I’ve never caught them red-handed, at least when it comes to reading a book. Exceptions apart, filmstars are as far away from the world of hardcovers and paperbacks as Kashmir is from Kanyakumari.
Perhaps the no-reading policy stems from narcissism. Nine out of 10 B-town’s personalities speak only of their flourishing careers (delusional at times). And when they’re not applauding themselves, they’re gloating over their colleagues’ latest flop.
Like it or not, Bollywoodwallas just don’t want to expand their mental horizons. Or pump up their grey cells. No point in curling up with a good (or bad) book. An overwhelming majority of stars even refuse to read film scripts. Too much trouble. So the eons-old tradition persists: directors and their assistants “narrate” what the “gist” of scripts to the actors, complete with sound effects, high drama and musical interludes.
In fact, a story goes that an extra-enthusiastic director ran into the restroom of Amitabh Bachchan’s office, counted 1-2-3, sprinted, hands framed like a camera lens, and came perilously close to the actor’s face. The enthu cutlet, then, yelled at the top of his lungs, “Action!”, all to point out that the film would commence with a close-up shot. Startled, Mr B enlarged his eyes, but went on to do the film anyway. The outcome bombed thunderously. Boom spelt doom!
Curiously, the few movie celebrities who do read seem to like the same books. On B-town’s all-time bestseller charts count: Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, Jack Caufield’s Chicken Soup for the Soul, Robin S. Sharma’s The Monk who Sold his Ferrari, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Rhonda Byrne’s Secret. Umm, cool, ask them to discuss the books, and they beg off, “No, no, some other time... so tell me what’s the gossip?”
Incidentally, film personalities don’t maintain libraries in their lavish bungalows, save for Amitabh Bachchan who meticulously preserves the works of his father, Dr Harivanshrai Bachchan. Other books are stocked too, but Bachchan Sr admits that he hasn’t read them, including Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook. Anil Kapoor doesn’t believe in books but his daughter Sonam does. Alexander McCall Smith’s Ladies’ Detective Agency series is on top of her list, besides the classics of Jane Austen.
Largely though, filmstars and directors either do not have the time or the inclination to touch anything resembling a book with a pair of tongs. You will never find Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Kangna Ranaut, Salman Khan, Aditya Chopra, Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai with a book.
By contrast, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Mahesh Bhatt and Anurag Kashyap regularly scour the book stores. Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Shabana Azmi and Rahul Bose are also avid book buffs. Rahul Bose doesn’t collect his books, preferring to give them away since he wants each of his buys to be read by the maximum number of friends possible.
Sushmita Sen may not be immersed in literature today, but there was a time when she taught herself English by reading books since she was educated in the Hindi medium till Class IX in school. Pssst, La Sen pens awful, stream-of-consciousness poetry in her spare time. Jiah Khan can pick up a poetry collection for a photo-op but is clueless about Lord Byron or Wordsworth. Why am I not surprised really?
Aishwarya Rai has never been seen with a book, hardcover or paperback. Abhishek Bachchan says he does pick up a non-fiction book and a biography oocasionally, his favourite one being Marlon Brando’s The Songs My Mother Taught Me. Hope Jr learnt something from that.
Perhaps the most consistently voracious reader among the top heroes happens to be Shah Rukh Khan who still possesses his first copy of Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He does not shop at the stores but orders them via Internet. These include bestsellers, short story collections, English lit classics and Booker prize winners.
Aamir Khan is fairly well-read but discloses as little about his literary faves as he does of his private life. Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is one book that he has mentioned as a must-read. Tabu has been majorly into the Chicken Soup series but is also into Aesop’s Fables, Salman Rushdie and Anita Desai. Kajol is obsessive about fantasy lit books as well as the Mills and Boon mushfests. Ask her about serious literature though and she snaps, “No thank you, not my scene.”
Most film personalities admit frankly that they find books much too “bulky and beyond us”. Many of them opt for magazines and newspapers. Preity Zinta, for instance, cannot do without her fix of newspapers in the morning. Old-timer Dev Anand scans every newspaper printed in the city.
Once it was a common sight to see filmstars like Ashok Kumar and Dilip Kumar absorbed in books while waiting for the next shot to be readied at the studio. Now, actors’ wait is spent in air-chilled trailer vans equipped with DVD players complete with every video disc from Ben-Hur and The Terminator, the French flick Perfume to the American TV series, from re-runs of Sex and the City to Lost and Desperate Housewives.
C’est la showbiz. Books for a majority of the Bollywoodwallas are just words, words, words, not worth their time. No wonder, then, today 90 per cent of the movies turn out to be a waste of time.