Book Review: Bollywood Beauty by Shalini Akhil

The Bollywood Beauty
By Shalini Akhil

REVIEWED BY TAMARRA KAIDA

WE TRAVEL IN ORDER TO SEE OTHER PLACES AND TO MEET DIFFERENT KINDS OF PEOPLE. WE READ FOR SOME OF THE SAME REASONS. SOMETIMES IT IS AN EXCITING JOURNEY. SOMETIMES IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER TO STAY HOME.

THE BOLLYWOOD BEAUTY IS SET IN FIJI AND AUSTRALIA AND IS A CONTEMPORARY COMING OF AGE STORY OF TWO INDIAN COUSINS, KESH AND RUPA, WHO ARE OF MARRIAGEABLE AGE AND EMBODY OPPOSING ATTITUDES ABOUT THEIR FATE AS WOMEN.

THE STORY BEGINS IN MELBOURNE WHERE THE MAIN CHARACTER, KESH, HAS HER OWN APARTMENT, HOLDS A PART TIME JOB IN A BAR AND IS AN ART MAJOR AT UNIVERSITY. SHE HAS MOVED OUT OF HER FAMILY’S HOME BUT HAS NOT ESCAPED HER MOTHER’S FAMILIAL CONTROL. RUPA ARRIVES IN AUSTRALIA FOR AN INTENSIVE SIX MONTH COMPUTER COURSE. KESH’S MOTHER ARRANGES FOR THE COUSINS TO LIVE TOGETHER. CONFLICT IS INEVITABLE. THE STORY EXPLORES HOW THEY AFFECT EACH OTHER’S WORLD VIEWS, WHERE THEY ARE ALIKE AS INDIANS IN A DOMINANT WESTERN CULTURE AND WHERE THEY ARE DIFFERENT FROM THEIR PARENTS’ GENERATION.

KESH IS THE MODERN REBEL WHO HAS GROWN UP IN AUSTRALIA AND WANTS TO BE CAPTAIN OF HER OWN DESTINY. RUPA IS THE BOLLYWOOD BEAUTY FROM A CONSERVATIVE INDIAN FAMILY WHO HAS BEEN RAISED IN FIJI. FAMILY TIES HAVE CAST THE GIRLS AS FRIENDS AND RIVALS SINCE CHILDHOOD. KESH WAS THE FREEDOM LOVING, ADVENTUROUS TOMBOY WHO, MUCH TO HER MOTHER’S DISMAY, RAN ABOUT IN THE BRIGHT SUN LIGHT AND ALLOWED HER SKIN TO DARKEN. RUPA WAS THE PROPER FEMININE GIRL WHO WAS OBEDIENT AND PLAYED INDOORS WITH TEA SETS.

YET, OPPOSITES ATTRACT AND THE GIRLS ARE BOUND TOGETHER BY LOVE, ENVY, AND THEIR INDIAN CULTURAL ROOTS. IN THE RICHEST PARTS OF THE BOOK, KESH AND RUPA STRUGGLE TO UNDERSTAND THEIR FEELINGS ABOUT THEIR OWN ‘INDIAN–NESS’. IF YOU GROW UP OUTSIDE OF A DOMINANT CULTURAL NORM IT IS INEVITABLE THAT YOU WILL PERCEIVE YOURSELF AS ‘OTHER’. IF YOU ADOPT THE VALUES AND TASTES OF THAT CULTURE YOU OFTEN DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE IN YOUR BIRTH CULTURE. IT IS A CLASSIC IMMIGRANT IDENTITY ISSUE.
KESH IS BOTH AN AUSSIE AND A TRANSPLANT INDIAN WHO WEARS JEANS, HAS SHORT HAIR AND IS STRONG WILLED AND ANGRY. SHE DRINKS, SMOKES CIGARETTES AND OCCASIONALLY POT. SHE REFUSES TO CONFORM TO THE INDIAN CUSTOM OF ARRANGED MARRIAGES. KESHE’S FRIENDS ARE AN INTERESTING MIX OF WESTERN AND INDIANAN PALS AND CONFIDANTS THAT ENRICH THE STORY. AMONG THEM IS DAVE, A CHARMING WOMANIZER WHO FINDS THE NEWLY ARRIVED RUPA VERY ‘EXOTIC’. KESH SEES THROUGH THIS ROMANTIC ILLUSION AND HER SPIRITED ANALYSIS OF THE ‘EXOTIC OTHER’ MAKES FOR SMART POLITICAL DIALOG. KESH’S STREET SMARTS AND FAMILY LOYALTY CASTS HER INTO THE RELUCTANT ROLE AS PROTECTOR OF HER COUSIN’S VIRGINITY.

“LOVE, SHE TALKS ABOUT. LOVE. LOVE WILL COME. LOVE MARRIAGES NEVER LAST. FIRST MARRY, AND THEN LOVE. THIS IS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE DONE,” PRONOUNCES KESH’S MOTHER. THE STAGE IS SET FOR A BATTLE BETWEEN MOTHER AND DAUGHTER AS WELL AS TRADITIONAL VALUES VERSUS INDIVIDUAL CHOICE. THESE ARE THE LIVELIEST PARTS OF THE BOOK. RUPA TURNS OUT TO BE A BIT OF A WILD CARD AND FINDS A WAY TO HAVE HER CAKE AND EAT IT TOO. AFTER THAT, THE STORY FOLLOWS A PREDICTABLE PATH CULMINATING IN THE WEDDING OF RUPA TO A SUITABLE BOY.

SHALINI AKHIL DOES AN ADMIRABLE JOB OF WEAVING TRADITIONAL INDIAN DISHES, CLOTHING AND AGE OLD CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS INTO THE STORY PLOTLINE. BUT THIS READER WAS OFTEN FRUSTRATED BY THE LACK OF EXPLANATION OF CERTAIN CUSTOMS. WHAT ARE DUPATTAS, WHICH APPARENTLY CAN ALSO FUNCTION AS CURTAINS? WHAT IS A GRAGAH? I FOUND THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIAN PRE- WEDDING RITUALS INTRIGUING BUT INCOMPLETE. WHY IS THE BRIDE SMEARED WITH TURMERIC PASTE? WHY IS SHE NOT PERMITTED TO BATHE FOR ALMOST A WEEK AND ONLY ON THE MORNING OF HER WEDDING? WHY DOES KESH ALSO HAVE HER FACE SMEARED WITH TURMERIC?
WHAT DOES IT SYMBOLIZE?

THE BOLLYWOOD BEAUTY IS A BREEZY NOVEL THAT TOUCHES LIGHTLY ON INTERESTING ISSUES OF MULTI-CULTURALISM IN AUSTRALIA. UNFORTUNATELY, SHALINI AKHIL DIDN’T EXPLORE THEM DEEPLY OR SERIOUSLY. THE COMING OF AGE STORY BETWEEN THE TWO GIRLS IS SINCERE. BUT THE BOLLYWOOD ENDING, UNDERMINES THE BELIEVABILITY OF THE STORY. IF AKHIL INTENDED IT TO BE A PARODY OF THE INDIAN ROMANCE MOVIES, THEN IT REDUCES THE CONCERN FOR THE MAIN ISSUE OF ARRANGED MARRIAGES ON WHICH THE NOVEL IS CENTERED.

THIS IS A SHAME, AS THE POTENTIAL FOR A RICH AND COMPLEX BI-CULTURAL STORY RESIDES IN THE PAGES OF THIS DEBUT NOVEL. HOPEFULLY, AKHIL WILL BECOME A BRAVER WRITER WHO RISKS REACHING BELOW THE SURFACE OF HER UNIQUE MATERIAL. THE POTENTIAL IS THERE.