One of India’s best-loved film directors, Hrishikesh Mukherjee is perhaps best known today for his perennially popular creations like Anand, Chupke Chupke and Gol Maal. But hrishi-da’s best work was provocative, wide-ranging and always aware of the complexities of people and their relationships, even when the setting was a simple, middle-class household. Often combining breezy narratives with serious ideas, his films created a distinct world with recurring themes such as the relationship between fantasy and life, an individual’s journey towards becoming more responsible in a flawed world, performance (Naatak-Baazi) as a revelation of character, and gender relations in a conservative society.

Jai Arjun Singh looks closely at Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Oeuvre, from well-known films like Satyakam, Guddi, Abhimaan and Khubsoorat to lesser known (but equally notable) works such as Mem-Didi, Biwi aur Makaan and Anuradha. Combining a fan’s passion with a critic’s rigour, the world of Hrishikesh Mukherjee is a book for anyone who takes their filmed entertainment seriously.

Jai Arjun Singh is a freelance writer and journalist based in Delhi. He has worked on the literary beat for years but cinema is his first love, and his popular blog Jabberwock (http://jaiarjun.blogspot.com) is a storehouse of his writings about movies, books, evil water tanks and many other things. His book about the making of the cult film Jaane bhi do Yaaro was published by Harper Collins in 2010. He can be contacted at jaiarjun@gmail.com.