Balham To Bollywood

For some actors, the idea of being sent to the middle of a desert in India for two and a half months to act in a Bollywood movie would send them scurrying back to their agent asking for some other work - any other work.

Not Chris England. He runs his own cricket team (modestly styled 'An England XI'), and since the Bollywood movie in question - 'Lagaan, Once Upon A Time In India' - would feature an epic cricket match between a British colonial army team and a small Indian village in 1893, he wouldn't just be working. He would be representing his country at his favourite sport.

This is a cricket tour diary with a difference, as Chris England charts the progress of 'Lagaan' from the audition - a cricket match in a London park - to the film's release eighteen months later. The author's ability to evoke the landscape and atmosphere of India is complemented by his skill in bringing to life the bizarre and often very funny world of film making.

'Balham To Bollywood' is a treat for cricket lovers, film fans and those who like travel books with a difference.