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1.0 out of 5 stars
There is no love here, Feb 21 2003
There are several problems with this "guide" to Mumbai. When you visit a city, you usually want to experience it through the eyes of someone who loves it. Someone who can share their enthusiasm for the city and the cultures and artifacts that make that city interesting. When I go to foreign countries I like to meet the local people who are best at sharing their culture, or at least someone who gives it some respect, dignity and balance. The worse aspect of this book is to consistently read Collins distaste for Hinduism. It is nearly talibanistic and overall very ignorant. He sums up complex political, cultural and religious ideas into very simplistic, ignorant and negative statements throughout. He is also very ignorant of the Hindi film industry and yet insists on being a so called expert by providing a section on it. Though he admits that he finds "Bollywood" (I am not too comfortable with this term myself but I see that the locals seem to accept it) films to be not to his taste, he shows his ignorance by making some obvious generalisations. This film industry is rather quite big and many popular films do come out that are innovative in many aspects, cinematography, narrative, etc. But just like Hollywood, there are also films that are very commercial. Though these more commercial films get greater international distribution, they are not representative of most of the films that actually do come out of Mumbai. I personally find that there are great films that are consistantly coming out of that region. But I tend to explore foreign films in general with more depth than maybe most. In the end I would much rather there be a guide that celebrates the multiculturalism, diversity and tolerance that makes Mumbai one of the most enigmatic cities in that part of the world. There is enough of a propaganda campaign against the pacifist Hindus and Buddhists. India is possibly the most inclusive country and government that exists. And it is because it IS a free country that many are aloud to publish so much negativity against it unhampered. There is a market for a positive guide to Mumbai for someone who loves the city, culture and people. I for one would look for it.
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