Balham to Bollywood - Hardcover

England, Chris

3.75

63 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 034081988X ISBN 13: 9780340819883

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 2002

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For most actors, the idea of going to India for eight weeks to act in a Bollywood epic shot in the middle of the desert would send them scurrying back to their agent asking for some other work. Chris England was given just a part, he was to play a cricketer in a British Army team playing against a small Indian village over a hundred years ago. At home Chris runs his own cricket team, so for him this wasn't just work, he felt he was representing his country. This is a cricket tour diary with a difference. Chris charts the progress of the film from his audition in a London park to the film's release 18 months later.

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About the Author:

Chris England is an actor and scriptwriter whose work includes the hit West End play and television film An Evening with Gary Lineker, with Arthur Smith, and a best-selling alternative history of football, What Didn't Happen Next, with Nick Hancock. His other writing for television includes the sitcom Blind Men, the television film Bostock's Cup and the comedy The Preventers.

Review:

England's engaging book is based on Lagaan, the Indian blockbuster film with a cricketing theme. England, himself an actor/cricketer with his own team, organised a cricket match-cum-audition in the UK for the film; we are then taken to India, and England's experiences with local travel and local people is described vividly and humorously. Lagaan (the name of a form of tax) is about a cricket match between British Army Officers and local villagers some 100 years ago. Villagers who have never played cricket are trained by a young English girl who is the sister of an army officer taking part in the match. The making of the film provides a host of delicious culture clash anecdotes and this makes Lagaan a treat for lovers of cricket and idiosyncratic travel books.

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