Madhu Jain

We are like the Corleones in The Godfather Randhir Kapoor There is no film family quite like the Kapoors. A family of professional actors and directors, they span almost eighty years of film-making in India, from the 1920s to the present. Each decade in the history of Hindi films has had at least one Kapoor if not more playing a large part in defining it. Never before have four generations of this family or five, if you include Bashesharnath Kapoor, Prithviraj Kapoor's father, who played the judge in Awara been brought together in one book. The Kapoors details the professional careers and personal lives of each generation box-office successes and failures, the ideologies that informed their work, the larger-than-life Kapoor weddings and Holi celebrations, their extraordinary romantic liaisons and family relationships, their love for food and their dark passages with alcohol. Based on extensive personal interviews conducted over seven years with family members and friends, Madhu Jain goes behind the fa ade of each member of the Kapoor clan to reveal what makes them tick. The Kapoors resembles the films that the great showman Raj Kapoor made: grand and sweeping, with moments of high drama and touching emotion. Few books on Indian cinema have been written with such wit, clarity and sparkle Outlook Jain writes in a language that is simple and pithy. . . it will keep alive public interest in the Kapoors who refuse to call it a day Telegraph Immensely readable...will surely find a place in the Indian cineaste's library Biblio

The First Family of Indian Cinema

The Kapoors

There is no film family quite like the Kapoors. A family of professional actors and directors, they span almost eighty years of film-making in India, from the twenties to the present. Each decade in the history of Hindi films has had at least one Kapoor--if not more--playing a large part in defining it. Prithviraj came to Bombay in the twilight era of silent movies and went on to straddle both theatre and the silver screen like a colossus, starring in the first full-length talkie, Alam Ara (1931), setting up Prithvi Theatres, and giving life to memorable characters like Akbar and Sikandar on-screen. His three sons--Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor--have earned secure and distinct places in the celluloid pantheon, dominating Hindi cinema throughout the fifties and sixties. Over the next decade and a half, Raj Kapoor's sons Randhir and Rishi Kapoor survived the Amitabh Bachchan-spawned age of the action hero. Later, just when it looked like the family's fortune in tinsel town was finally in decline, Karisma Kapoor, the first daughter of the clan to become a star, and her sister Kareena put it right back in the lead. As this book goes to press, Rishi Kapoor's son Ranbir Raj is waiting in the wings. Never before have four generations of this family--or five, if you include Bashesharnath Kapoor, Prithviraj Kapoor's father, who played the judge in Awara--been brought together in one book. The Kapoors details the professional careers and personal lives of each generation--box-office successes and failures, the ideologies that informed their work, the larger-than-life Kapoor weddings and Holi celebrations, their extraordinary romantic liaisons and family relationships, their love for food and their dark passages with alcohol. Madhu Jain goes behind the faCade of each of them to reveal what makes them tick: what prompted Prithviraj Kapoor to leave Peshawar for Bombay to become an actor, abandoning his semi-bourgeois background; what explains Raj Kapoor's all-consuming, at times self-destructive, passion for cinema; what it was about the Kapoors that made them so irresistible to the women they worked with; and what it has been like for each successive generation of the Kapoors to grow up in the shadow of overwhelming ancestors. Based on extensive personal interviews conducted over seven years with family members and friends, The Kapoors resembles the films that the great showman Raj Kapoor made: grand and sweeping, with moments of high drama and touching emotion. Unprecedented in its scope and wealth of detail, it is a must-read for all lovers of cinema.

Kusum Deep

Said Salhi

This book provides essential insights into a range of newly developed numerical optimization techniques with a view to solving real-world problems. Many of these problems can be modeled as nonlinear optimization problems, but due to their complex nature, it is not always possible to solve them using conventional optimization theory. Accordingly, the book discusses the design and applications of non-conventional numerical optimization techniques, including the design of benchmark functions and the implementation of these techniques to solve real-world optimization problems. The book’s twenty chapters examine various interesting research topics in this area, including: Pi fraction-based optimization of the Pantoja–Bretones–Martin (PBM) antenna benchmarks; benchmark function generators for single-objective robust optimization algorithms; convergence of gravitational search algorithms on linear and quadratic functions; and an algorithm for the multi-variant evolutionary synthesis of nonlinear models with real-valued chromosomes. Delivering on its promise to explore real-world scenarios, the book also addresses the seismic analysis of a multi-story building with optimized damper properties; the application of constrained spider monkey optimization to solve portfolio optimization problems; the effect of upper body motion on a bipedal robot’s stability; an ant colony algorithm for routing alternate-fuel vehicles in multi-depot vehicle routing problems; enhanced fractal dimension-based feature extraction for thermal face recognition; and an artificial bee colony-based hyper-heuristic for the single machine order acceptance and scheduling problem. The book will benefit not only researchers, but also organizations active in such varied fields as Aerospace, Automotive, Biotechnology, Consumer Packaged Goods, Electronics, Finance, Business & Banking, Oil, Gas & Geosciences, and Pharma, to name a few.

Theory and Applications of Modern Decision Analytic Optimisation

Decision Science in Action

Chandra Shekhar

Rakhee Kulshrestha

Srinivas R. Chakravarthy

This book covers an interdisciplinary approach for understanding mathematical modeling by offering a collection of models, solved problems related to the models, the methodologies employed, and the results using projects and case studies with insight into the operation of substantial real-time systems. The book covers a broad scope in the areas of statistical science, probability, stochastic processes, fluid dynamics, supply chain, optimization, and applications. It discusses advanced topics and the latest research findings, uses an interdisciplinary approach for real-time systems, offers a platform for integrated research, and identifies the gaps in the field for further research. The book is for researchers, students, and teachers that share a goal of learning advanced topics and the latest research in mathematical modeling.

Madhu Jain

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