Did you know that:
* B R Chopra had wanted to cast Prithviraj Kapoor and his three sons, Raj, Shammi, and Shashi Kapoor in Waqt? Eventually, only Shashi was in the cast.
* Jaya Bachchan shared Filmfare's Best Actress award for Abhimaan with Dimple Kapadia, who won it for Bobby?
* Dharmendra and Hema Malni were very much in love during the making of Sholay? Or that Jaya Bachchan was pregnant with Shweta?
* Awaara was the first film to be shot in the newly-built RK Studios?
* Ganga Jamuna was the second colossal triumph for Dilip Kumar, immediately after Mughal-e-Azam. He was almost 40.
Dinesh Raheja is a reputed film journalist who also specialises in movies of yore, in cinemas that evoke sepia-tinted memories of a bygone era, in nostalgia.
Raheja writes a column in rediff in which he reminisces about old films, giving us nuggets of information and trivia that we always wanted to know but never knew who to ask.
He started his journalistic career with The Daily in Mumbai in 1982, moved on to Cine Blitz later the same year, and was editor of The Movie magazine for 11 years, from 1988 to 1999.
In 1996, he co-authored 100 Luminaries Of Cinema along with Jitendra Kothari. While researching for the book, he had the opportunity to visit the lives of yesteryear stars like Prithviraj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Suraiya, Meena Kumari, Guru Dutt, Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rahman, Dev Anand, Raaj Kumar, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjeev Kumar, besides contemporary talents like Madhuri Dixit and Shah Rukh.
The writng of the book neccessitated interviewing some of these famous stars and helped him gain an insight into their lives. Of course, the fact that he maintained a scrapbook of film personalities right from his school years in 1972 served as a bonus.
Dinesh Raheja will participate on The Rediff Chat where he will share information about the films and stars of yesteryears, and also details of the glory of Bollywood in its first form. For a trip down Bollywood's memory lane, log on to The Rediff Chat on Monday, 21 October, at 2 pm IST.
Read the articles by Dinesh Raheja
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