Balham to Bollywood |
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Author:
Chris England
By Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780340819883
ISBN: 034081988X
Label: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Number Of Pages: 350
Publication Date: 2002-04-04
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Studio: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd |
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 I don't even like cricket!, 2007-04-04
Don't worry if you are not a cricket fan (I don't understand the game so have little interest in it) - this is more a book about getting on abroad and trying to make it big in the movies. There are enough cricketing references for those in the know but for me the attraction was the humourous writing and real sense of wonder from a bit-part actor thrust into the world of Bollywood. A great one for the beach
Indian cricket was never so glam, 2003-03-28
I love reading two sorts of book best of all - books about cricket, the greatest game in the world, and books about the movie business. These worlds have never before collided within a single volume - until now. Of course, Hollywood would never deign to make a film about cricket, not while there's incomprehensible scripts about American football and/or baseball to make, so it is left to the all-singing, all-dancing, Indians to demonstrate the cinematic magic that can be made with willow and leather. Chris England - who I have always heard of as a football writer before this - had a part in Lagaan, the Oscar nominated Bollywood cricket epic, and this brilliant book is the diary of his time in an Indian backwater,working on the movie and playing lots of cricket. It is blissful stuff. He makes you feel like you know each of the cast and crew personally, from the bullying first AD to the stroppy extras. His account of strolling around a small Indian town, bathing in reflected Bollywood glamour, is tremendously entertaining. Very highly recommended indeed.
great fun in the sun, 2004-06-03
We had this book with us in the West Indies - we went for the cricket - and it got passed around enthusiastically in the stand and on the beach. Often you'd hear someone nearby start laughing, and look round and find they had our dog-eared copy in one hand and a glass of beer in the other. Actually we should probably apologise to the author, as he has been done out of I should say at least a dozen sales, but at least he has the consolation of having royally entertained a happy gang of England supporters. This is a unique cricket book, and a must for cricket readers everywhere. Get it and enjoy!
Stereotypical narrations by a mediocre actor/author, 2004-05-02
Here is another travel book with a 'difference'. However the that 'difference' is only hard to find throughout the book. Chris England is a mediocre actor (testify by the movie) but it turned out to be that he is also a very mediocre author with poor narration skills. The book is full of same old stereotypical observations about India one so frequently find in British authors' books. If you already dont know this that you would probably find cows in the streets of small cities of India or it would be hard to find a cybercafe in a sleey town bordering Pakistan then this book is for you. But if you were for something more insightful then you will be utterly disappointed. Some rewiers have made comment that Chris England provide some insight into Indian culture seems equally biased about indian culture and their expectation from it.
This book also fails to provide insigth into making of a great Indian movie. This is more about chris's difficulties encountered during teh filming which is rather dull and boring as his rols in the movie was miniscule.
As some one having lived in the UK for the past several years I find it difficult to comprehend Britons' insensitive approach to other cultures and nationalities and this attitude is so blatantly becomes evident in the books as well.
A completely waste of money and time this book is. and dont waste £9.90 on this rubbish book. I bought it for £1.0 in my local store! and now this book is sold for £0.50 which tells all about this book.
Rohit Tiwari
funniest cricket book for years, 2003-07-04
It's been a while coming, but finally there is a cricket book to rival Marcus Berkmann's excellent Rain Men. Like the earlier classic, this has loads of great dry humour about the business of running an amateur cricket team - such as persuading half-hearted members to turn up by lying about there being a pub on the boundary. What it also has, though, which is great, is a genuinely original story to tell about the making of the Bollywood smash Lagaan, and about the grudge challenge match on the set between the Indian stars and the English visiting actors. This book is a laugh a minute, gold dust for cricket fans, and I've been giving it to friends as presents ever since I discovered it. What more can I say?
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