17 January,2015 07:30 AM IST | | The Hitlist Team
Filmmaker and author Fahad Samar follows up his novel Scandal Point with Flash Point — the second installment in his Mumbai trilogy; here is an excerpt from the book
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Filmmaker and author Fahad Samar follows up his novel Scandal Point with Flash Point - the second installment in his Mumbai trilogy. Set in the world of the paparazzi and high society, here is an excerpt from Flash Point that looks at the party-hearty and their various types...
B3A (Badey Baap Ki Bigdi Aulaad)
The metropolises of India are peppered with the impudent progeny of wealthy parents. Mumbai is not without its share of spoilt brats who shovel coke with a silver spoon and behave obnoxiously, convinced that the sun shines out of their little brown bottoms.
F3 (Fully Faltoo Filmi)
Several Bollywood actors and actresses find themselves at a loose end after discovering they have lost their on-screen lustre. Craving attention, they become permanent fixtures on the party circuit and land up at every event they are invited to, even, as a young director cattily observed, to the opening of an envelope.
PGC (Professional Gate Crashers)
Not just wannabes, but a few well-heeled Mumbaikars also feel it their birthright to attend high-profile events without an invite. They saunter in and air-kiss the organisers who immediately let it be known to the media that these pesky guests are not on their list.
SPCA (Socialites Promoting Causes Always)
Some members of the glitterati have become notorious for championing every cause and charity imaginable. Inspired by the media attention that social activists are grabbing, these bleeding hearts have become socialite activists. But instead of staging downmarket dharnas and wasting wax at candlelight vigils, the cause celebs prefer to remain in climate-controlled surroundings and pay their publicists to plant stories expressing solidarity with issues that range in importance from Anna Hazare to Anna Kournikova.
RSVP (Reality Show Veterans and Professionals)
This gaggle of unabashed C-listers earns their livelihood by acting outrageously in front of the media to garner publicity. They slap each other at parties, threaten to strip publicly if India wins a cricket match and shamelessly debase themselves in order to receive offers to appear on reality shows. As the nation sniggers at their theatrics, these performing monkeys go laughing all the way to the bank, earning a fat fee for their exhibitionism.
CSI Mumbai (Cheating Spouses Inc)
Husbands and wives that cheat on one another are a source of entertainment to the hoi polloi who have a hard time keeping track of which promiscuous socialite is sleeping with whom. Adulterous spouses sometimes arrive at the same event as a cuckolded partner or an ex, leading to red faces, hasty exits and occasionally a public showdown.
