Smorgasbord Fantasia

The Immortal King Rao was a book I had given up on, last year I think. But something drew me to the same, earlier this month and once I was invested with the little Rao's growing up years in his little village in the back of nowhere past the East Godavari districts, I couldn't stop reading about the rise and rise of a Dalit dark-skinned man right at the centre of the world power, the riding the waves of innovation in tech-corridors of Corporate America, who then ultimately fucks up and then retreats to a small island. Yeah, it's as fascinating as it sounds, but wait there's more! So frankly, I thought The Immortal King Rao was an ambitious novel, on the lines of Midnight's Children , that takes a sweeping multi-generational tale and mixes it up with an eerily prescient vision of life on dystopian earth caught up in the throes of global warming.  There were bits of the novel that were a brilliant trip drenched in nostalgia, especially the parts of Rao's childhoo...

Absolutely loved this one! An action-packed visceral examination of casteism and colonialism in the backdrop of a bloody siege through the eyes of an underdog, who discovers herself and comes into her own. Kavithri by Aman J Bedi marks the beginning of a fascinating new epic fantasy headlined by a firecracker of a heroine, Kavi aka Kavithri Taemu , a young woman, broken by the unfair ruthless world around her, who finds a purpose worth fighting and killing for, a dream she lives for. The Taemus are a shunted lot, a diminished set of people who have been systematically hunted down, eradicated over years by the rulers (be it the current Raayan Empire or the erstwhile colonial oppressors from the Kraelish empire – almost drawing parallel to the British East India company) for having taken up arms and led a rebellion ages ago. The lowest dregs in a stratified society that takes its caste system very seriously, the Taemus are treated to daily degradations and humiliations by the rest of t...

This has been one hell of an emotional rollercoaster ride for me. The Illicit Happiness of Other People by Manu Joseph started off as a darkly comic satire on life in the streets of the 90's Madras. Where getting into IITs or going abroad is a tradition for the Tam-brahm boys and where singing is a national pastime for the girls, who are protected fiercely as the shining family heirlooms - and where the parents head off to their respective offices in their old Bajaj Chetak or Vespas. We are introduced to the rebellious Kottayam Christian family of the Chackos - the anarchist Ousep, with his undying desire to rebel-yell against the societal conforms through not just his journalistic columns or reporting during the day but also his drunken anti-social antics at night. Then there is the 'brilliant' Mariamma a postgraduate in economics and housewife, who everybody in the street knows is a little bit of a cuckoo as she talks to imaginary beings, wagging an accusatory finger - ...

Sacred Games was released on July 6th on Netflix India and a mere six days later I think this series has hit a cult status and following. It is definitely one of the sharpest originally 'made for India' content that I have seen in years and while yes, there is a lot of hype for the heavyweight names associated with Bollywood getting down and dirty on the small screen, I think it is all justified and totally worth it. Is it India's answer to hit international web series, like Narcos or Marco Polo? I think we shall soon find out the numbers. But it is definitely opened the floodgates for Netflix India, in terms of the awareness and its war-cry in this brutal 'content' game up against the stalwarts like Amazon Prime. So Sacred Games is directed by two stalwarts of the industry, A nurag Kashyap (Gangs of Wasseypur and many more acclaimed movies) and V ikramaditya Motwane ( Udaan, Lootera) and stars Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddique and Radhika Apte in key ro...

Say hello to Anantya Tantrist: A notoriously bad-ass supernatural detective who has a penchant to smoke beedis, vent out in foul-mouthed profanity that would make a fisher-woman blush and has a never-ending love-affair with nameless dangers as an everyday occupational hazard. On the surface, Cult of Chaos is billed as an urban fantasy set in the underbelly of Delhi with a liberal smattering of Tantrism and magic thrown in. But Shweta’s meticulous research and assured story-telling skills turns this premise right on its head. It’s a relentless avalanche of a novel that crams in so many novel ideas – Tantric concepts, supernatural beings that range from talking serpents who brew potions, ghosts (Oh so many!), Rakshasas to wholly new and intriguing races called Datyus ( Spies relying on disgusting smells!) or Dasyus ( Bat-like creatures with a predilection for movies!) – While yes there is an all-too comforting feel in the atmospheric Delhi that Shweta draws up, the events and...

Disclaimer : I got a copy of this book from the publishers on behest of the author for an honest review of the same. So when Manu first reached out to me, asking me to review a “humorous novel about a failing start-up based in Bangalore”, three words struck me. Humorous. Start-Up. Bangalore. How could I refuse? A very quick racy read – giving us a tongue-firmly-in-cheek look (or “thumb-firmly-up-the-ass, as the protagonist of Sales Room is wont to say) about a start-up based in Bangalore doomed to failure. The Sales Room brings to fore “all the action inside the ‘sales room’ – a no-holds barred parda-fash (the expose for those not familiar with hindi) and a behind-the-scenes look at all the levers and triggers that work behind running a start-up – all this from the scathing sarcastic point of view of a 26-year old engineer – with B-School aspirations – and a firmly unforgiving outlook on all the malpractices that keep sales in an IT Firm afloat. Chock-a-block with astute o...

Beaten by Bhagath! claims to be the first-ever tale about the unseen side of the wonderland of Indian Fiction. That was the hook for me to say YES – to an offer from BookVault to review this book. I mean, hey! this was a behind-the-scenes look at the Publishing industry from someone who’s been there, done that and is willing to lay bare the ugly truths and bust some myths. So bring it on, huh? I was ready to lap it up – that small worm inside of me delighting at such an opportunity to learn more of this industry I was trying to break into.    This isn’t a debut and definitely reads like a polished effort from a talented author.   S V Divaakar is a multi-talented personality currently having forayed into Writing and Public Speaking and music forms a large wedge in the circle of his life. The tag-line, “A tale of two writers” succinctly sums up the whole book – even though it’s written from a first-person narrative, the whole book centering around the effo...