Bad Man

Gulshan Grover grew up on the edge of Delhi and came to Mumbai in the 1970s hoping to make it as an actor. Where nearly every newcomer waited for a hero's part, he decided early on to play the villain. That choice shaped a long career, and it reached a peak with the 1989 hit Ram Lakhan, the film that fixed his reputation as Bollywood's 'Bad Man'.

Many of the era's mainstream crowd-pleasers owed part of their success to his punchy one-liners and outlandish costumes and looks, which have since become part of Bollywood lore. He later took his career abroad, among the first actors from Mumbai to do so, and became one of the Indian faces most recognised in international cinema.

In this autobiography, Grover looks back on the films and the road that led him through them. He writes about the psychological and personal cost of keeping up the 'bad man' image, the rivalry among Bollywood's screen villains, and his shift toward more rounded characters. He also describes the difficulty of working on international projects while staying in Mumbai and holding on to his place in mainstream Hindi cinema.