In Review

21 November 2008 19:22 BST

Bollywood Nights by Shobhaa De

Published by Penguin, out 5th April, paperback, 353 pages, £6.99.

In a nutshell…

Jackie Collins goes to Bollywood

What's it all about?

Described as "a torrid tale of high passions and low morals", the book tells the story of young Asha Rani as she becomes an actress and goes up in the ranks of the Indian film industry.

It begins with a youthful Asha who is rather shockingly pimped to a film studio owner by her own pushy mother who is desperate for Asha to have the fame and fortune she herself gave up for marriage. This theme of being at the mercy of one's parents continues on throughout the novel though it is largely dominated by the tumultuous love life of Asha.

She gradually becomes more famous as she is passed from film studio owner to director to leading actor and has high-octane flings with each one. Though this may make the whole thing seem rather desperate and sad, Asha remains detached and stoic about her romances - emotion features little, and the book concentrates on the action, making it a quick and enjoyable read.

Quickly becoming "the sweetheart of millions" as the biggest actress of all time, she soon deteriorates as she falls for a misogynistic fellow actor and becomes somewhat of a Britney Spears-like figure – falling from grace by being headstrong and in love.

But even this does not allow the novel to fall into emotive prose and there is no despair as Ashi continues her rollercoaster life through till the final pages when she returns to India after a failed marriage and an attempted suicide and regains her stardom running her own film studio.

Who's it by?

One of India's bestselling authors, Shobhaa De started out as a showbiz journalist before becoming a writer and penning 13 massively popular books about the cut-throat nature of Bollywood and socialite parties.

She is also a pioneer of Hinglish, a combination of Hindi and English, which is now widely spoken on MTV. She made the language cool and youthful and it makes her books far more realistic and true to how Indians speak English. As such she is credited with making a vast contribution to pop culture and her work is studied on the syllabuses of many modern literature and culture courses.

As an example…

"They had celebrated his birthday two weeks earlier with a quick tryst in the penthouse suite he maintained at the Holiday Inn. She had found a couple of tell-tale hairpins on the carpet which he's waved off nonchalantly. 'Tch! Forget it darling. Malini had brought me some masala milk from the house during a story-session and napped here, while I was busy with that chootiya in the next room.' Asha had let it pass. It was Akshay's birthday and she wanted to make him happy. Very happy." (Page 25)

Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

This perhaps should be likelihood of a Bollywood blockbuster.

What the others say

"Ms De shocks India, and much of its literary set like no other writer today"
New York Times

"A throbbing, pulsating novel of passion and pain, betrayal and bitterness"
Indian Review

So is it any good?

Written in much the same glamorous and snappy style of bonkbuster queen Jackie Collins, it has the exotic settings, sleazy dialogue and unpredictable plot which makes her one of the most popular authors ever. As a light-hearted romp through the sparkly showbiz world, this is delightful although anyone looking for an informed insight into Bollywood may be a little disappointed. Though it contains much Hinglish phraseology and the settings of India, it strikes me to be entirely fictional and not a true account of the life of an actress.

The author knows her audience well and writes with speedy flair – throwing in surprises to keep pages turning and not being afraid to introduce a myriad of characters just to move the plot along at pace. There is also enough new stuff in here – characters, phrases, settings and events – to make it a break from any other type of fiction around at the moment. Chick lit wouldn't be a fair label – it is far wittier and risqué than that.

I would thoroughly recommend this as a holiday book or one to read between loftier tomes. It is just exotic enough to make you feel as thought you are virtuously not reading chick lit, but it still retains all the best bits of a bestseller – its gripping, interesting and genuinely funny in places. A very, very entertaining story.

10/10

Kate Lalor