love for Hindi films Yet. A non-linear, light-hearted rollercoaster ride of a book, Bioscope presents a quirky history of Hindi cinema through unconventional, curated ‘lists’ that will delight die-hard fans and novices alike. Highlighting 10 aspects that give Hindi films their distinctive flavor, memorable scripts, and filmy fashion from the pre-Independence days right down to the present. Bioscope will inspire its readers to immerse themselves in the fascinating world of Hindi cinema. If you love Hindi cinema, you can not miss this book. What stands out are the themes for each chapter. While the choice of some chapters seems pretty straightforward and obvious, there are some quirky chapters as well. What makes reading each chapter a great joy is that, once you know the theme and the journey begins, you can’t help wonder whether your own memories from movies on that theme will be included. For me, it happened almost every time in each chapter.
- Deep Focus: Reflections on Cinema :
Satyajit Ray was one of the greatest filmmakers of his time and also awarded Bharat Ratna. His first film Pather Panchali (1955) won an award at the Cannes Film Festival and established his reputation as a major director. Satyajit Ray is acknowledged as one of the world’s finest filmmakers. His films changed the way the world looked at Indian cinema. But Ray was not only a filmmaker. He was also a bestselling writer of novels and short stories, and possibly the only Indian film-maker who wrote prolifically in cinema. This book brings together, for the first time in one volume, some of his most cerebral writings on film. Ray writes on the art and craft of cinema, pens an ode to silent cinema, discusses the problems in adapting literary works to film, pays tributes to contemporaries like Godard and Uttam Kumar,. Published in association with the Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Films, and including fascinating photographs by and of the master, Deep Focus not only reveals Ray’s engagement with cinema but also provides an invaluable insight into the mind of a genius. His book speaks the quality of the content. The esteemed Filmmaker who stands 6’4″ tall with commanding language, highly developed observation skills, a man with meticulous details, and methodical in his ways: Satyajit RAY. Those who have seen the movies of Mr.Ray (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Paresh Pathar, Apu Sansar, Teen Kanya, Feluda, Nayak, etc) would be curious to know what was inside Mr.Ray’s brain and mind while making those movies. All his movies are very realistic and sets and props are of that time with a light musical background than Bollywood movies. A perfectionist!
- History of Indian Cinema by Renu Saran :
Renu Saran, author of this book is a prolific and dynamic author who has written various books on a wide range of subjects, from cinema to famous personalities. Some of her well-known works include Choose Your Career, World Famous Women, World Famous Men, Indira Gandhi, Dhirubhai Ambani, Diamond English English Dictionary, Freedom Struggle of 1857, and Dynamic Memory Modern Essays For College Students..The Indian film industry is the largest in the world. It releases 1000 plus movies annually. Most films are made in South Indian languages (viz., Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam). Nevertheless, Hindi films take the largest box office share. India has 12,000 plus cinema halls and this industry churns out 1000 plus films a year. This book gives a brief history of the world’s most exciting industrial enterprise. It gives the details, facts, and vital sets of data of Indian cinema with amazing finesse. Its simple style and low cost enable all reader genres to read it. Renu Saran has penned this book for the lovers of Indian cinema. She has given many good books to our valued readers. She has worked very hard to collect data and analyze information sets. That is why this book has become one of the best in its genre.
- Don’t Disturb The Dead: The Story Of The Ramsay Brothers:
Shamya Dasgupta, the author of this book has worked with The Indian Express, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Tehelka, ESPN, Headlines Today, and NewsX, and is currently a senior editor with Wisden India. He has authored Bhiwani Junction. Everyone knows about the Ramsays – even those who have never watched a Ramsay film. But who were they really? Where did they come from? Why did they make the films they did? In India, the Ramsay name remains synonymous with horror movies. Don’t Disturb the Dead is the story of their cinema, their methods and madnesses, the people and the processes, arguments, and agreements, about horror cinema as a business model, and more. Writing a book itself takes a lot of effort, and writing one on the Ramsay’s whose dis reputation precedes them takes a lot of courage too. In that sense, Shamya has done an extremely commendable job. It feels nice that mainstream popular and not so popular cinema are also subjects of research. It is also an open-minded and affectionate ode to the ‘disreputable’ Ramsay films, and to a family that was once a genre in itself, one whose contribution to cinema deserves to be recognized.
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