This novel, set in the Bombay film world of the 1940s and' 50s, is the revetting story of Dharam Dev, the famous actor, director and producer, and his all-consuming and doomed passion for Zarina Jamal, the young dancer from Madras whom he brings to Bombay and transforms into a great actress. He looks on in anguish as his betrayed wife, Mangala, a well-known playback singer, sinks slowly into alcoholism. When Zarina abandons him he is overwrought and dies of an overdose, friendless and alone.

A Very Strange Man is not only a close, personal look at an actor's rise to fame and glory, but an insightful and critical examination of the Bombay film scene of the time, by one who knew it at first hand.

This irreverent, sharply observed narrative is vintage Chughtai!