Many years ago, a friend of mine—a film buff to the core—told me something curious over a shared samosa and a matinee show. “I don’t watch the stars,” he said, eyes fixed on the screen. “I watch the extras.” “The extras?” I asked. “Yes. Especially the dancers in the background….


Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.