SD Burman, Nanda, and Balraj Sahni are among the chapters dedicated to persons from the world of Hindi cinema, and Ameen Sayani, the ‘Voice Extraordinaire’ gets his due too, and rightfully so. A segment called The Surrogacy of Transferred Emotions in a chapter titled Conceived Immaculately talks of songs that do not have any singing by the actors on screen but take the story forward. Perhaps Waqt ne kiya kya haseen situm from Pyaasa is the example that will come immediately to mind, but the author is able to offer songs from 20 other films as well as single-out songs filmed on a non-lip synching Ashok Kumar, Dev Anand, Nutan, and others.

Yet again, Premchand narrates the story of the iconic Watsons Hotel, which was in the news a decade ago when it was saved by conservationists for being India’s oldest cast-iron building, to spin out scenes and songs that mention hotels, eating joints, and their ilk. He includes Manna Dey singing Aaya main laya chalta phirta hotel from Naya Zamana, 1971, as well as the better known 1978 number, Kisi disco mein jaaye... from Bade Miyan Chote Miyan.

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