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Plot summary

Shantaram is a novel influenced by real events in the life of the author, Australian Gregory David Roberts, filled with mostly fictional adventures. In 1978, Roberts was sentenced to nineteen years' imprisonment in Australia after being convicted of a series of armed robberies of building society branches, credit unions, and shops, which he had committed to feed a heroin addiction after his marriage ended and he lost his daughter. In July 1980, he escaped from Victoria’s Pentridge Prison in broad daylight, thereby becoming one of Australia's most wanted men for the next ten years.

In the fictional story, Roberts' main character arrives in Mumbai carrying a fake passport in the name of Lindsay Ford. Mumbai was only a stopover on a journey that was to take Lin from New Zealand to Germany, but he decides to stay in the city. Lin soon meets a local man named Prabaker, who he hires as a guide but soon becomes his best friend and renames him Linbaba. Both men visit Prabaker's native village, Sunder, where Prabaker's mother christens Lin with the name Shantaram, meaning Man of God's Peace. On their way back to Mumbai and after a night out, Lin and Prabaker are robbed. With all his possessions gone, Lin is forced to live in the slums, giving him shelter from the authorities and free rent in Mumbai. After a massive fire on the day of his arrival in the slum, he sets up a free health clinic as a way to contribute to the community. He learns about the local culture and customs in this crammed environment, gets to know and love the people he encounters, and even becomes fluent in Marathi, the local language. He also witnesses and battles outbreaks of cholera and firestorms, becomes involved in trading with the lepers, and experiences how ethnic and marital conflicts are resolved in this densely crowded and diverse community.

The novel contains several other characters, notably a number of foreigners of varied origin and local Indians, highlighting the rich diversity of life in Mumbai. Lin falls in love with Karla, a Swiss-American woman who refuses to love him back, befriends local artists and actors landing him roles as an extra in several Bollywood movies, and is recruited by the Mumbai underworld for various criminal operations, including drug and weapons trade. Lin eventually lands in Mumbai's Arthur Road Prison, where he endures many beatings and other physical and mental abuse by guards, while existing under extremely squalid conditions, along with hundreds of other inmates. However, thanks to the protection of Afghani mafia don "Abdel Khader Khan", Lin is eventually released, and works in black market currency exchange and passport forgery. Having travelled as far as Africa on trips commissioned by the mafia, Lin later goes to Afghanistan to smuggle weapons for mujahideen freedom fighters in Afghanistan. When his mentor Khan is killed, Lin realizes he became everything he grew to loathe and falls into depression after he returns. He decides that he must fight for what he believes is right, and build an honest life. The story ends with him planning to go to Sri Lanka which lays the premise for the sequel to this book.

Fictional versus non-fictional content

Shantaram is a work of fiction. However, due to its very vivid content and Roberts' known biography, some readers believe the book to be based more on fact and less on fiction.^[1][2] This highlights inherent difficulties with verification of the accounts given in the book. Some parts of the story are on the public record, such as Roberts' criminal history and escape from prison in Australia ^[3], while others remain obscure. However, Roberts has stated that most of the story is fiction, and that he merged different elements taken from true events and people into fictional events and characters like Prabaker 'of the big smile'.^[4] The Mumbai Mirror, in March 2006, reported they may have discovered the inspiration of the big smile of the character Prabaker as belonging to a still living cab driver called Kishore, who took Roberts to his home village.^[5] Many other major facets of the book are fictional; for example, Roberts admits that there were no Sapna killers.^[6]
However in an interview^[where?] with the author Roberts does admit that the real character on whom Prabaker was based on had indeed died long ago. So the Mumbai Mirror article could be just assumptive.^{[citation needed]}