Amorous entanglements during the making of a Bollywood film
form the basis of this adult romance. The atmosphere is
authentic from the start in Mumbai to the sets for a film
about the Raj years; a slice of life in modern India, full
of SPICE AND SMOKE.
Trishna is the spoiled daughter of film stars, a star since
she was a child actress. She marries Avi, a handsome boy
entering film work to escape his strict upbringing, when
they are both too young. Later Avi realises that he is
really gay or bisexual. By now they are making blockbuster
films together and living a pressured life, so they agree
on an open marriage. On set they encounter Michael, a gay
English actor, and Harsh, a straight village boy who became
a poster boy - he and Trishna have fancied each other for
ages. Inevitably cross-couplings occur and the polite
facade of the marriage is maintained but cracks are
starting to show.
What I liked most was the vivid descriptions tossed in
almost at random: "looking like he'd been trampled by a
parade of donkey carts," "Mango trees hung heavy with both
fruit and dew", "They both wore angelic expressions that
made him feel like a dacoit about to rob a train to
Benares." We are also told that in Bollywood, "caste was
nothing but pedigree was everything." There are many
mentions of film work but we don't really meet anyone but
the principal actors, while another gay couple, Sam and
Vic, have their own story.
Read SPICE AND SMOKE for a culture change and wonder if it
could be
happening in a film set near you.....
When the cameras stop rolling, the real scene begins.
To their adoring public, Avi Kumar and Trishna Chaudhury are
Bollywood’s sweethearts. Behind closed doors, their open
marriage lets them freely indulge in all manner of forbidden
passions. The arrangement suits them both, but as they begin
filming on the set of their new movie, the heat of new and
rekindled flames singes the pages of what they thought would
be a fresh script.
When costars Michael Gill and Harsh Mathur arrive on set,
the sexual temperature goes up exponentially—at least for
Trish. She can’t take her eyes of Harsh, for whom she’s
carried a torch for years. Avi’s instant attraction to
Michael, however, bounces off Michael’s solid wall of
resistance.
Meanwhile, ex-boyfriends Vikram Malhotra and Sam Khanna,
cast as fictional enemies, are finding it harder and harder
to control the very real demons that once cost them the love
of a lifetime.
Once the music starts, though, they all have no choice but
to dance . And pray the fallout doesn’t ruin all their
careers…and destroy their love.
Warning: This book contains gay and straight sexytimes,
smoking, drinking, references to drug use, and a gratuitous
musical number involving The Beatles.
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