Mohan Deep (born Mohan Kishinchand Chandirramani in 1948), is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

writer. He has written multiple books on

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film personalities, including the books: ''The Mystery and Mystique of

Madhubala Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era, ...

'', ''Simply Scandalous:

Meena Kumari Meena Kumari (born Mahjabeen Bano; 1 August 1933 – 31 March 1972) was an Indian actress and poet, who worked in Hindi films. Popularly known as ''The Tragedy Queen'', she was active between 1939 and 1972. Kumari is widely considered one of ...

'', and '' Eurekha!: The Intimate Life Story of Rekha'' (an

unauthorised biography An unauthorized biography is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographi ...

Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in more than 180 fil ...

). In recent years, he has focused on writing fiction. Two of his novels are ''The Five Foolish Virgins'' (2013) and ''Color Me Rich'' (2016).

Early and personal life

Deep was born as Mohan Kishinchand Chandirramani and his family belonged to a Sindhi ( Hyderabadi Aamil) family that migrated from

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

(

Sind Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

) (now in Pakistan) in the wake of the

partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

. He spent his early life in Bombay's western suburbs,

Kandivli Kandivali (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːn̪d̪iʋəliː formerly Khandolee is a neighbourhood in the north of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and has a large Marathi and Koli people, Koli population followed by Gujarati population livin ...

. He started as a short story writer and novelist in Sindhi when he was doing his schooling. His published work includes over 200 short stories, two novels namely ''Surg Munhje Baahun Mein'' (Heaven in My Arms; 1964) and ''Khaali Haath'' (Empty Hands; 1969), a collection of short stories entitled ''Parai Aurat'' (The Other Woman; 1970) and a collection of poems named ''Munhje Paachhe jo Hik Hisso'' (1972). He started writing in English after getting an honours degree in English literature from the

University of Pune Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...

in 1974. He was actively associated with

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

. His works are known for their psychological approach.

Literary career

Deep's first biography, about actress

, was ''The Mystery and Mystique of Madhubala'', published by Magna Books. The family, specially Madhubala's sister, opposed the book. The family, described as

Dehlavi Language * Kauravi dialect, also known as Dehlavi, spoken around Delhi and the basis of Hindostani language Personal names Dehlavi is a toponymic surname (Nisba (onomastics), nisba) for people from Delhi (formerly Dehli). Notable people with t ...

s by Mohan Deep, disputed the surname and insisted that they were

Khans Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

. The author countered that the name on her grave, written in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. He ...

regularly whipped her, who would later show her lashes to

Naushad Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian music director for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the ...

. He also stated that the versions about Madhubala's sickness and death provided by her family members did not match with those provided by Kishore Kumar's family members. Deep also questioned whether Madhubala was really ill or whether her ailing was a fabrication. Deep claims that Madhubala was forced to wear heavy shackles and whipped mercilessly in real life, and during the shooting of additional unreleased footage for the classic ''

Mughal-e-Azam ''Mughal-e-Azam'' () is a 1960 Indian epic historical drama film produced and directed by K. Asif. Starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote, it follows the love affair between Mughal Prince Salim (who went on ...

'' (1960), which he contends is proven by the fact that only a minor part of the total number of reels shot for the film were released to the public. He further claims that the additional footage of the film earned Kishore Kumar a lot of money which he earned forcing by Madhubala to work as a sex slave during the shoot. The book was heavily criticized on its release by industry veterans such as

Shammi Kapoor Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsher Raj Kapoor; (pronounced �ʌmːi kʌpuːɾ 21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards, winning in the categories of Best Actor f ...

Shakti Samanta Shakti Samanta (13 January 1926 – 9 April 2009) was an Indian film director and producer, who founded Shakti Films in 1957, which is most known for films such as ''Anand Ashram'' (1977), Anusandhan /'' Barsaat Ki Ek Raat'' (1981), ''anay abhi ...

and

Paidi Jairaj Paidi or Páidí may refer to the following: People * Paidi () is an Indian surname. People with the surnames or family names of Paidi or Pydi are found in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. People with Paidi surname are Kalinga's ...

. At the time when ''Madhubala'' was released, there was competition between publishers Magna Publishing and

Times Group Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited, (abbreviated as B.C.C.L. and d/b/a The Times Group), is an Indian media conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company remains a family-owned business with Sahu Jain family owning a majority ...

. Times Group was very critical of the book. ''Simply Scandalous: Meena Kumari'', his biography on

, published by

Image Books The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded into ...

, was loved by fans and media alike. It was serialized in Mumbai's Hindi daily ''Dopahar Ka Saamna''. As a part of a trilogy, in 1999, Deep wrote ''

Eurekha! ''Eurekha!'' is a biography of the actress Rekha by the columnist and author Mohan Deep. The book details her Bollywood acting career and her short-term marriage with the industrialist Mukesh Aggarwal. It was published on 17 December 1999 by ...

'', an

unauthorized biography An unauthorized biography is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographi ...

of Bollywood actress

, with Shivani Publications. This, too, was controversial. Mohan Deep is best known as the only Indian author to have written what are described as 'unauthorised biographies, he also wrote a novel, ''It's My Life'' (1997). Deep moved into a different genre; historical fiction. In 2002, he wrote ''Nehru and the Tantrik Woman''. It was inspired by the revelations about the illegitimate child of the first prime minister of India,

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

, by his private secretary M. O. Mathai. The play was set in 1975–77 when, then-prime minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

had imposed emergency rule in India. The censor board for the theatre refused to give permission to stage the play, even after a stormy meeting between the author and the board members. The script was published as a book by Image Books with the same title, ''Nehru and the Tantrik Woman''. His next was an entirely different theme, feng shui. ''Feng Shui for the Bold and Beautiful, the Rich and Famous'' was published in 2001. It was launched by Bollywood star

Ajay Devgn Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi cinema. Devgn has appeared in over a hundred films and has won numerous accolades, including four ...

. ''The Five Foolish Virgins'' (2013) was a novel. ''The Five Foolish Virgins'', is a fictional take on the world of cinema. ''Color Me Rich'' (2016) was the tenth book, and the 3rd novel of the author.

Bibliography

Other activities

Besides writing, Mohan Deep was into painting and oriental philosophy. Much before feng shui became popular in India, he had started experimenting with the ancient oriental philosophy and science of

Geomancy Geomancy (Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. The most prevalent form of divinatory geomancy invo ...

. Mohan Deep and became a Feng Shui Master in 2001. He was also the editor of an English news-weekly ''Suvidha Express'' for over two years and then moved to edit and write for filmtvindia.com, a Bollywood related web site.

References

;Citations ;Sources * * * * *

External links