Music Masti Modernity – The Cinema of Nasir Husain by Akshay Manwani

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India

Pages: 402

Price: Rs 599

Having grown up on Nasir Husain films, I picked up the book hoping it would let me understand what went in making Nasir Husain the phenonmenon he has become. But early into the book I realise the biggest shortcoming of the book. The three things that made Nasir Husain and his films – the man himself, composer R D Burman and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri were no longer there. This actually is the biggest handicap of the book – we never get to know what went into a certain scene or how Nasir Husain took failure.

What we instead get it is lots of assumptions or what people thought about Husain and his films. Both Aamir Khan and Mansoor Khan started working with Nasir Husain when he almost retired from direction or when his career was going downhill. The writer gets some kind of understanding from Javed Akhtar – he and Salim Khan worked with Husain in Yaadon Ki Baarat. But its not the same as you would expect – at least I did not get it.

Much of Nasir Husain\’s success is also because of the music of his films. Here the book completely lets you down as we don\’t get anything from the core members of the team – RD and Majrooh. Instead we get tid bits from Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra.

The only living collaborator of many hits is Asha Parekh but she too makes a very guest appearance like participation in the proceedings. Also in many chapters the writer starts talking about something and then goes completely off the track which spoils the flow.

If you are looking for more on Nasir Husain – this boook is certainly not the one. The one big lesson is – speak to these legends when they are with us instead of speaking to people who have worked with them and their take on the happenings.