In India, movies are a big deal. Popular releases draw hordes to the nation’s many movie palaces, where seating is assigned and scalpers hawk tickets outside to the unlucky. During intermission (and there’s always an intermission), people go to the lobby not for popcorn, but for samosas and other delicacies, then hurry back to their seats to see what adventures await the hero and heroine in the second half of the film. Beyond the theatre walls, Bollywood is woven into the very fabric of life. Cities teem with billboards displaying the glistening visages of stars and starlets, and songs from popular films are can be heard everywhere. In his acclaimed detective novel Sacred Games, Vikram Chandra’s disparate, warring characters: cops and gangsters, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs alike, are united in their love for Bollywood tunes, and affect “filmi” attitudes in imitation of their favourite stars.