Book Review: I AM M-M-MUMBAI by Rishi Vohra

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I AM M-M-MUMBAI is a romantic novel written by @fishyrishi / Rishi Vohra. This is his third work of fiction.
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The book revolves around a Mumbai lad Rudra Talpade who wants to become a Hindi film actor. But this wish remains deep inside his heart as he knows that it is just next to impossible to make it come true. Why? Because Rudra stammers. The story progresses and we meet other characters that make up the book among which are his parents, a sister living in the US and his friends Shibani and Ankur. We also know that Rudra is working as an Assistant Director for a certain film where only the lead actress is kind to him. Soon Rudra meets Richa at a wedding and falls hard for her. Richa agrees to meet him on a couple of occasions and breaks off her engagement to be able to follow her heart which she has been inspired to do, by Rudra. But soon enough she realises that it was a mistake and dumps Rudra who akin to Devdas spirals down to some bar, gets sloshed, finds himself in a gutter and is taken in by a bar dancer Devika a la Chandramukhi. The stammering, stuttering
Rudra eventually becomes a film star and you have to read the book to know how that comes to be and what happens to the other members of the cast. 

The book is roughly 200 pages long and is priced at Rs. 250. The story is nothing short of being filmy if you equate that with being a little incongruous and hard to believe but then who doesn't need a break from the harsh realities that surround us. And that is why we look to Bollywood as well, no?
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The writing and editing (long sentences🙄) could have been tighter. The author knows his Mumbai well, takes us to a few places all over the city as well as the film business and uses the two elements well. There is some jargon from the film industry but not so much as to make you lose interest in the book. There are interesting insights about film grading system, theatres and the related works and it's good fun to read all that. How Vohra weaves these into his narrative needs to be read to be understood (or believed, rather). Is the book worth your money and time? Maybe yes, if you are a big Bollywood fan.

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