What compels a person to fix their gaze on a screen for two hours? The answer varies. But popular discourse is often restricted to one poster or trailer — the end credits signifying your time to leave the cinema hall. But then, there are those like Frenchwoman Ophélie Wiel who might be waiting for the credit till the end, intrigued, and analysing every name. It's the overriding essence that is inferred from her new release, Rendezvous with Hindi Cinema (SAGE Publishing). Here, the film critic and professor of film studies at Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, deep-dives into the industry along with the people who make it — the actor, director and film critic. So, you read about MF Husain watching Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! 50 times for Madhuri Dixit and Kalki Koechlin being 'seen' as Indian for the first time in Margarita with a Straw. It's almost as if Wiel makes the reader the third wheel, but one doesn't really mind. 

Edited excerpts from the interview.