Presenting the book cover (and a scuffle over titles)

Okay, time to reveal the book cover.

The front…

…and the back:

Some notes:

Yes, I know the front-cover is bright and bold – and, as Godard said in another context, “It’s RED”. A part of me would have preferred something more subdued, but I accepted Penguin’s assertion that we need something populist and “massy”, which would help sell the book. I am hoping though that we can do the final cover in matte rather than in glossy.

Besides, there’s an advantage to having that nice black-and-white photo from the Satyakam shoot on the back: if the front-cover dazzles the eyes too much, one can always place the book upside down and ogle Dharmendra.

The book’s title also had to be no-frills and to the point. Earlier my editor Udayan and I had an abstract-sounding title (no mention of film or cinema or the director's name) followed by the subhead “The Cinema of Hrishikesh Mukherjee”. But after thinking it over, Udayan realised this wasn’t a good plan. Apparently subheads – even if they appear prominently on a book’s cover – get very easily lost at the trade/distribution level (where the book is likely to be referred to or catalogued only by its main title). So we had to keep the title straightforward and descriptive. Arguably even the decision to shift from “The Cinema of Hrishikesh Mukherjee” to “The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee” was a brave one (and meant that we then had to ensure a subhead with the word “film” in it).

It took me a while to learn just how basic everything had to be. For example, I knew I was transgressing when Udayan, an unfailingly genial person who loves and is loved by large cuddly dogs (and sometimes resembles one himself), began growling at me during an SMS exchange.

Jai: Any chance we could make the title The House of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and subhead it “Inside a Filmmaker’s World”? Or stick with the current title and make the subhead “A House Made of Film” or “A House Made of Celluloid”?

Udayan: These are too long and complicated for our purpose You’re veering towards academic-sounding subtitles: we need to stay trade please. The subtitle needs to tantalize prospective buyers, “a house made of film” doesn’t do that.

J: “Scenes from the Middle Cinema”? Or even “Scenes from a Middle Cinema”.

U: Jai, I’m sorry but that sounds like a Seagull subtitle! How is “scenes from a middle cinema” something that says “must-buy”? You keep toning it down, while I’m trying to hardsell the book.

J: Did you at any point notice how toned down the book itself is? Misleading readers about the content – making them think it’s full of trivia and tidbits about popular films like Gol Maal, Chupke Chupke etc – might lead to a spate of negative reviews on Flipkart, Amazon etc, saying the book is too serious and dull. How will that help future sales?
But okay, I get the point – just didn’t think the subhead would be SO crucial for buying decisions.

And so it went. It got so that when poor SMS-beleaguered Udayan finally suggested “The Filmmaker Everyone Loves”, I replied that it was brilliant, only could we please please please make it “Loveth”?

(Feedback about the cover welcome. Please write in.)

P.S. Aparajita Ninan did the cover design (the illustrations are by Amitai Sandy) and there was something very pleasing about this - back in 2001, Aparajita's dad, the wonderful cartoonist Ajit Ninan, took all of five minutes to do a caricature of me when I visited him in the India Today office. Here it is (it depicts me using Today newspaper - the India Today afternoon tabloid I was working for at the time - as a springboard for my journalistic career.)