Now a book on Mehboob Khan, man behind Mother India

BACK IN SPOTLIGHT: The book on Mehboob Khan is written by journalist and media critic Rauf Ahmed.

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Keywords: Rauf Ahmed, Filmmaker

New Delhi: The man who almost got Bollywood its first Oscar with his film Mother India, Mehboob Khan, now has a book that aims to give an insight into the filmmaker's life.

Written by journalist and media critic Rauf Ahmed, the book is the first in a series to chronicle the lives of film legends.

“It's important that we don’t lose out on this knowledge,” says Rauf.

Interestingly, the author originally wanted to write about Shammi Kapoor. “Shammi is like the original legend and I wanted to write on him but then no one was willing to write on Mehboob Khan and that is when I thought, why not,” says Rauf.

Rare black and white pictures of the filmmaker and his films, interspersed with anecdotes of his life that went on to make him the legend are the book's selling points.

“People don’t know that Mehboob Khan would sit outside the Barimolla station and wait in the hope that someone would buy him a ticket to Bombay and finally someone did,” says Rauf.

With an official release later this month, this is yet another rare attempt to bring forgotten cinematic icons back into the spotlight.