A look at the wonderful 1990s in Bollywood, chronicling the rise of a
"frugal economy" in some Western countries and a super sleuth solving an
unusual case. An assortment of films, economics and fiction, the IANS
book stack this week has a variety of options. Take a look.
1. Book: 42 Lessons I learnt from Bollywood; Author: Sahil Rizwan; Publisher: HarperCollins; Pages: 384; Price: Rs.599
Movies
affect our growing-up years more than we would like to admit. This is a
jolly look back at the glorious decade for Hindi cinema that was the
1990s. Those were eventful years. The economy opened up. India changed.
The Internet arrived. And Bollywood was like: "Wait for me, I can change
too!"
This book is the story of that transformation, even if it
wasn't always for the best. From "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" to "Khalnayak", 42
blockbusters - even some you may not have heard of - seen through the
ever-attentive eyes of the Vigil Idiot - a widely read webcomics in the
country.
2. Book: Frugal Innovation: How to Do Better With Less;
Author: Navi Radjou and Jaideep Prabhu; Publisher: Hachette; Pages: 252;
Price: Rs.599
In the global business landscape, increasingly
trends such as the sharing economy and the maker movement, companies the
world over are facing pressure from consumers, employees and
governments to create and deliver first-rate, affordable and sustainable
products and services using less energy, less capital and less time.
This
has led to the development of a new model for business success: Frugal
Innovation, or the ability to do more and better with less.
In
this book, two innovation experts have chronicled the rise of a frugal
economy in the US, Europe and Japan, and show how the world's top
companies across sectors are achieving great success by embedding
frugality into their business models and corporate culture.
3. Book: Autobiography of a Mad Nation; Author: Sriram Karri; Publisher: FingerPrint; Pages: 381; Price: Rs.450
When
Dr. M. Vidyasagar (Sagar), retired chief of the CBI, gets an unusual
request from his old friend and the Indian president to privately
investigate if Vikrant Vaidya - sentenced to death for motivelessly
killing his teenage neighbour Iqbal - is innocent or not, little does he
know how convoluted a conspiracy he is setting foot in.
With
little time left for the president to demit office, the task sets the
seasoned super-sleuth Sagar on a strange course, taking him back and
forth in time and place.
As godmen, cricketers, politicians,
journalists, war heroes and journalists get irredeemably linked in his
investigation, Sagar finds himself in an India where
politically-motivated killings or pardons get fixed, and innocent people
come forward to take the blame and face a death sentence rather than
tell the truth.
With a narrative that springs forth from and
weaves its way through the emergency, anti-Mandal Commission protests,
anti-Sikh riots post Indira Gandhi's assassination and the Godhra riots,
readers will find themselves in the grip of a chimerical tale, asking
and answering the question: Is India truly a mad nation?
4. Book: Magic Within; Author: Manal Shakir; Publisher: Fourth Estate;
Pages: 189; Price:Rs.499
Adnan
cannot sleep, haunted as he is by discomfiting dreams of a mysterious
circus and of a beautiful young woman, Shara, who must brave danger
every night. His dreams - which he looks forward to seeing more -
provide him a shelter from his loveless marriage.
Over time, Shara and Adnan share dreams where they at one point come extremely close to meeting each other.
But what hidden meanings do these dreams, which even pave the possibilities for them to meet in the real world, hold?
Penned
by Chicago-based Manal Shakir, this debut book by her is a story of
"troubled relationships and blurred realities, and of discovering the
magic hidden within all of us".
