Nasir Husain – by every appraisal as great a film-maker as Mehboob Khan or Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy or Guru Dutt, Yash Chopra or Manmohan Desai – yet unforgivably under-appreciated. His career as writer–director–producer, spanning nearly five decades, has shaped commercial Hindi cinema as it exists today. In fact, he remains to this day one of Hindi cinema’s most commercially successful figures. Akshay Manwani takes the first big step to restore that balance with Music, Masti, Modernity: The Cinema of Nasir Husain.\n\nStarting off as a writer with films like Shabnam, Anarkali, Munimji and Paying Guest, Nasir Husain debuted as a director in 1957 with the smash-hit Tumsa Nahin Dekha. Over the next twenty years, he delivered one musical blockbuster after another, including Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai, Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Teesri Manzil, Caravan, Yaadon Ki Baaraat and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen. The flamboyance and style of his films came to define the Hindi masala entertainer, replete with drama, comedy, action and great music. After a few blips in the 1980s, Husain bounced back strongly with his writing for Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, winning over a whole new generation. \n\nMusic, Masti, Modernity examines the broad tropes of Husain’s films, and also the enduring song-and-music sequences that were essential to his cinema. Through interviews conducted with a number of prominent industry insiders, such as Aamir Khan, Mansoor Khan, Asha Parekh, Javed Akhtar, Karan Johar, Farah Khan and Aditya Chopra, Husain’s own family members, as well as film studies scholars, the book contextualizes Husain’s legacy. We see him finally as more than the director of fun, frothy films; we see him as an important auteur of Hindi cinema.\n
