Book Title: In Love With Bollywood
Author: Sourabh Mukherjee
What happens when a newly graduated engineer, with no job in hand but a lot of creativity, passion in his heart and stars in his eyes, hears about a new high-stakes game show hosted by his favourite Bollywood actor? A thousand thoughts race through his head:
- It’s the best way to redeem himself in front of his father, most of his friends, and his girlfriend’s father, all of whom think of him as a loser.
- Could there be a shortcut to get into the reality show?
- Or should he forget the show and focus on getting a management degree and a chance at success the conventional way?
Everyone thinks the last option is the way forward. But our protagonist chooses to follow his heart, emboldened by his best friend, the only one who believes in his dreams.
Will or won’t he win the game? You will have to read Sourabh Mukherjee’s fast-paced book to find out.
The development arcs of nearly all the characters were realistic. The pace is fast yet not unduly hurried, except for the last bit, which I’ll come to later. The plot was very relatable, set in a realistic middle-class Bengali family in Kolkata, and moved seamlessly from one episode to the next.
My heart went out to the protagonist, the one passionately in love with bollywood and Big B. And I wanted him to win. I think most readers would do, too.
While the game show in the book is clearly inspired by a highly successful reality quiz show, I would have liked a short note from the author clarifying whether the protagonist is entirely fictional or partially or wholly drawn from real people.
Because if the protagonist was entirely fictional, then what left me wanting was the last bit, especially the entrance of a certain M, after which the story took a predictable turn, though with some twists that didn’t quite fit the realism of the first half set in Kolkata. The shift from Kolkata’s realism to Mumbai’s cinematic world was too convenient, too fast, and too cinematic to be convincing.
But if the protagonist were drawn from real life, I might have accepted the predictability. Because reality needs little justification. It just is.
A quick read, recommended for its brevity, relatable storyline, and a protagonist to root for.
Author’s Note:
I won this book as part of ‘Pass The Popcorn Blog Hop’ in September 2026 hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed and sponsored by Jaico Publishing House under #EveryConversationMatters blog hop series” powered by authors Sourabh Mukherjee and Puja Mukherjee Khattri
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