Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

This book starts off in Melbourne, where the author was an inmate at Pentridge. In 1980, he escaped (one of only a few to do so) and moved to Bombay, where he went through a number of adventures – including 4 months imprisonment in the worst jail you could think of and becoming a member of the Bombay Mafia.
It’s a total page turner, filled with colourfull characters, Bollywood musicals, palaces, slums, love, murder – everything you want in a good read.

This has been a huge seller, and has become so popular that Johnny Depp has brought the rights to it (even though Russell Crowe really wanted to), and is starring as Roberts. The movie is due out in 2008. Peter Weir was going to direct it, but he dropped out and now Warner Brothers is looking for a new director.