A new biography on Hema Malini

Bollywood's "dream girl" Hema Malini's journey from an actor, a danseuse and a filmmaker to a politician is being scripted in a new book which will hit the stores on her 69th birthday in October this year.

Billed as an authorised biography, "Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl" is penned by author-columnist Ram Kamal Mukherjee.

"In an industry where the male star has always driven the commercial success of films, Hema Malini was an exception, with her name alone sufficing to ensure a film's box-office glory," the book's publisher Harper Collins India said in a statement.

Hema Malini, a lawmaker of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has been a filmmaker and producer, directing films and television serials, a Member of Parliament from Mathura Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh state and has performed classical dance ballets" Draupadi", "Radha Krishna"and "Durga".

This year she will be seen in Bollywood director Ramesh Sippy's love story "Shimla Mirch" with Rajkumar Rao.

Speaking about the book, Hema Malini says, "As editor-in-chief of Stardust (film magazine), Ram Kamal had done a coffee table book on me almost 10 years ago. It was a beautiful pictorial representation of my career as an actor. I wish him all the best for his latest endeavour with HarperCollins in writing another book on me." 

"My first book on Hema Malini was pictorial, but this time it will be more about her achievement as a politician apart from her sojourn as an actor, danseuse and filmmaker. It will offer a new perspective on Bollywood's first female superstar," Mukherjee said. 

The very name of Hema Malini used to conjure everything that was beautiful and glamorous in the tinsel world in 1970s and 80s and her fans will hopefully get a look at the life of one who got the epithet "dream girl."