Hindi cinema and its intricacies will never cease to amaze. Ask authors Bhawana Somaaya, Supriya Madangarli and Jigna Kothari who worked on the six-decade chronicle that salutes the woman actor in all her avatars. “Everybody has a take on Hindi cinema, backed by a terrific memory,” believes Somaaya, veteran journalist, film critic and author of books on Hindi cinema.

Madhubala with Kishore Kumar in Chalti ka Naam Gaadi; the 1950s saw women search for a screen identity within the confines of ‘womanhood’