I like Indian food. I've seen the Indian music videos culled from their movies. I thought this might be interesting and a bit different. Well, it's sort of a Comic Romance. But, fortunately for me, there was enough description about India and the business side of Bollywood for me to ignore the romance bit. American-born Raveena's career in Hollywood isn't going well. There isn't much call there for Asians so when she's offered a starring role in a Bollywood film, she's convinced by her friends she should go. Right away things start to go wrong. The only thing that turns out to be true is that it's a starring role in a Bollywood film. Her accommodations are so poor that she gladly moves in with her uncle. Although reputed to be a swami, her uncle is cantankerous and more than a bit odd. [I wish there could have been more made of his backstory. He sounds interesting.]Raveena's co-star is just the most famous leading man in Bollywood, who only is in this film as a favor to the director's father. The director himself is a cheeseball with his eye on the casting couch. Many amusing catastrophes later, Raveena is on the run from the police. Good golly, how did we get to this?While the story is pretty uniformly amusing, I thought the climax was a bit over the top ... and then I remembered the rest of the story.
This book was really enjoyable - kind of a culture-shocked chick lit story! Raveena was a very down to earth modern young woman who maybe didn't always make the best choices but luckily everything turned out well in the end. I could picture crazy Uncle Heeru feeding the birds. Raveena's friends at home and her family helped round her out as a real character. I also liked that Siddharth, although a drop dead hunk, wasn't perfect. This book was a very fun read and better than I thought it might be!
Do You like book Bollywood Confidential (2005)?
Raveena tingelt von einer Statistenrolle zur nächsten in der Hoffnung auf den großen Durchbruch in Hollywood. Sie ist das Kind indischer Einwanderer. Diesem Umstand und einem japanischen Werbespot für Tampons verdankt sie einem Engagement für einen Bollywoodfilm. Völlig naiv nimmt sie die Rolle an und macht sich auf das indische Kino zu erobern. Nur gestaltet sich das nicht ganz so einfach wie gedacht, wenn der Poduzent ein selbstherrlicher, schmieriger Weiberheld ist und der Co-Star ein Halbgott Bollywoods. Dieses Buch ist sehr sehr seichte Unterhaltung. Die Liebesgeschichte bleibt hinter der Einführung ins Thema Bollywood zurück. Sonia Singh schreibt weder sehr orginell noch außergewöhnlich witzig. Es ist halt ein Buch was man zwischendrin lesen kann, einfach nur zur Entspannungl. Und selbst wenn die Gedanken einmal für fünf Seiten abschweifen hat man nicht unbedingt etwas verpasst.
—Keksisbaby
Terribly written, and the final chapter is basically an outline for what the last several chapters should have been, but still an acceptable nighttime read for when you have already turned your brain off. The author's note at the end has a list of her 10 favorite Bollywood movies, but does not include Dil Se (aka DANCING ON TOP OF A SLOWLY MOVING TRAIN), so I question the validity of the list. Also, I have weird feelings about a white girl being so culture-adoptive, but maybe she married into it, so I will give her the benefit of the doubt.
—Rebekah
