Hero

Volume One: "This volume traces the growth of the indigenous Hindi film hero from the silent era up to Dilip Kumar. The film hero is depicted as a credible representative of the social, cultural and political milieu of his era. The author contends that the development of Hindi cinema as a powerful expression of popular culture has been largely centred round the frontal figure of the hero. In the course of the narrative, the subject matter presents a compact history of mainstream Hindi cinema by placing personalities, events, and trends in specific time frames." It includes discussions about Dilip Kumar, Dadasaheb Phalke, Khlail and Raja Sandow, Sohrab Modi, V. Shantaram, Prithviraj Kapoor, Motilal and Ashok Kumar, K.L. Saigal, Balraj Sahni, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Guru Dutt, Shyam, Kishore Kumar, Bharat Bhushan, Pradeep Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Shammi Kapoor, Talat Mehmood, Sanjeev Kumar, Rajesh Kanna, Aji and Premnath, Mahipal, Abhi Bhattacharya, Shekhar, and Chandrashekhar, among others. --