Bollywood Confidential
by Sonia SinghGenres: Fiction
Published on June 28th 2005
Pages: 240
After seven years of slogging through film roles too embarrassing to mention, twenty-eight-year-old struggling L.A. actress Raveena Rai has finally been offered a lead! A potentially career-making turn in a major Hollywood epic, perhaps? A meaty part in a serious drama with Oscar® written all over it? Not! To Raveena's great dismay (and her mother's delight) she's flying off to India to star in a new Bollywood extravaganza.
Oh well, a lead is a lead, after all. Never mind that it's a million humid degrees in Bombay, the Los Angeles of the East; that she has to live with a wacko distant uncle who sleeps under furniture and is the most stressed-out wannabe swami on the continent; that her director is a lecherous hack and his movie has the potential of being the very worst flick ever made anywhere! At least Raveena's leading man is the supremely sexy Siddharth, Bollywood's biggest star. But while their on-screen chemistry is electric-hot, off-screen the arrogant hunk treats her with total disdain ... or, worse still, ignores her.
Sometimes you just need something mindless to read. This has happened to me twice in the past few months. The first time I was mentally tired from being at a conference and needed something light and fluffy to read. The second time I had the flu. The second time I was on a self-imposed POC authors only challenge. I didn’t know who to read. I didn’t have a list of POC authors who write chick lit who immediately sprung to mind. All I could come up with was Terry McMillian but I’ve read all of her books.
I search Listopia on Goodreads and came up the Inclusive Chick Lit list. There are a lot of interesting sounding books on here. The only one that I was interested in and was immediately available for download from my library’s website was Bollywood Confidential.
It served its purpose admirably. I passed a flu addled afternoon reading about an Indian-American actress attempting to adjust to living and working in India. It was funny and cute.
Here are some other books from this list that I’m interested in.
The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal
“Since becoming a widow at age twenty-seven, Anjali Kapadia has devoted herself to transforming her parents’ sari shop into a chic boutique, brimming with exquisite jewelry and clothing. Now, ten years later, it stands out like a proud maharani amid Edison’s bustling Little India. But when Anjali learns the shop is on the brink of bankruptcy, she feels her world unraveling…”
Becoming Americana by Lara Rios
“Ever since an article about Lupe Perez ran in the UCLA paper, she’s become the poster child for the American Dream: East L.A. bad girl who slashed cop makes good! She goes to school full-time, works in the food court, and volunteers at a center for at-risk teens. Against all odds, Lupe has turned her life around. The thing is, she never asked for all this attention. Now, her professor wants her to write a gigantic thesis about what Americanization means to Mexican immigrants-and she’s not even sure yet what it means to her.”
Pastries: A Novel of Desserts and Discoveries by Bharti Kirchner
“Sunya Malhotra, a young American woman whose parents had migrated from India, is the head baker and owner of Pastries, a warm and cozy bakery in Seattle. Sunya loves baking and has transformed her fabulous cakes and tarts into delicious works of art. The success of her beloved bakery is put in jeopardy, however, when a chain bakery threatens to open up down the street from her. To add to her misery, Roger, her hip, Japanese boyfriend has left her for a “perfect” Japanese girlfriend and her mother has just become engaged to a man Sunya detests. Sunya hasn’t yet reconciled to the mystery of a father missing since her birth. Even a new relationship with a hot, young film director who is in town to cover the 1999 World Trade Conference, can’t help Sunya with her biggest worry – she has lost her touch for baking.”
Midori by Moonlight by Wendy Nelson Tokunaga
“Too independent for Japanese society, Midori is a young woman who has always felt like a stranger in her native land. So when she falls in love with Kevin, an American English teacher, she readily agrees to leave home and start a new life with him in San Francisco—as his fiancée. Kevin seems to be the perfect man. That is, until he dumps her for his blonde ex, who Midori never even knew existed. With just a smattering of fractured English, not much cash, and a visa set to expire in sixty days, Midori realizes she’s in for quite a struggle. Unable to face the humiliation of telling her parents she’s been jilted, she decides to go it alone, surprising even herself as she proves she will do almost anything to hang on to her American Dream.”
The Village Bride of Beverly Hills by Kavita Daswani
“After an arranged marriage in her native India, Priya moves with her husband to California, where they share a house with his parents. Playing the traditional daughter- in-law role, sheÂ’s expected to clean, cook, and —because she doesn’Â’t immediately get pregnant—find a job as well!
But the job, at a glossy Hollywood gossip magazine, isnÂ’’t at all what PriyaÂ’’s in-laws had in mind for a traditional Indian wife. She soon finds herself with a secret life that she must hide from her disapproving new family.”
Do you have recommendations for light books by POC authors?
Sometimes this type of book just hits the spot! I really want to read A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev. She came to our library last month, but I missed the event – but I heard her speak on the diversity panel at RT last year, and I’m convinced I’d really enjoy her books!
Sometimes you just need to lose yourself in a book. Something that is distracting but takes no brain power.
Books like this are perfect for moods where you don’t want anything complicated. 🙂
I love mindless reading at times!