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For many of us Bombay films were central to our coming of age. As we went in and out of cinema halls in the seventies and early eighties, the hero who failed to make a deep impression was Rakesh Roshan, son of the famous music composer Roshan. He was a fairly competent actor but lacked a star presence and was largely notable because he wore a peculiar hairstyle that was rumoured to be a wig. So when he faded away none of us really cared even though, as is testified by his filmography, he acted in some ninety films. This was a time when the audiences’ connection to a film was forged mainly through its stars. By the late eighties and early nineties, film was beginning to be discussed as a multi-authored site and Bombay cinema was being seen as more than just trashy detritus. It was around this time that Rakesh Roshan was emerging as a promising filmmaker especially after he made the proto-feminist female vigilante film Khoon Bhari Maang (1988).