Shantaram

The book was my Bible in prison and I read it from cover to cover the 4 years I was there. It was given to me by an Australian of all people who himself was writing a book about his life in prison and used to hand his manuscript to his brother during his visits every month. The line I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum security prison" defined my situation to a tee and I cried inwardly everytime I read it, still do. I also went to Pakistan later on and had a similar course as his in Bombay but enough about me.

So ofcourse I was apprehensive when I first heard last month that the series is about to launch, I was afraid that they wouldn't do it justice but was also excited because I had always wanted a series based on it.

My first thought was that Charlie Hunamm didn't fit the description at all because Gregory Davids wasn't so conventially handsome and the person who I think would most do his look and mannerisms justice was someone like a Steve Buscemi (but I think he is a bit too old), aperson who would currently perfectly fit the bill would have been that guy who plays Daemon in the House of the Dragon. However the other characters (ecpecially Prabhu, Levy, Madam Zhou, Levy are very well cast and played.

I havent read the book in a whike but U was pleased whem I remembered many things as they happened and they seem to be qiote faithful to the booj so far.

Hunnam is ok, not too good, not too bad but again his looks really take you out of it every now and then, escpially with him being shirtless every other minute.

Prabhus character is hilarious, willy yet innocent, earnest and sometimes heart breaking in his own way and the actor playing him portrays it perfectly.

I didnt think the actress for Karla fit but shes growing on me.

Madam Zhous is played very well by the actress and eludes the imposing and somewhat frightening aura that she has.

The actor playing Khader bhai I know from previous movies where he usually typecast as the Arab guy and doesn't really seems to be clicking for me as the Afghani guy in Bombay especially with his accent and pronounciation of local words.

I will update this as the story moves along cuz there is a lot still to come and I will reserve my final rating and review for when the season is over.

Shantaram is quite well done with the atmosphere of Mumbai (Bombay) in the nineteen eighties portrayed accurately. The story is a more exciting rendition than the book, but still holds its own. Much of the scenery matches what I remember of the city. Even the giant open air laundry where Lin hides. The only thing missing is the traffic which even then was much heavier and gave the city its distinctive diesel smell.

Charlie Hunnam does a decent job of portraying an escaped Aussie convict. However I think the secondary characters add more. The denizens of the lowlife bar carry it off with real aplomb. The Mahashtri speaking locals with their casual insults about Westerners is very true to life.

I found the first ten minutes covering the arrival in Mumbai a little travelogue with shots of locals smiling and colourful market scenes. The border scene was tense but not true to life. Indians and Indian descendants are filtered to a thorough customs check whilst Westerners are usually fast track out the airport. Ditto the police stops. In that era a tourist would just pay a small "fine". But hey, it's fiction.

The story, once it gets going, is very watchable. A decent level of subterfuge and hidden agendas. Good all round acting.

When the book was released people I know either loved it or hated it. One of my friends thought that Shantaram was going to change her life, I remember working in a dead end job and the staff shared a dog eared copy, dreaming of a better life. Another person howled at what he saw as a poorly written self-help manual. I think how you responded to the book depended on your state of mind. I loved it at the time and have waited a long time for the adaptation which could only have been made in the era of prestige TV.

The cast and crew have done a great job of filming the 'un-filmable' book. They have stayed fairly close to the source material from my recollection. I think Hunnam has given an accurate depiction of an Australian male, the immediate feeling someone is a 'mate' with affection and the easy larrikin humour. Having known people who have quit heroin Hunnam is convincing Dale/Lin as someone whose pain is raw and who desperately wants to atone for past sins. Can I remind everyone that not even Meryl Streep did a convincing Aussie accent? That being said, it will be interesting to see how the complex source material pans out over the series which I think is 12 episodes.

Updated: I just finished episode 10 and it was quite a tense and interesting part of the story. The whole series has taken ages to build up and I feel the writers could have selected parts of the source material but then again, they may have ruined a complex story. Lo and behold I just found out that Shantaram has been cancelled. It was a lot better than a lot of the uninteresting dross on Apple TV+ or Netflix for that matter. Overall, I would give the best episodes 8 out of 10 and the slowest one's 7 out of ten. Turns out the novel was un-filmable. Go figure. I might switch off my AppleTV+ subscription now, very little grabs my interest.

'Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows' - Shakespeare in The Tempest Based on Gregory David Roberts's novel by the same name. Although, author claims it to be a novel but it is mostly an autobiography based on his days in Mumbai followed after his escaping from a maximum security prison. He began writing this novel during his prison stay and the manuscript was destroyed twice by the prison staff. I read this book during pandemic suggested by a friend. The story is thrilling ,electrifying and heartbreaking, poignant at the same time. It offers an emotional and philosophical experience and does not miss out the boisterous actions. The series (have watched only first 5 episodes) does recreate the 1980s Mumbai beautifully with vivid colors, the lamp-lit streets, from dhobighat and slums to the squandering affluent class, from a golden sunlight filling up the sultry air on the narrow streets of the city to the dancing moonlight on the cresting waves of the Arabian Sea. Bhupendra Singh's ghazal in one of the episodes is befitting the scene. The characters development is somewhat hurried but does not leave out much details. Commanding performance by Charlie Hunman as Lin, and equally convincong performances by the supporting cast, seamlessly woven the essence of author's experience with fictionalization but mostly the strong narrative that makes this series a great watch. I felt some parallels with Salaam Bombay by Mira Nair.

'God is impossible and that's why it exists!'

I have to say I have never read or even heard of the books for Shantaram so I wasn't sure what to expect but being a Charlie Hunnam fan I thought I'd give it a try. So far so good. Hunnam does an excellent job as the lead here and the rest of the cast all do a good job too. Some people are complaining about his accent but I don't see any problems with it and if that's the reason you don't like the show then that's your problem. I've read that it stays pretty close to the source material so that should please some of the book lovers. It also portrays 1980's Bombay very well and the attention to detail is amazing. Overall the acting and storytelling is what makes this a good show. Hunnam is such an underrated actor, he's been great in just about everything he's been in. I'm glad that he's become the star he deserves to be.