Naveen Chandra

2 months ago | thehindubusinessline.com | Naveen Chandra

The Amol Palekar that most of us know from his films, is a mild-mannered, shy, bumbling man who doesn’t have the confidence to pursue the girl he likes. Someone who evokes enough empathy for others to step up and help him navigate his way around the many obstacles in his life. The Amol Palekar in his autobiography is a different man. A solitary crusader, a person with a strong sense of right and wrong and an ability and perseverance to fight for what’s right.

Nov 24, 2024 | thehindubusinessline.com | Naveen Chandra

Not very often do you come across a political leader who doesn’t take himself seriously. Boris Johnson, the former UK Prime Minister, is one such. Whenever I have met him, first when he was the Mayor of London (he came cycling into one event) and later as Prime Minister (at his Diwali dinner for the Diaspora), his sheer chutzpah made a dramatic impression. At first, I was intimidated by his over seven-hundred-page memoirs, Unleashed, but found the book to be quite an easy read.

Nov 1, 2024 | thehindubusinessline.com | Naveen Chandra

For an actor who commenced his journey in the post-liberalisation era with saturation coverage in the media, Shah Rukh Khan is a tough subject for a biography, for there is little we don’t know of his life, his family, his films, and of the cricket team he owns or everything else he does. One wonders, then, what can be new in Mohar Basu’s book on Shah Rukh Khan.

Sep 20, 2024 | thehindubusinessline.com | Naveen Chandra

In my growing up years, my father would take me to a new movie screening every week, which for army kids like us, would typically mean dressing up well, sitting in easy chairs in front of a big white screen which was upholstered by ropes on an open ground facing a noisy generator and projector, with a hundred other army personnel of all ranks, and being served Coca-Cola and samosas during the break.

Aug 18, 2024 | thehindubusinessline.com | Naveen Chandra

Don’t read this book if you want to learn about Kamal Haasan, the person, more than what you already know, for you’ll be disappointed. Read this, instead, for a wonderful, thoroughly researched, deep dive of the major movies he worked in, how he selected his stories and worked his craft to delight audiences over the last six-and-a-half decades.