‘During my years (1973–76) at the film institute, Pune, there was a lot of experimentation going on in commercial cinema in Bombay, and parallel cinema was raring to go. Nirupama and Shantanu’s book gives the reader a lot of insights into this crucial decade in Hindi cinema. I love going back to that period as it energizes me and reminds me of why I, a small- town boy from Kashmir, came to Bombay to make films.’ – Vidhu Vinod Chopra, film-maker

‘Nirupama’s head works for the civil services and her heart for art. She is a huge film buff. In this, book apart from her stories of cinema, she has managed to get the best critics and film-makers to write from the heart. Nirupama and Shantanu’s book celebrates beautiful memories of cinema. Thoroughly enjoyable.’ – Raju Hirani, film-maker

‘Hindi cinema of the 1970s was one of anger and anguish. The heady nation-building romance was waning. Indians felt let down by the midnight promise of a tryst with their destiny. Out of this came great cinema, poetry, songs and storylines. It was the post-golden, pre-rotten decade of movies, writes Varun Grover; the Ritas, Rosys and the Monicas made room for themselves around superhuman heroes and virginal heroines, says Nandini Ramnath; and it was a decade of two Vijays – one invented by Salim–Javed, and then there was Vijay Tendulkar, writes Amborish Roychoudhury. This anthology of essays curated by Nirupama Kotru and Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri captures the churn underway beautifully.’ – Shekhar Gupta, journalist

‘Nirupama and Shantanu bring out a timely anthology of the cinema of the seventies and eighties in India. The collection of essays, reflections and memories is a wonderful bouquet that represents a time passed when so many diverse visions and world-views could coexist in such a democratic manner. Ah, nostalgia!’ – Saeed Mirza, film-maker

‘The 1970s was a very interesting phase of Hindi cinema. There were middle-of-road films, and the flyover films of multi-starrer blockbusters. Nirupama and Shantanu have prepared a cake of the seventies full of cherries for you. I hope you will read the book and keep it too.’ – Gulzar, poet and film-maker

An avid film buff who is also a senior civil servant, Nirupama Kotru found her avocation unite with her vocation in 2012 when she was posted as Director (Films) in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. She spent more than three years managing film units such as the NFDC and the Films Division, handling challenging policy matters such as censorship and archiving, driving initiatives such as single-window clearance for film shootings, besides promoting Indian cinema at film festivals abroad and at home, through initiatives such as the National Film Awards and IFFI, Goa. After this stint, she kept her passion alive by writing articles on films and film music. Until recently, as Joint Secretary, Culture, she nurtured the national academies of music, dance, theatre and art, and helped reinvent leading national museums. She actively participates in cultural and literary festivals where she promotes film, theatre and literature.

Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri is an editor, critic and columnist. In 2017, he was named Editor of the Year by the apex publishing body, Publishing Next. He is a film and music buff, has been a consultant, writer and editor for the film website Cinemaazi.com, and writes regularly on books, films and music for a number of platforms, including The Telegraph. He started writing on a regular basis only in 2017, when Anupama Chopra asked him to cover Bengali cinema for Film Companion. He has over 200 bylines to his credit so far. He has worked with the Academy of Motion Pictures and the Film Heritage Foundation for their Oral History Programme, covering interviews with Soumitra Chatterjee and Madhabi Mukherjee, and has contributed an essay on Sai Paranjpye to Films Through Women’s Eyes: 17 Indian Directors, published by Suchitra Film Society. His poetry has been published by Undiscovered Journal and Borderless Journal, and made it to the annual Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English 2022. He is also a published author, with two books to his credit: Whims: A Book of Poems (published by Writers Workshop) and Icons from Bollywood (published by Penguin/Puffin). At present he is editor in chief at Om Books International.