Show Business

Show Business is a postmodern satirical novel by Shashi Tharoor. Plot introduction Show Business parodies and satirises formulaic Bollywood cinema, using it as a metaphor in an attempt to raise and answer questions about contemporary India and Indians. It is a fictional work that tells the story of Ashok Banjara, a Bollywood superstar. Ashok Banjara is critically injured while shooting for a film and his entire life in Bollywood flashes in front of his eyes as he lies suspended between life and death in a hospital. The character and many incidents of Ashok Banjara's life are inspired by that of Amitabh Bachchan, the biggest superstar in Bollywood's history. Explanation of the novel's title The novel describes the working of Bollywood (India's Hindi film industry) and the career of a fictional superstar in this "Showbusiness." The author has explained in numerous interviews that the title refers not only to Bollywood but also to politics (which the protagonist joins) and to religion (as practised by one of the characters, a Guru to the stars), both of which are also forms of "show business", selling illusions to the public. Plot summary Show Business begins with Ashok Banjara, a superstar in Bollywood, fighting for his life in the intensive care unit of a hospital after an accident on the sets of a film that he is shooting. Suspended between life and death he sees his entire life in Bollywood flashing in front of his eyes like a film. Details of Banjara's career in Bollywood are revealed primarily in flashback.