Not Quite Family is a book by veteran film critic, journalist, and filmmaker Khalid Mohamed, published by HarperCollins India.

I started reading Not Quite Family as a reader of Khalid Mohamed’s film reviews. His reviews were legendary. I often wish that someone would publish an anthology of them. His wordplay could sting, his sarcasm could be deliciously cruel, and filmmakers knew that a review from him was never just a rating. Some of his lines were remembered longer than the films themselves.

As I read the book, I began to understand why it is called Not Quite Family. Khalid Mohamed spent decades moving through the intimate world of Bollywood. The stars were not just people he wrote about. Many became his friends and confidants. He knew them, met them socially, interviewed them and became part of their world. In some ways, they were almost family. But only almost. Bollywood can create a sense of family among people who work together for years, meet at parties and premieres, share stories and know each other’s histories. But there are boundaries. The writer knew this from experience. He could be welcomed into the inner circle one day and reminded of his place as a critic the next. A good review could strengthen a friendship. A bad one could put it under strain.

This is not simply a memoir about Bollywood stars. It is about the difficult relationship between friendship and professional honesty. What happens when the people you are close to become the people you have to write about? How honest can you remain when a friend becomes the subject of your criticism? And can a friendship survive when you refuse to compromise your independence?

The man who spent years looking closely at films and performances is now looking closely at his own life, through this book. The sharp critic’s eye is turned towards friendships, loyalties, disappointments, affection and loss. This is not really a book about stars. It is about the man who spent a lifetime watching them. The book has nostalgia, but not the easy kind that says everything was better in the past. It is the nostalgia of someone who has watched an industry and a city change, and who knows that something has been lost along the way.

For those who grew up with Hindi cinema, the pleasure of Not Quite Family lies partly in recognising the names, places and personalities. But you do not have to be a Bollywood fan to enjoy the book. At its heart, it is about people and relationships, the closeness we seek, the boundaries we cannot cross, and the price of remaining honest. Perhaps that is what stayed with me after I finished it. I began the book thinking about Khalid Mohamed, the film critic. I finished it thinking about Khalid Mohamed the person. He spent a lifetime writing about people who were constantly being watched. In Not Quite Family, he turns his gaze towards his own life. That makes this memoir more than a collection of Bollywood memories.