Books by Film, Music and Art Personalities
Exam notes on books by Indian film, music and art personalities: autobiographies, memoirs, poetry, the classical music treatises and the standard biographies.
By GK24 Editorial Team· Published · 4 min read
Competitive papers rarely ask a student to judge a film or a raga. What they do ask, year after year, is who wrote which book. The film, music and art world of India has produced a long shelf of autobiographies, memoirs, poetry collections and classical treatises, and a single line in a General Knowledge paper usually turns on one pairing: the book on one side, the personality on the other. This note gathers the pairings that actually appear in SSC, Railway, Banking and State papers, keeps each one to a single sentence, and adds the detail that separates the right answer from the trap.
Autobiographies and memoirs of film personalities
An autobiography is written by the subject; a biography is written about the subject. Examiners build distractors on exactly that difference, so learn the pairing together with the category.
| Book | Written by | What to remember |
|---|---|---|
| Romancing with Life | Dev Anand | Autobiography, released in 2007 on the actor's eighty-fourth birthday |
| The Substance and the Shadow | Dilip Kumar | Autobiography narrated to Udayatara Nayar, 2014 |
| Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored | Rishi Kapoor | Written with Meena Iyer, 2017 |
| And Then One Day: A Memoir | Naseeruddin Shah | Memoir of the theatre and film actor, 2014 |
| An Unsuitable Boy | Karan Johar | Memoir of the director, written with Poonam Saxena |
| Unfinished | Priyanka Chopra Jonas | Memoir published in 2021 |
| Sach Kahun Toh | Neena Gupta | Autobiography in Hindi, 2021 |
| The Hit Girl | Asha Parekh | Autobiography written with Khalid Mohamed |
| I Am Not an Island | Khwaja Ahmad Abbas | Autobiography of the writer-director, 1977 |
| My Years with Apu | Satyajit Ray | Memoir of the making of Pather Panchali |
| Mrs Funnybones | Twinkle Khanna | Collection of humorous columns, her first book |
| The Perils of Being Moderately Famous | Soha Ali Khan | Collection of personal essays |
Screen writers, lyricists and the literary awards they won
Several lyricists of Hindi cinema are counted among serious poets, and the award they won is as examinable as the book itself.
- Gulzar received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002 for Dhuan, a collection of Urdu short stories; his poetry includes Raat Pashmine Ki and Pluto.
- Javed Akhtar wrote Tarkash and Lava, and received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013 for Lava in Urdu.
- Kaifi Azmi received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975 for the Urdu collection Aawara Sajde.
- Sahir Ludhianvi is remembered for Talkhiyan, the collection that made his name before he entered films.
- Girish Karnad, actor, director and playwright, wrote Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Yayati and Nagamandala, received the Jnanpith Award for 1998, and left a memoir translated as This Life at Play.
- Satyajit Ray wrote the essays of Our Films, Their Films, created the detective Feluda and the scientist Professor Shonku, and recalled his childhood in Jakhan Chhoto Chhilam.
- Balraj Sahni wrote the travelogues Mera Pakistan and Mera Roosi Safarnama; his autobiography appeared after his death.
Music: memoirs and the classical treatises
The sitar player Ravi Shankar wrote two books about himself: My Music, My Life, an early introduction to Hindustani music, and Raga Mala, the autobiography edited by George Harrison. Far older are the treatises that the papers like even more, because their authorship never changes. Bharata composed the Natyashastra, the foundation of Indian dramaturgy, dance and music. Matanga wrote the Brihaddeshi, the text in which the word raga is first explained. Sarangadeva wrote the Sangita Ratnakara in the thirteenth century at a Yadava court of the Deccan, and it is the bridge between the Hindustani and Carnatic systems. Nandikeshvara is credited with the Abhinaya Darpana, the handbook of gesture. In the modern revival, Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande wrote Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati and arranged the ragas into ten thaats, while Vishnu Digambar Paluskar wrote graded textbooks and founded the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at Lahore in 1901.
Art, dance and the books written about performers
Abanindranath Tagore, the painter of the Bengal School, lectured on aesthetics in Bageshwari Shilpa Prabandhavali and also wrote children's classics such as Kheerer Putul and Rajkahini. Among books written by others about performers, remember R.D. Burman: The Man, The Music by Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal, MS: A Life in Music by T.J.S. George on the singer M.S. Subbulakshmi, Darlingji by Kishwar Desai on Nargis and Sunil Dutt, Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India's First Superstar by Yasser Usman, Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl by Ram Kamal Mukherjee, Notes of a Dream by Krishna Trilok on A.R. Rahman, and Kaifi and I, the memoir of the actress Shaukat Kaifi. Nasreen Munni Kabir built two well-known interview books, one with Lata Mangeshkar and one with Waheeda Rehman. The Government of India also gives a National Film Award for the Best Book on Cinema, which is why books of this kind are examinable in the first place.
How the question is set
Three stems cover almost everything. The first names a book and asks for the author. The second names a personality and asks which of four books is theirs. The third mixes categories, giving an autobiography among three biographies, or a treatise among three modern books. The safe method is to memorise the pair, then one extra marker for each pair: the language, the year, the co-author, or the award.
Exam Point of View
Papers set three stems from this topic. The first gives a book and asks for the author, which is why the pairing must be memorised in both directions. The second gives a personality and offers four books, one of which is theirs. The third mixes categories deliberately, placing an autobiography among biographies, or a thirteenth-century treatise among modern memoirs. The commonest traps are the pair Gulzar and Javed Akhtar with their Sahitya Akademi years of 2002 and 2013, the pair Bharata and Sarangadeva for the Natyashastra and the Sangita Ratnakara, and books written about an actor offered as books written by the actor, as with Om Puri and Rajesh Khanna. Attach one extra marker to each pairing, such as the co-author, the language or the year.
Important Facts
| Dev Anand | Romancing with Life, autobiography, 2007 |
|---|---|
| Dilip Kumar | The Substance and the Shadow, with Udayatara Nayar, 2014 |
| Rishi Kapoor | Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored, with Meena Iyer |
| Naseeruddin Shah | And Then One Day: A Memoir |
| Karan Johar | An Unsuitable Boy, with Poonam Saxena |
| Twinkle Khanna | Mrs Funnybones, The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, Pyjamas Are Forgiving |
| Gulzar | Sahitya Akademi Award 2002 for Dhuan, Urdu short stories |
| Javed Akhtar | Sahitya Akademi Award 2013 for Lava, Urdu poetry; earlier Tarkash |
| Kaifi Azmi | Sahitya Akademi Award 1975 for Aawara Sajde |
| Girish Karnad | Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Nagamandala; Jnanpith Award for 1998 |
| Satyajit Ray | Our Films, Their Films; My Years with Apu; Feluda; Professor Shonku |
| Ravi Shankar | My Music, My Life and Raga Mala, edited by George Harrison |
| Sangita Ratnakara | Sarangadeva, thirteenth century |
| Natyashastra | Bharata |
| Brihaddeshi | Matanga, where the word raga is explained |
| Abhinaya Darpana | Nandikeshvara |
Practice MCQs on this topic
Romancing with Life is the autobiography of which Indian film personality?
- A.Dharmendra
- B.Dev Anand
- C.Shammi Kapoor
- D.Rajendra Kumar
Show answer
Romancing with Life appeared in 2007, timed to the actor's eighty-fourth birthday, and covers his arrival in Bombay, the founding of Navketan Films with his brother Chetan Anand, and the making of films such as Guide and Hare Rama Hare Krishna.
Read the full explanation →The memoir An Unsuitable Boy was written by which director?
- A.Karan Johar
- B.Mahesh Bhatt
- C.Ramesh Sippy
- D.Subhash Ghai
Show answer
The director of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai wrote this memoir with the journalist Poonam Saxena, and its title plays deliberately on Vikram Seth's novel A Suitable Boy, which is the trap most often set with this question.
Read the full explanation →The Substance and the Shadow is the autobiography of which actor?
- A.Raj Kapoor
- B.Dilip Kumar
- C.Balraj Sahni
- D.Ashok Kumar
Show answer
The book came out in 2014 and was narrated by the actor to the journalist Udayatara Nayar, which is why it is described as an autobiography rather than a biography.
Read the full explanation →And Then One Day: A Memoir was written by which actor?
- A.Om Puri
- B.Naseeruddin Shah
- C.Anupam Kher
- D.Pankaj Kapur
Show answer
His 2014 memoir runs from a childhood in Uttar Pradesh through the National School of Drama and the Film and Television Institute of India to the parallel cinema of the nineteen seventies.
Read the full explanation →Which film lyricist received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002 for the Urdu short-story collection Dhuan?
- A.Javed Akhtar
- B.Gulzar
- C.Kaifi Azmi
- D.Sahir Ludhianvi
Show answer
He is among the few figures honoured both by the film world and by the Sahitya Akademi, and the award of 2002 was for Dhuan, a collection of Urdu short stories; his poetry collections include Raat Pashmine Ki and Pluto.
Read the full explanation →Lava, the Urdu poetry collection that won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013, was written by whom?
- A.Gulzar
- B.Nida Fazli
- C.Javed Akhtar
- D.Shahryar
Show answer
The lyricist and screenwriter published the collection Tarkash earlier and followed it with Lava, for which the Sahitya Akademi honoured him in Urdu in 2013.
Read the full explanation →Who wrote the essay collection Our Films, Their Films and created the detective Feluda?
- A.Mrinal Sen
- B.Ritwik Ghatak
- C.Satyajit Ray
- D.Shyam Benegal
Show answer
Besides directing, Ray wrote constantly in Bengali and in English: the essays of Our Films, Their Films, the memoir My Years with Apu on the making of Pather Panchali, the childhood recollections of Jakhan Chhoto Chhilam, the Feluda detective stories and the Professor Shonku science fiction.
Read the full explanation →Raga Mala is the autobiography of which Indian musician?
- A.Ali Akbar Khan
- B.Ravi Shankar
- C.Bismillah Khan
- D.Vilayat Khan
Show answer
The sitar player wrote two books about his own life and art: My Music, My Life, an early introduction to Hindustani music written for readers abroad, and Raga Mala, the autobiography edited by his student George Harrison of the Beatles.
Read the full explanation →The Sangita Ratnakara, a classical treatise on Indian music, was written by whom?
- A.Matanga
- B.Sarangadeva
- C.Bharata
- D.Nandikeshvara
Show answer
He wrote the Sangita Ratnakara in the thirteenth century at a Yadava court in the Deccan, and because it describes practice as it stood before the Hindustani and Carnatic systems drew apart, both traditions treat it as authoritative.
Read the full explanation →Mrs Funnybones, a collection of humorous columns, was written by which film personality?
- A.Sonam Kapoor
- B.Twinkle Khanna
- C.Soha Ali Khan
- D.Shilpa Shetty
Show answer
The former actress turned columnist published Mrs Funnybones as her first book and followed it with the fiction of The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad and Pyjamas Are Forgiving.
Read the full explanation →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an autobiography and a biography in these questions?
An autobiography is written by the person themselves, often with a journalist helping to shape the narration, as Udayatara Nayar did for Dilip Kumar. A biography is written about the person by somebody else, as Nandita Puri did for Om Puri and Yasser Usman did for Rajesh Khanna. Papers rely on this difference, so store the category with the title.
Which film personalities have won the Sahitya Akademi Award?
Gulzar received it in 2002 for the Urdu short-story collection Dhuan, Javed Akhtar in 2013 for the Urdu poetry collection Lava, and Kaifi Azmi in 1975 for Aawara Sajde. The playwright and actor Girish Karnad holds the Jnanpith Award for 1998, which is a separate and higher literary honour.
Who wrote Raga Mala and who edited it?
Raga Mala is the autobiography of the sitar player Ravi Shankar, and it was edited by George Harrison of the Beatles, who had studied the sitar with him. His earlier book My Music, My Life introduced Hindustani music to readers outside India.
Which classical treatises on music and dance are asked most often?
Four names cover nearly every question: the Natyashastra of Bharata on drama, dance and music; the Brihaddeshi of Matanga, where the term raga is explained; the Sangita Ratnakara of Sarangadeva from the thirteenth century; and the Abhinaya Darpana of Nandikeshvara on gesture and expression.
Did Satyajit Ray write books apart from his work in cinema?
Yes, and they are examinable. He wrote the essay collection Our Films, Their Films, the memoir My Years with Apu about the making of Pather Panchali, and the childhood recollections of Jakhan Chhoto Chhilam, and he created the detective Feluda and the scientist Professor Shonku for young readers in Bengali.
Sources
- Akademi Awards: list of Sahitya Akademi Award winners by language and year — Sahitya Akademi
- Jnanpith Award: list of laureates — Bharatiya Jnanpith
- National Film Awards: regulations and award categories including Best Book on Cinema — Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
