A Bollywood Romance

By: Anu Koduri
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Publication Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 979-8-891325-51-7
Reviewed by: Shrubaboti Bose
Review Date: April 14, 2025

A Bollywood Romance by Anu Koduri is a captivating story about a young Indian girl named Paru and the various challenges she faces in her life after getting married.

Growing up in a well-reputed Brahmin family, she has led a relatively happy and sheltered life, enjoying the festival of Diwali and secretly admiring her handsome classmate Harsha, just like any other young girls her age. But everything changes when her two elder brothers choose to have unconventional marriages, defying traditional customs and practices, thus bringing shame to their family. As a result, members of the Brahmin community threaten to throw them out. The burden of salvaging her family from further harm to their reputation and regaining respect within their community, thus falls on Paru.

Soon enough, Paru is pushed into an arranged marriage with Samar, a medical professional who worked in the U.S. Although her mother tries to raise questions about the match, pointing out the financial situation of Samar’s family, Paru’s father and brother decide to overlook it. They believe as an educated man who works abroad, Samar would definitely make a good husband. Heartbroken after realizing Harsha was not in a position to marry her and finding her prospective husband agreeable, Paru reluctantly gives in to her fate and accepts the proposal, much to her family’s relief. As an aspiring medical professional herself, she decides to follow her mother’s advice and make the most of her opportunity to move abroad and pursue her academic interests. But during the wedding ceremony, one of the family members of the bride groom starts creating a scene by asking for more dowry. This was only the tip of the iceberg.

What follows is a psychological tussle between the two families with Paru caught in the crossfires. Later on, when she finally reunites with her husband in the U.S., she realizes things were going to be a lot different from what she had expected. Despite Paru’s continuous efforts to please Samar and mold herself into a person that he could be proud of, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand his volatile temper. She struggles to find an answer to her problems, conflicted between her patriarchal upbringing and her personal wish to be treated with some basic respect. Subjected to Samar’s constant verbal abuse at home, Paru finds comfort in pouring her soul into her work. When her agony threatens to engulf her, she draws strength from the memory of her mother as an educated woman and a successful lawyer. Above all, this is a story of love, friendship and the indefatigable nature of women.

Throughout the narrative, we come across several female characters who provide unwavering support to one another. Their candid conversations and shared sympathy make the novel even more interesting. With Paru as the central character, the author encourages us to place ourselves in her shoes and accompany her on this journey of self-discovery. The depiction of her internal monologues and her desire to keep the marriage working for her children, even though it was clearly falling apart, is very realistic. It is often quite difficult for people to leave their abusive partners after living together for years. We can’t help but mentally cheer for Paru to break free from all the social conventions that are restricting her. There is no doubt that this story would deeply resonate with many readers as it deals with issues that unfortunately still persist in our society, irrespective of our class, race or nationality.

Quill says: A Bollywood Romance is a tender, nuanced love story about a woman who overcomes her conventional mindset, chases her dreams, attains professional success and finds true love by embracing her own identity with zest.

For more information about A Bollywood Romance, please visit the publisher’s website at: atmospherepress.com/books/a-bollywood-romance-by-anu-koduri.