THE DREAM FACTORY BY SUJATHA ( TRANSALATED BY MADHAVAN NARAYANAN)

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This book writes about different people belonging to the Tamil film industry in the 1980s. The patriarchal narcissistic hero, Arun, the star who is at the peak of his career. Even though he is self absorbed, he is under the constant pressure to perform better everyday to maintain his graph.

There is Kalyani, the childhood love interest of Arun who gets to bear the results of Arun’s persuasive behaviour.

Premlatha, the young mediocre actress, facing the same age old problem of career vs marriage battle. She comes as arrogant in the beginning and later turns out to be the only sensible character in the book.

There are other characters like Bhaskar - Arun’s manager, Arumai Rajan - the aspiring singer and Manonmani - a struggling small time actress, trying to make her place in the Kollywood.




PROS: The cultural appropriation was perfect. With the dialogues in the local slang, the mention about the famous songs and movies at that time, the book exactly paints a picture of Madras in the 80s.

A must read book for every cinephile.

The struggles of being a successful actor/ actress is depicted perfectly.

It speaks of the evil side of the industry, the struggles of being a small time actor and the price to pay for someone to enter Kollywood.


CONS: The extreme patriarchy and the man child behaviour of the male characters became extremely annoying at one point.

I did not like how women easily withstood discrimination and domestic abuse and even accepted that it was because of their own fault.

But understanding that the book is set in the 1980s, it was possibly the depiction of reality in that time period.

A few serious editing errors which put me off.

So much description about almost every other female characters’ bust and body. I mean like women are meant to have them. Is it necessary to describe it in every other chapter?


MY REVIEW: 3.5/5

If you have loved Sujatha’s Books in the past and if you are cinephile, then this is your next read.

I am taking part in BlogChatter's #TBRChallenge

#penbooksandscalpel

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