Extras

Having grown up in the city of movie stars who drip glamour, the two mortal enemies, Ravan and Eddie dream of strutting down the road to super-stardom. But can Ravan, a lowly taxi driver, and Eddie, a bouncer-cum-bartender at an illegal bar, rise from their dusty CWD chawl to the glittering heights of international fame? To complicate matters further, their love lives hang by a thread. Eddie, secure in having got Belle, the Anglo-Indian girl of his dreams, must now figure out how to overcome prejudice from both their families and his own apathy, in order to keep her. And Eddie's sister Pieta, the object of Ravan's adoration, is completely oblivious to his existence - until he saves her life. Complete with a cast of soul-searching drunks, a nemesis called Three Point One, and nymph-like damsels in distress, The Extras is much more than a book about Bollywood or Bombay. It is the engrossing tale of a near-epic struggle against obscurity and towards self-realization; and is outrageously exuberant in the telling, and touching in its depiction of the large and small tragedies that shape our lives.