Indrajit Hazra

A Short Biography of Kolkata

Grand Delusions

As Calcutta’s star begins to fade, with the capital of His Majesty’s India shifting to Delhi, Abani Chatterjee’s is on the rise. He is well on his way to becoming the country’s first silent-screen star. But just as he is about to find fame and adulation, absurd personal disaster—a recurrent phenomenon in the Chatterjee household—strikes, and Abani becomes a pariah in the world of the bioscope. In a city recently stripped of power and prestige, and in a family house that is in disrepair, Abani spins himself into a cocoon of solitude and denial, a talent he has inherited from both his parents. In 1920, German director Fritz Lang comes calling, to make his ‘India film’ on the great eighteenth-century Orientalist Sir William Jones. When Abani is offered a role, he convinces Lang to make a bioscope on Pandit Ramlochan Sharma, Jones’s Sanskrit tutor, instead. Naturally, Abani plays the lead. The result is The Pandit and the Englishman, a film that mirrors the vocabulary of Abani’s life, hinting at the dangers of pretence and turning away, the virtues of lying and self-deception, the deranging allure of fame and impossible affections. Afterwards, Abani Chatterjee writes a long letter, in which he tells his story. Witty, at times dark, and always entertaining, The Bioscope Man is that story.

Bioscope Man

As Calcutta's star begins to fade, with the capital of His Majesty's India shifting to Delhi, Abani Chatterjee's is on the rise. He is well on his way to become the country's first silent screen star. But just as he is about to find fame, an occurence in the form of personal disaster strikes in the Chatterjee household.

The Bioscope Man

Pramod Kapoor

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray

Titles bound back to back in inverted form.

Calcutta Then Kolkata Now

Ella Berthoud

Susan Elderkin

Whether you have a stubbed toe or a stubborn case of the blues, within these pages you’ll find a cure in the form of a novel – or a combination of novels – to help ease your pain. You’ll also find advice on how to tackle common reading ailments – such as what to do when you feel overwhelmed by the number of books in the world, or if you have a tendency to give up halfway through. When read at the right moment in your life, a novel can – quite literally – change it, and The Novel Cure is a reminder of that power. Written with authority, passion and wit, here is a fresh approach to finding new books to read, and an enchanting way to revisit the books on your shelves.

Indrajit Hazra

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