My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma – Thoughts

“Picture the most romantic Bollywood song you can think of, and play that in the back of your mind, while reading this review and also while reading this book for the most impact 😉 :D”

So, now that we have the background music set, lets start at the beginning. How I decided to read this book. That one is simple actually – this book was one of the January BOTM selections of the South Asian Reading challenge hosted by Fanna and Nandini. So thanks guys for letting me go back in time again!

Now, to my thoughts about the book, this one is going to be a short review though 🙂 The last few books I read this month seem to be following a certain trend I guess. Similar to The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, I found this book entertaining, but in a fluffy sort of way. Not one that will stay with me for a long time, but an entertaining read, nevertheless.

The plot is simple, with young teenage protagonists and our usual coming of age story – think of all the High School romantic stories with a feisty leading lady that you can think of 🙂 It has romance, great friendships, a proper evil villain, some ups and downs, lots of drama, supportive parents and a very predictable ending.

I’m not a major Bollywood fan right now, nor a fan of concepts like destiny, or all the astrology stuff mentioned in this book, so I was a little underwhelmed by those bits in the story. However, all the information that the author puts in about film festivals, film appreciation, splicing a film, hosting flash film screenings, were simply amazing. I had not know about these things so that was clearly the winning part of the book for me.

I also enjoyed all the characters in the book. The scenes between our heroine, Winnie and Deb, Winnie and Bridget, Winnie and her dad, Winnie and her grandmother – were my favourite parts of the book.

What this book also did was make me nostalgic and take me back in time to when I had been a major Shah Rukh Khan fan. I still am his fan, but I don’t like his movies anymore. I like him outside his movies better..lol 😀

So, keeping in with the theme of this book, here are a few Bollywood mentions that I thought of (there will be many overlaps with the book), and my tongue in cheek comments on them (with a few exceptions) 😀

1. Kuck Kuch Hota Hai – Friendship goals
2. Hum Apke Hain Koun – Wedding party goals
3. Dil to Pagal Hai – Dancing goals
4. Maine Pyar Kiya – “Ek ladka aur ladki kabhi dost nahi bann sakte”/ “A boy and a girl can never be friends” (the movie and the dialogue that deprived Indians of potentially amazing friendships with the opposite gender..arghhh)
5. Pink – Girl power!! – I actually like this one
6. Mardaani – Girl, lets go kick some ass!! – Liked this one too
7. Dhoom – WTF movies. Bollywood’s take on the WTF fast and furious franchise. Leave logic and gravity behind
8. Kahaani – What an ending!! Did not see that coming! A must watch for all murder mystery fans! – I liked this one too 🙂
9. Jaane bhi do yaaron – A very old movie, but another epic one, if you want to watch a hilarious movie on social satire
10. Sholay – #Respect. No words necessary

Questions to you guys:

There are many other movies that I could list, but I want to hear your movie lists now – no matter what kind of movies you love to watch – Hollywood, Bollywood, any other language, I want to know a movie that you found ridiculous and a movie that might be your forever favorite, in the comments!!