Title : HiFi in Bollywood
Author : Rishi Vohra
You can fail at what you don’t want.So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
Rishi Vohra’s second book basically focusses on chasing your dream no matter how many hitches welcome you in the path.”HiFi in Bollywood”, is a tangled story of the protagonist named Rayhan Arora sharing his dream with the readers and the bumpy and entertaining journey he has encountered while he was in his way to fulfill his dream.
As the back cover says :’ An aspiring filmmaker. The dizzying heights of Bollywood. And a strained father-son relationship. Rayhan Arora’s long cherished dream is to be a filmmaker in the Hindi Film Industry but his formidable father has other plans… a successful financial career in Corporate America, and a marriage of convenience with Vanita, a medical student in the US. In a final act of desperation, Rayhan abandons his promising life in California and secretly returns to Mumbai to work as an Assistant Director in Bollywood. The characters he encounters along the way become part of his journey of self- discovery – a self-proclaimed local goon with a penchant for acting; a powerful local politician who wants to marry Rayhan’s part-time domestic help, who in turn covets stardom; an angst- ridden, homosexual film director; ego-ridden film stars with twisted agendas; and the mysterious Viola who captures his heart. HiFi in Bollywood takes the reader from the streets of Berkeley to the film studios of Mumbai; from red-light areas to police stations, and from reality to dreams and back to reality again!’
You must be wandering about the title,right? As what actually it wants to convey? I felt the same when I first read the title.It was surely giving me the hint that the story would revolve around Bollywood Film Industry.But don’t misinterpret the word ‘HiFi’.You would only get to know about it when you have this book in your hand.
The story proceeds in a smooth flow.Author’s charming writing style made it simple to go with the story.I liked the storyline and is constructed well.Though this is not the first time I’m going through a novel that showcases an imporatant facet of Hindi Film Industry.But, this story has its own essence that brings out a different tale.It highlights an unknown facet of Bollywood in a precise way.
The twist story presented at the end is quite predictable, but it was alltogether exciting and fun.Portraying different-different characters in the book-like the goon Peter, maid’s daughter Mangala, the story created a very beautiful ambience.Also, I found the exemplar interesting and it did cast a good impression.No doubt, story is relatable and the credit undoubtedly goes to author’s superficial way of implementation.
Amalgamating several kinds of events from streets of Berkeley to the chouls of Mumbai, the author succeeds in balancing a moderating flow in the story.The story is not only focused on the life of Bollywood lovers, but the story is a blend of a tangled love- tale,level of understanding in a father-son relationship, journey to aspire dream and is also sprinkled with humourous series of episodes.
The hitches I caught in the book are as follows :
Unnecessary descriptions at some places can disinterest reader.Apart from this very thing, I found the book entertaining and intriguing.
All in all, I found it a good read, it deserved to be read once and you would get to know more about HiFi and Indian Film Industry’s lifestyle, and the hardships one has to go through while chasing his/her dream.
Rating :3.8/5
Reviewer : Shweta Kesari
For reviews please contact: shwetakesari165@gmail.com