What does it really take for a busy pediatrician to become a prolific writer- journalist specializing in an unlikely field of films and film- music? Passion for his interests, I believe. Yes, over last ten years, Sharjah-based child-specialist Dr.Mandar V. Bichu has written two Marathi books and scores of newspaper- magazine articles and reviews on movies and music; besides managing to meet and interview the crème de la crème of Indian film and music industry. All this he has done while managing his active private medical practice!  Now he has gone one step further and on May 18, he released an exclusive web-site, www.cinemasangeet.com specially dedicated to Hindi movies and music. To find out more about his new venture, Tabloid met up with him.

Here are the excerpts of the interview.

Why do you think people will be interested in knowing more about Hindi movies and music?

There is a constant barrage of audiovisual content dished out as publicity material for Hindi films and film-music and thus, there is a resultant numbness in public mind. The overall standard of infotainment related to Hindi cinema and its music, available in whatever media- whether it’s TV, radio, print or internet, is appallingly frivolous. Gossip and glamour rule the roost.

I sincerely believe this situation has to change and that needs serious and sensitive writers to come up with a meaningful content that will go beyond the glitzy exterior of cinema and songs and try to analyze and appreciate the artistic nuances at the core. Only then, the people will realize the richness of these genres. Such infotainment content if well-presented should appeal to people.

Why did you set up your web-site?

In last ten years, I have written a lot on Hindi cinema and Hindi film music- covering practically every creative aspect and every major personality in one way or another. So initially the web-site Cinemasangeet just started as a personal interest- just in order to archive all these writings in one place. But while doing that I realized many new things. I found out that despite the growing global appeal of Hindi cinema and film-songs, there are very few reliable and exhaustive web-sites dedicated to their meaningful analysis and archiving. The golden era of films and film-music has enriched our lives but its documentation is so scarce and unreliable. So in that manner, setting up such a<