Sometimes their only recourse to material is writings by Arvind Adiga or Chetan Bhagat.

BBC: Can Indian cinema go global?

Hot on Sir Salman's heels this year is the debut novel by Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger.

BBC: Rushdie tipped for 2008 Booker

The breadth of the divide between what Aravind Adiga calls the "India of Light, " and the "India of Darkness, " is both dramatic and shocking.

CNN: 'Slumdog' highlights India's forgotten poor

But if their protagonists are polar opposites, both stories -- one as told in Aravind Adiga's best-selling novel "The White Tiger, " the other in "Slumdog Millionaire, " the new movie from "Trainspotting" director Danny Boyle -- have much in common.

CNN: 'Slumdog' highlights India's forgotten poor