User Reviews

When the book was released people I know either loved it or hated it. One of my friends thought that Shantaram was going to change her life, I remember working in a dead end job and the staff shared a dog eared copy, dreaming of a better life. Another person howled at what he saw as a poorly written self-help manual. I think how you responded to the book depended on your state of mind. I loved it at the time and have waited a long time for the adaptation which could only have been made in the era of prestige TV.

The cast and crew have done a great job of filming the 'un-filmable' book. They have stayed fairly close to the source material from my recollection. I think Hunnam has given an accurate depiction of an Australian male, the immediate feeling someone is a 'mate' with affection and the easy larrikin humour. Having known people who have quit heroin Hunnam is convincing Dale/Lin as someone whose pain is raw and who desperately wants to atone for past sins. Can I remind everyone that not even Meryl Streep did a convincing Aussie accent? That being said, it will be interesting to see how the complex source material pans out over the series which I think is 12 episodes.

Updated: I just finished episode 10 and it was quite a tense and interesting part of the story. The whole series has taken ages to build up and I feel the writers could have selected parts of the source material but then again, they may have ruined a complex story. Lo and behold I just found out that Shantaram has been cancelled. It was a lot better than a lot of the uninteresting dross on Apple TV+ or Netflix for that matter. Overall, I would give the best episodes 8 out of 10 and the slowest one's 7 out of ten. Turns out the novel was un-filmable. Go figure. I might switch off my AppleTV+ subscription now, very little grabs my interest.

I've been waiting for this for a long time, with a little trepidation, it's always in play when books that portray such a complete and immersive world get adapted.

But Shantaram is off to a great start, and so far appears to be a clever adaption with well crafted locations (including some Melbourne landmarks cleverly woven in) and enough of the book's storytelling to provide captivation.

The faux Aussie accent does grate a bit, but I suspect that will diminish over time - and so far all the characters are well realised and strike the right chord.

There's enough revealed after the first 3 episodes to convince that Shantaram was worth the wait and will draw the audience in to its compelling atmosphere and journey.

Update: I can't believe they've cancelled this show - it leaves the story untold, which is a real pain - almost feels like a betrayal - of actors, crew, and audience. Hopefully someone else picks it up and they can see out the series properly and tell the rest of the story, but I won't be holding my breath. The real shame of this is that over the course of the first season Shantaram had developed into a high quality drama, especially when one thinks about some of the dross that out there.

I have to say I have never read or even heard of the books for Shantaram so I wasn't sure what to expect but being a Charlie Hunnam fan I thought I'd give it a try. So far so good. Hunnam does an excellent job as the lead here and the rest of the cast all do a good job too. Some people are complaining about his accent but I don't see any problems with it and if that's the reason you don't like the show then that's your problem. I've read that it stays pretty close to the source material so that should please some of the book lovers. It also portrays 1980's Bombay very well and the attention to detail is amazing. Overall the acting and storytelling is what makes this a good show. Hunnam is such an underrated actor, he's been great in just about everything he's been in. I'm glad that he's become the star he deserves to be.

Thoroughly enjoyed this show from start to finish.

After the final scene it says "To be continued" - great news! I thought.

Then I read that it has been cancelled the day after the final episode aired.

Are you serious?!?!?!

It's not perfect but it's a very good story that keeps you engaged based on a best selling novel.

When you consider the brain dead, trash tv that is spewed out daily from these subscription channels I am simply amazed they have dropped it.

I mean come on Apple! You renewed that non-sensical drivel Invasion for a second season yet canned this?

I hope some other studio picks it up.

Came to write a glowing review for what is a superb adaptation of Greg David Roberts' novels. Not sure I need to as thankfully I'm not alone in thinking this was one of the best shows of the year. I've not always been Hunnam's biggest fan but he absolutely nails it, leading a wonderful ensemble of actors, all at the top of their game. Shubhab Saraf in particular gives a stellar performance as the street-sharp and immensely loveable Prabhu. A story of redemption and love set against a background of corruption, divides and the hardships they entail, the narrative races along immersing us in a strange new world that is foreign to all of us bar those who have visited India. I absolutely loved this show, with a passion.

So what's my gripe? Well here it is... Last night I watched the final episode of season one, an absolute cliff-hanger that sets up the second season beautifully without leaving the viewer feeling short-changed. 'To be continued' flashed up on the screen and needless to say I immediately checked for the scheduled release date, only to find Apple had already cancelled the show, before the final episode even screened. Their algorithm says 'no' apparently. Sod the subscribers, sod their enjoyment, sod building a loyal fanbase or attracting new subscriptions, if this doesn't work for the corporates filling the ad slots, then the game is up. Hike the prices again and **** the viewers. A wonderful way to engender good faith, no doubt! If there's one company that could afford to take a risk, then you'd think it would be Apple, a firm absolutely awash with cash, so here it is, my sad little one-man stand... No more Apple TV for me, no more iPhones and iPads, strictly Windows lappies moving forwards, Spotify over iTunes, Android over all of your proprietary BS. The group have revealed their true colours in recent years and their grasping nature with it. I'm out, for the very little I suspect that will ever mean to Apple. Corporates will be the death of creativity, mark my words :/

(UPDATE. I thought this was brilliant. Just found out today that the absolute thick, moronic numbskull muppets at Apple have cancelled the second season stupid stupid of Apple!)

(2nd update: I still cannot believe that this has not been reinstated due to complaints and uproar from the audience!!! The reviews are generally great and the story was left hanging)

(Update 2 ½: Apple+ you are complete morons. I am losing faith in you entirely!!!)

Review: I started watching this (and have now seen all of the first 4 currently available episodes) at the recommendation of a friend who partly read some of the book many years ago. In fact I have now got the book to read once I have finished this tv show.

The story is based on factual events, and the acting and cinematography is very very good. It starts well and eases you in to the story, you FEEL the angst and the conflict of the main character, The filming and style makes you feel as if you are there as a fly on the wall watching this journey.

I am genuinely surprised how good this is and how it makes me feel while watching it.... I felt the raw anger or frustration, I felt touched by the lives of the people the main character Lin interacted with.

I am a big fan if Charlie Hunnam since the days of Sons of Anarchy, but wasn't sure how he would pull of this new character and accent. He does well.

I can't wait for each episode and will read the book once I have finished this show as my experience is that regardless of how good a film or TV show is, the books are usually better.

I recommend anyone to watch this show, you will know within 2 episodes if you like it or not.

The book was my Bible in prison and I read it from cover to cover the 4 years I was there. It was given to me by an Australian of all people who himself was writing a book about his life in prison and used to hand his manuscript to his brother during his visits every month. The line I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum security prison" defined my situation to a tee and I cried inwardly everytime I read it, still do. I also went to Pakistan later on and had a similar course as his in Bombay but enough about me.

So ofcourse I was apprehensive when I first heard last month that the series is about to launch, I was afraid that they wouldn't do it justice but was also excited because I had always wanted a series based on it.

My first thought was that Charlie Hunamm didn't fit the description at all because Gregory Davids wasn't so conventially handsome and the person who I think would most do his look and mannerisms justice was someone like a Steve Buscemi (but I think he is a bit too old), aperson who would currently perfectly fit the bill would have been that guy who plays Daemon in the House of the Dragon. However the other characters (ecpecially Prabhu, Levy, Madam Zhou, Levy are very well cast and played.

I havent read the book in a whike but U was pleased whem I remembered many things as they happened and they seem to be qiote faithful to the booj so far.

Hunnam is ok, not too good, not too bad but again his looks really take you out of it every now and then, escpially with him being shirtless every other minute.

Prabhus character is hilarious, willy yet innocent, earnest and sometimes heart breaking in his own way and the actor playing him portrays it perfectly.

I didnt think the actress for Karla fit but shes growing on me.

Madam Zhous is played very well by the actress and eludes the imposing and somewhat frightening aura that she has.

The actor playing Khader bhai I know from previous movies where he usually typecast as the Arab guy and doesn't really seems to be clicking for me as the Afghani guy in Bombay especially with his accent and pronounciation of local words.

I will update this as the story moves along cuz there is a lot still to come and I will reserve my final rating and review for when the season is over.

I fell in love with the book and have read it a number of times and I've been lucky enough to visit Mumbai and was looking forward to seeing it televised.

This series captures the essence of the city perfectly but the story feels rushed. He seems to pick up marathi on day two for example. Plus it isn't particularly faithful to the book. There is an awful lot missing. The way he falls in love with the city in his first few days, in my opinion, are an essential part of the story.

I'm a big fan of Charlie Hunnam but that accent, hopefully it will improve. It's neither Australian or Kiwi. The cast are pretty awesome though. Each one as I pictured them. Even Karla. The cinematography is perfect, as we have come to expect from an Apple production.

The biggest disappointment however is that they have changed the name of one of the most important locations in the book. It's Leopolds not Ronaldos. I cannot imagine why they would do this.

Amidst the lack of creative content and the glut of visual content, it is difficult to find anything that is consistently engaging. Shantaram is an exception.

Just so I get the ingratiating parts out of the way: It does have its share of stereotypical depictions of Bombay slums and gang lords, and the Australian accent is terrible, as Aussie reviewers have confirmed. And honestly, I can't imagine Indian goons using English with such swashbuckling finesse. The exteriors of the café and the palace stick out like a sore thumb, clearly to appeal to western audiences.

Those notwithstanding, the story line is understandably gripping, and the "gora" actresses are pleasing to the eye with good acting chops. The protagonist is portrayed well, too.

If you are looking for a good show with episodes sized just right, this one's for you. Good vibes, evenly paced,

I was really looking forward to watching this TV series, especially after having read the book 2 times while I was living in India for many years.

The book was always going to be a challenge for a 2 to 3 hour feature film, and whether it was Johnny Depp or Peter Weir or Mira Nair or even Joel Edgerton, the idea of turning it into a 12 episode TV series made more sense so they could dig deeper into each character and the plots and intricacies of a 900 page epic masterpiece.

Unfortunately, after watching 10 episodes, I have to conclude like many reviews on here that without involving the writer of the book, it seems like the TV series writers have converted this masterpiece into more of a soap opera/thriller than the magic of the wonderful book. Esp with $100m budget.

For those people who've never read the book I can't imagine this TV series being very entertaining, and it comes across as very shallow storyline with a hint of the actual deeper meaning of the journey that Lin goes on in the book that is so intricate and complex yet flows so delightfully that it's hard to compare this rubbish tv series that only captures a tiny glimpse of the book.

As far as the casting, I actually enjoyed seeing Charlie Hunan as Lin and Karla is cast perfectly fine and handles her flirtatious role adequately and one feels the mutual attraction between the two main characters. . And even Didier, the gay French man handles his role quite well except there is little meat in his role except in later episodes - and Prabu the Indian friend is one of the more animated actors to give some good contrast to the Indian characters.

However, the biggest issue I have is that the writers have taken such liberty of wasting too much time meandering back/forth with the back plot of Lin's life back in Australia , instead of focusing on deeper meaning behind each character residing in India.

For example, the Indian gangsters come across as pseudo-intellectuals, rather than in the book, which creates these magnificent personas that are beyond one's imagination and powerful beyond belief that you understand why Lin is enamored by them. Plus they do not even delve into Lin becoming a part of the Gangster world and the passport/arms/weapons sold to the Middle East connection and how it relates to the Bombay gangsters that are powerful beyond just Bombay. Instead this emaciated Gangster looks like anyone could knock him over with a single slap on the face.

The gangsters run around with one or two people and it feels like they are insignificant people that anyone could probably kill and even the henchmen Persian assassin guy is supposed to have these amazing fighting powers and instead he looks like some common street thug that anyone could beat up - and Lin has to come to his rescue. That spoils the character main trait which is beyond comprehension.

The biggest complaint I have is that the whole entire series is way too focused on Lin character and the supporting characters just don't hold up enough to carry this soap opera plot that fizzles out with meaningless sub plots over emphasizing the slums and bribes - and the idea of redemption is so over emphasized over multiple episodes that it just gets dull and boring - almost tedious to the point that it drains any magic that was so bloody obvious in the book.

There are only 2 episodes remaining yet I seriously doubt that the writers can pull off bringing any magic back to this lack luster of a tv series. Watch it with low expectations and perhaps you'll enjoy it more.

I give it only a 6 star rating and hope that a 3 hour feature film is created to do the book justice - esp since the DGR Writer wrote an original script and Roth and other writers added more - so maybe there is hope for a film down the road as it deserves a proper adaptation.

Shantaram is quite well done with the atmosphere of Mumbai (Bombay) in the nineteen eighties portrayed accurately. The story is a more exciting rendition than the book, but still holds its own. Much of the scenery matches what I remember of the city. Even the giant open air laundry where Lin hides. The only thing missing is the traffic which even then was much heavier and gave the city its distinctive diesel smell.

Charlie Hunnam does a decent job of portraying an escaped Aussie convict. However I think the secondary characters add more. The denizens of the lowlife bar carry it off with real aplomb. The Mahashtri speaking locals with their casual insults about Westerners is very true to life.

I found the first ten minutes covering the arrival in Mumbai a little travelogue with shots of locals smiling and colourful market scenes. The border scene was tense but not true to life. Indians and Indian descendants are filtered to a thorough customs check whilst Westerners are usually fast track out the airport. Ditto the police stops. In that era a tourist would just pay a small "fine". But hey, it's fiction.

The story, once it gets going, is very watchable. A decent level of subterfuge and hidden agendas. Good all round acting.

There were rumours about a movie years ago starring Brad Pitt as Lin. I wish they had made it, even better I wish they had cast a real live Australian for Lins part, Charlie Hunnam does the worst Aussie accent. It's painful. I don't think he is a good actor all around either, bless his heart. Very wooden, and canned. If this hadn't been a story I was waiting for years to see and I saw that he was the lead I would have passed and not even given it a chance. SOA was prime time schlock. He suits that better.

Anyway, aside from that casting disappointment I am happy so far with the series. It is true to the book, with no huge deviations. When will they understand that if you title something after a beloved source and then rewrite it a bunch then it's just gonna piss off every person that went out of their way to see it because of the source name. Interview With a Vampire is a perfect example of that hubris.

Why did they do this to a truly compelling story? They turned a book about adventure, growth, and redemption into a soap opera. The people who bastardized this book added plots and characters that are paper thin and poorly written. The resulting series loses entirely what the book was actually about. It's really painful. The book is full of three dimensional characters. The tv series is full of cultural stereotypes that are so simplistic it's laughable. I have a hard time imagining the meetings where people came up with this nonsense - or the meetings where someone else gave this drivel the green light. Why? Why? Why? If you wanted to write a soap opera, fair enough. Did you have to ruin a great book in the process?

APPLE TV is silly for cancelling the show!! Can Netflix or HBO pick this up please??! So disappointing!! The show takes a different turn yet manages to do an impressive job. Not sure why there are so many negative reviews - a true Shantaram novel fan would appreciate the attempt nonetheless as it is too mammoth a task to adapt 980 pages long novel in to an entertaining show. I thought Charlie's Aussie accent sucked at the beginning but it felt more real towards the later part of the show. Also, I was hoping for Lin's transition to Shantaram to happen in this season but the way the show ended, it can still do a lovely job in the coming seasons. I hope and pray that streaming service human reads the book, falls in love with it, watches the show and then decides to continue where it left off in season 1. I liked the rest of the cast and wonderful effort by everyone involved considering they had to shoot during a pandemic. Please cut them a bit of slack and honour the cast and crew by renewing it for another season! PLEASE!

'Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows' - Shakespeare in The Tempest Based on Gregory David Roberts's novel by the same name. Although, author claims it to be a novel but it is mostly an autobiography based on his days in Mumbai followed after his escaping from a maximum security prison. He began writing this novel during his prison stay and the manuscript was destroyed twice by the prison staff. I read this book during pandemic suggested by a friend. The story is thrilling ,electrifying and heartbreaking, poignant at the same time. It offers an emotional and philosophical experience and does not miss out the boisterous actions. The series (have watched only first 5 episodes) does recreate the 1980s Mumbai beautifully with vivid colors, the lamp-lit streets, from dhobighat and slums to the squandering affluent class, from a golden sunlight filling up the sultry air on the narrow streets of the city to the dancing moonlight on the cresting waves of the Arabian Sea. Bhupendra Singh's ghazal in one of the episodes is befitting the scene. The characters development is somewhat hurried but does not leave out much details. Commanding performance by Charlie Hunman as Lin, and equally convincong performances by the supporting cast, seamlessly woven the essence of author's experience with fictionalization but mostly the strong narrative that makes this series a great watch. I felt some parallels with Salaam Bombay by Mira Nair.

'God is impossible and that's why it exists!'

As far as the apple show's go this might be one of their best .

3 episodes in will provide a 7 this can be adjusted to reflect the future episodes.

Good story about a convict who escapes and finds his place in the slums of Bombay .

Have not read the book but the story here is well written and well acted. Charlie is good in the lead .

It will be interesting to see where this ends up .

He is dealing with some bad dudes and trying to live up to his potential . A potential his dad knows he can achieve .

Not sure how truthful the settings of the Bombay slums are but they look scary and sad.

I think India needs to follow China and stop with the over population .

I've been a big Charlie Hunnam fan since Sons of Anarchy so I thought I'd give this a chance when I first heard about it. Then I saw the trailers and looked forward to it even more. It's every bit as good as I had hoped and Hunnam does an excellent job as the lead here. He plays a former heroin addict name Lin Ford who goes to Bombay n the 1980's as a fugitive looking to reinvent his life. There he becomes a doctor and finds himself in a lot of trouble by partnering with a crime boss that's in a war with some Russian gangsters and have to go to Afghanistan to sort it all out. He also alls in love with a woman that further complicates things while he tries to get his freedom from everyone.

Halfway in, the adaptation of Gregory David Roberts' cult novel which had been in the works for 15 years is a faithful, even respectful rendition of its source - maybe a little too much so.

The first few episodes take their time to establish the lead and a plethora of side characters, but as I had feared, seeing the story onscreen takes away a good deal of its mystique. Because this is supposed to be an autobiographic account, after all, the facts of which are that Roberts was indeed an addict who escaped prison and then lived in India before getting arrested in Germany with a fake passport. Everything else about his account is increasingly hazy, and that is definitely why the adaptation fell through many times before.

Consequently, the escape scene in the beginning is already the strongest in the series so far, because it mirrors what actually happened. With Lin's arrival in Bombay, the spectator is forced to share his romanticized views on the slums, crime lords and inequality, so I would not be surprised at all if Indians are less enticed by the story. Once Lin moves into the slums, the plot becomes reminiscent of the Patrick Swayze film "City of Joy".

The novel does a splendid job of suspending disbelief, offering words of wisdom which make one want to believe the story to be true. The series cannot replicate that sensation of being tempted into a luring world of real-life adventure, so it definitely does not provide a substitute to reading the book. For those of you who have, "Shantaram" is a lavish, satisfying trip down memory lane, but for those of you who haven't, I'd strongly recommend reading before watching.

Update: Unfortunately, the writers were gunning for Season 2 in the second half and therefore dragged the story which frustrated viewers familiar with the novel. Consequently many lost patience with the show and Apple canceled it. So this is a good example for great source material being adapted inadequately.

This and the Wheel of Time have been my favourite books for as long as i can remember. Both got turned into tv series this year, something I had been hoping for, for decades.

As we all know the showrunners completely butchered Wheel of Time in so many ways that its an absolute disgrace. Thank god the writers of Shantaram used common sense and stuck to the great story that was already laid out for them. So far this is excellent.

The casting is solid - Even though Hummam's aussie accent is pretty poor, he displays the swagger and emotional sensitivity necessary to pull off this role. The cinematography and dialogue are grea, and looking forward to seeing how they re-enact the rest of this great tale.

I read Shantaram years ago and loved it. Of course TV/film rarely matches up to the experience of a good book, but this series could have been SO much better. Amateurish acting, Hunnam's crap Aussie accent, weird casting (Maurizio looks INDIAN & Modena doesn't look/sound Spanish) as well as uninspired script, I only finished it as there was nothing better on. It feels a bit like a teenage TV drama with all the corny romantic storylines and crummy acting. I hope it gets cancelled as it's spoils the legacy of the book, which is great and worth reading. I heard years ago Johnny Depp was going to make a film out of it, that might have been a better idea.

I love the book! So I eagerly waited and dreaded the series. First of all the casting for Prabhu (especially), Karla and Khader Khan is spot on.

Even as a non-native English speaker Charlie's accent just sounds weird to me(is he from Birmingham or something?). The scenery, music and overall vibe is good (at least what I imagine Bombay would feel like).

To me it seems they stayed as close to the source material as possible in an adaptation.

Not sure if this is season 1 or the whole book in 1 season, but the stage is now set with all the characters for the story to really turn it up. Looking forward to episode 4.

I haven't read the book, but can definitely say that the episodes are well directed and the direction is slick. The story keeps you on the edge. However the drama and the suspence in the first episode is not matched in intensity in the second and third episodes. Am waiting for the new episodes. The main lead is good and has a good Australian accent. My only grouse is wish there were more Indian characters. But maybe this has got something to do with the book. Also, wish some famous names had been taken in as Indian characters. I don't recognize anyone except Aly. Hope the suspense stays on in the upcoming episodes.

I first read this book in the early 2000s when it came out. I LOVED it. I read it again a few years later, and I heard it was being adapted for a movie and Johnny Depp was attached to the project. Very exciting, and then so many things changed along the way and years later it's finally announced as a TV show by Apple, starring Charlie Hunnam, who I loved in Sons of Anarchy. So as you can imagine I am super excited, I've been waiting all this time for this. When the tv show was announced I decided to read the book again just so it'd be fresh in my mind when the show finally came out.

Well. Maybe if you watch the show with absolutely no knowledge of the book or the story, you'll like or even love the show. I waited to write this review because I wanted to give the show the benefit of the doubt, and see if it redeemed itself along the way. But I feel like I've seen enough of the show now to write a fair review and the general theme is that I'm disappointed. The book is so well written, and things obviously had to change a little for a tv adaptation, but I think they lost the magic of the book, and by veering so far from the true story, they've also added a lot of confusion. Again- maybe if you're watching this blindly with no previous knowledge of the story, you might be able to ignore or be oblivious to the flaws, but I am having a hard time even enjoying the good parts of the show because it is so different from the story I loved.

I also wonder if I hadn't reread the book so recently, would I be as disappointed as I am, and I'm not sure. There is so much that's different on the show. And as much as I loved Charlie Hunnam in SoA, and just in general, I think he's not quite right for Lin. And Abdullah's casting also seems way off from how he's described in the book. I will keep watching the rest of the season but I am just kind of heartbroken that I was so let down by this adaptation of such a great story. No dancing bear at all!! A travesty.

Read the book many years ago, it was so farfetched but so different to anything I'd read before. I became immersed into Lin's life in the slums. I remember a time when Johnny Depp was associated with the film but wasn't sure anyone could do the book justice. So I have been pleasantly surprised so far (I'm on e11/12). Charlie has really grown on me and he is now Lin. It's natural to read a book and imagine what the characters look like but I think this series has done a really good job of creating a striking visual with interesting narrative of life in India. It's also really thought provoking; the contrast between rich and poor, high and low classes and how power and responsibility in the hands of the corrupt do not allow for real growth and progress for all. Anyway enough politics, great show looking forward to the finale.