Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #500222 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-04
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 350 pages

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.

Time Out
'A light and funny read'

Cricketer
'This is a charming, hugely recommended, fun book.'

Customer Reviews

hilarious adventures in the indian screen business
I am a cricket nut, and this is the funniest cricket book I've read since "Rain Men". It is also, by the way, a rivetting tale of the making of the Bollywood cricket blockbuster "Lagaan" - and why has there never been a decent British cricket movie? Thirdly, "Balham to Bollywood" is a travel book that knocks your Brysons, your Hawkses and your McCarthys into a cocked hat, with countless funny anecdotes about an obscure part of the sub-continent. Enjoy!

great fun in the sun
We had this book with us in the West Indies - we went for the cricket - and it got passed around enthusiastically in the stand and on the beach. Often you'd hear someone nearby start laughing, and look round and find they had our dog-eared copy in one hand and a glass of beer in the other. Actually we should probably apologise to the author, as he has been done out of I should say at least a dozen sales, but at least he has the consolation of having royally entertained a happy gang of England supporters. This is a unique cricket book, and a must for cricket readers everywhere. Get it and enjoy!

A straight hit for six!
Terrific! This guy really knows his cricket, and has written a hilarious account of playing and working in India. I can't wait to see the film he was making - if it's half as good as this book it will be a classic!