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.....