With now a TV show on Apple TV+, why the 2003 novel Shantaram is so controversial

The book cover of Shantaram itself screams “Indian”. Not only does the title sound like it has divine Hindu origins, the cover image seems to be a silhouette of the Taj Mahal overlooking the Yamuna. Another cover seems to be set in the ghats of Varanasi. 

But here’s the catch: most of Shantaram is set in the underworld of Mumbai. The exoticised cover accounts for one of the few things that have bothered Shantaram’s readers over the years. And these controversies are worth revisiting now that a TV show adaptation has debuted on Apple TV+ with Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim, Sons of Anarchy) in the lead role. 

Shantaram for beginners: What is the story about?

First released in 2003, the novel by Gregory David Roberts revolves around an Australian bank robber who escapes his prison from Down Under and finds refuge in India. Known to readers as Lin, he assumes the identity of Shantaram in Mumbai, the metropolis where he deals with brothel owners, Afghan mobsters, journalists and many others. One thing leads to another and towards the end, Shantaram even goes to Afghanistan to aid mujahideen fighters. However, his moral compass is always ambiguous and the novel delves into his psychological indecisiveness to figure out what is right for him. 

Upon its release, Shantaram became an instant hit, a critically-acclaimed bestseller praised for its rich and detailed description of urban life in 1980s-era Mumbai. However, over time, revised takes on the novel have left readers conflicted over Roberts’s depiction of India and his own claim that the novel is inspired from his real life. 

The long-running debate: Is Shantaram based on true events?

While his claims have been subjected to muc debate and scrutiny, Roberts has always stated that the 936-page-long outlaw epic draws largely from his life. In fact, he was Shantaram, the “action hero” who escapes from prison, aids the Mumbai underworld, travels further to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. 

However, Roberts has explicitly stated that all other characters are invented or fictionalised versions of people he has actually encountered back in the 80s. 

To quote the author’s note on the book’s official website,

A character from the book whose origins are much debates is Prabaker "Prabhu" Kharre (the name being an Anglicised version of Prabhakar Khare). It is worth noting that for a man who spent a crucial period of time in the slums of Dharavi (where a major chunk of Shantaram’s plot is set), he couldn’t even get the names right!

But the usual misspelling by a “gora” man is perhaps excusable given how Roberts wrote the entirety of the book in a German prison. Ever since he broke out of Australia’s Pentridge Prison, he served some time in an Indian jail too on account of forging passports and other counterfeiting activities. As his intercontinental travels continued, he was finally caught in Germany in 1990 following which he was sent back to Oz.

Back in his native country, Roberts claims to have spent six years in prison with three and a half years being spent in solitary confinement or “1320 days and nights” as he puts it. Shantaram however recounts his experiences before 1990. 

Prabhu and his Mumbai family from Shantaram: Coming back to Prabhu, the book’s version of the man is a gleeful taxi driver who not only gives the protagonist Lin a free tour of the city but he also shelters him at his house in the Navy Nagar slum. In fact, it is Prabhu’s mother who gave Lin (Roberts in real life) the name Shantaram. 

Prabhu and his family were apparently based on the Khare family, natives of Mumbai who do acknowledge to have known Roberts in the 1980s but also state repeatedly that most of his literary depictions were exaggerated. Matching with the book’s story, Prabhu indeed died in a car crash in 1988. 

Meanwhile, Kishore Khare, a taxi driver who claims to be Prabhakar “Prabhu” Khare’s brother has capitalised well on Shantaram. Whether Kishore is actually related to the book or not, even Roberts has not answered it. But for the Mumbai local, he cashes in on quick bucks by giving tourists the “Shantaram Tour” of the city’s slums. 

A Swiss tourist by the name of Chris (surname unspecified) wrote a TripAdvisor review in 2018 singing praises for Kishore Khare’s tour. To quote his review, 

“Kishore Khare's tour is thorough and fun as he weaves through the Mumbai traffic, bringing the book to life through his memories and stories. He's an easy-going, down-to-earth kind of person who can answer so many of the questions that linger long after the last page of Shantaram has been read.”

As for Roberts himself, he strays away from such debates by admitting that Shantaram is a novel in the end and that’s how it should be read. 

How does Shantaram represent India (and does the series do any better)?

The book and TV adaptation offer interesting contrasts. While the former might paint an image that borders on poverty porn, the latter exhibits a somewhat better picture but at the cost of a familiar white saviour complex (at least judging by the three episodes that dropped last Friday). 

So, while the book describes Lin’s initial olfactory response to India as “the waste of 60 million animals, more than half of them humans and rats”, the Apple TV+ show finds Charlie Hunnam’s Lin remarking that he smells “the smell of hope”. 

While contemporary Indian readers are bothered about the fetishisation of Mumbai’s poverty in the book, the show goes on to showcase the Indian characters as good-natured but quite helpless. Recounting the book’s instances of Lin (now Shantaram) helping the slum-dwellers during outbreaks of cholera, the show follows a similar approach but with the muscular hunk Charlie Hunnam standing out among the brown people, the heroin addict-turned-convict very conveniently turning into a medical warrior. 

However, this might just be an overanalysis for now and judging by the rest of the nine episodes only would one be able to determine whether the Shantaram series reinforces the book’s dated stereotypical depictions of Indians or whether it offers a fresher look at the country. 

Shantaram is available for streaming on Apple TV+ with new episodes airing every Friday.