Bobby

In 1973, a film shattered box office records all over India. It introduced two young stars who became instant heart-throbs, and ushered in a new genre of Hindi films, the teeny-bopper romance. It also bailed out the legendary RK Films after the disaster that was Raj Kapoor’s magnum opus, Mera Naam Joker. The film was Bobby. Even forty years later, Bobby remains the benchmark for teenage romances, widely imitated, but seldom matched in its freshness, spirit and enduring appeal. At the time of the film’s release, its writer K.A. Abbas, in an act years ahead of its time, also published the novelized version of the film to great commercial success. Bobby: The Complete Story is that book. Including K.A. Abbas’s original preface and a perceptive new foreword by Suresh Kohli, its re-release marks forty glorious years of the film’s release, its star Rishi Kapoor’s sixtieth birthday and Abbas’s centenary. As engaging a read as the film was entertaining, it is also an insight into the creative process through which a story transforms into a film.