05/08/2024
Time for a little promotion…
Book overview
Tim Paxton has done God’s work (or maybe the Devil’s?) in researching, archiving, and educating us on the highways and byways of not just the movies but, equally important, the poster designs and artwork that promote them.
In this stupendously illustrated book, you will find a massive smorgasbord of designs and art, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous and often touching on several points in between. The illustrations are accompanied by detailed information about them and the different variants of posters for individual films are discussed and explained. We are introduced to the chudails, shaitans, bhoots, tantriks, and nagins that fill the Indian horror pantheon and to the various mahals and havelis in which their stories play out. Tim’s category of “fantastic India” is refreshingly broad, and you will find here images of films ranging from the micro-budgeted exploitation movies of Kanti Shah to arthouse productions such as Shekhar Kapur’s BANDIT QUEEN and subject matter ranging from caveman epics to noirish thrillers, alongside gaily gruesome horror outings such as Mohan Bhakri’s ROOHANI TAAQAT.
The Cinematic Art of Fantastic India is a treat for the eye and the brain and a paean to the power and inventiveness of the human imagination.
- Pete Tombs, Author of Mondo Macabro and Immoral Tales
There are barely a handful of people outside India that understand the idiosyncrasies and the garish eccentricities of Indian B-grade horror and fantasy films. Author Tim Paxton not only has his finger on the pulsating carotid of this wonderfully absurdist and bombastic subgenre but also tirelessly champions it as one of its most ardent acolytes. Inside this tome, you are bound to find many unseen treasures of Indian celluloid closely guarded by ichadhari nagins and it’s more than likely that you will be chased by a preth-atma or two while perusing through its pages. Enter at your own peril!
- Sandesh Shenoy, owner, bollywoodcrypt.com
About the author: Author Tim Paxton has admired oddball cinema since the 1960s and has written about this passion since he was a teenager. Founder of Kronos Productions and publisher since 1978. This is the second volume in his proposed Fantastic India Cinema tetralogy. He lives in Oberlin, Ohio, with three cats, way too many movies, books, movie memorabilia, textiles, and religious iconography
