Faction: Real vs Reel, Fact vs Fiction?

Growing up in India in the 1990’s, some films stood out from others simply because of their different storyline—removed from the ‘mast, mast, ‘dhak, dhak, ‘choli ke peeche’, ‘sexy sexy’, ‘sarkailo khatiya’, ‘gutur, gutur’ kind of songs and their corresponding stories that dominated during the period. Films like Tehzeeb, Silsilay and Fiza made by Khaled Mohamed, along with a Zakhm or even Fire—stood out, even if they did not attract a lot of commercial attraction. So when Khaled Mohamed presents a book of short stories written by some of the best known names today of Bollywood, contrasting actors and directors of Hindi cinema, one cannot but hope that the stories—mostly ghost-written of course, will hold up to the same standards seen in his films.