The Delhi Deception- Book Review

Book- The Delhi Deception

Author- Elana Sabharwal

Genre- Romantic thriller

Number of pages in the book - 370

Type- Paperback 

Publisher- CreateSpace Independent Publishing

Usually I stay away from love stories since I find them too dramatic and boring. My favorite genre happen to be thrillers, murder mysteries, theology, sci-fi and horror by John Grisham, Agatha Christie, Ashwin Sanghi and Amish Tripathi. This time I opted for a new author to try something different. After all budding artists should be given a fair chance yeah?

PS: The book was NOT sent to me by the author. The review is my personal opinion and not for promotional purpose.

‘The Delhi Deception’ by Elana Sabharwal is a thriller written in the backdrop of Delhi.

The plot- Carla, born to an Indian father and South African mother, is a journalist by profession who was born and brought up in South Africa. She is married to Andrew, a war journalist with CNN, posted in Pakistan. Distance keeps the two physically apart and Carla desperately wants to meet him, before she goes to India to meet her father’s family. She gets the shock of her life on finding out Andrew cheating on her. An upset Carla leaves for India and stays with her best friend Elousie.

Taking refuge in retail therapy and historical tour of Delhi, Carla meets a handsome George who frequents the social gatherings. She is attracted to him, hushing up her inner voice that she is married. The story takes a turn when Carla is kidnapped, injected with drugs, sold to traffickers but rescued by George. Gradually she falls for him inspite of being warned to be beware of the latter; nursing her wound on one hand and feeling guilty on the other. An interesting turn to the story comes when George convinces her to spy on Elousie’s husband who is suspected to be involved in anti national crime. 

Caught between friendship and new found love, Carla finds herself trapped in the blind maze with no light at the end of the tunnel. As the story unfolds, Andrew comes to Delhi searching for Carla, making it even more difficult for her to trust her own instincts. She is drawn deeper in a black hole of shocking revelations as betrayal gapes at her.

My views- Not even for a single moment did I feel that the author is from outside India! The book has been written after deep research and Delhi beautifully described. Elana has taken care of every little thing about India. Writing on a culture not known to somebody ain’t easy, and she does that seamlessly! From tea culture to Indian family values, Elana has taken every detail into account to create a fiction which seems real.

Under the smiling faces and painted colors of the elite class society, there lies a dark untold story, often concealed from the public. The smiles are fake, the gestures are forced, yet they look natural and good to naked eye. Elana has been able to bring out these aspects very well, making me nod in agreement each time while reading.

Carla is quite an interesting character portrayed by the author with different shades in her personality. I personally like the way Elana has shown Carla feeling guilty and then giving in. 

George seems every women's dream! Too perfect to be true (Hehe) 

Elousie, Carla's friend, is an underplayed character. Her actions did not make sense. But somebody always plays the fool in a fiction pulp, isn't it? 

The only place where the story stumbled was the climax where Elana picked up all broken pieces to complete the jigsaw puzzle. 

Spoiler- Why will terrorists dealing with Nuke leave the victim alive in an old unused factory? And why on Earth should the ladies be kidnapped just to be brought to the same factory where the nuke weapon was assembled?  Carla's reunion with her father's family (the main objective of her going to India) was diluted as the story progressed. The whole background of her father's family seemed unnecessary!

    

The book was otherwise quite engaging, leaving me wondering “what’s next” after each chapter.  If only the climax was a little better and watertight, the story would be flawless. Infact the climax was a bit stretched and over done. But as they say, no body is prefect, so the minor flaws do not annoy you. 

In a nutshell, this is a light read for all audience. Not suitable for "serious action"lovers may be but has all ingredients for a perfect Bollywood Masala fiction. Will not appeal to a mature audience. The language is quite simple, sans complicated words or jargons. 

My rating- 3 on 5 

About the author- Elana is married to an Indian physicist is a mother of 4 daughters. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa. A former fashion designer,Elana is currently work as a marketing director for a chain of five restaurants co-owned by her and husband.

Read more about her at http://www.elanasabharwalbooks.com/

Movie Review- Wazir

Director- Bejoy Nambiar            Producer-  Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Genre- Thriller                            Release Date- 8 Jan, 2016          Duration- 1 hour 44 minutes

Wazir is one of the most talked about thriller films in Bollywood and the screen presence of Big B Amitabh Bachhan with super talented Farhan Akhtar gives you a reason to watch it. The duo feature in unique roles like never before. O yeah that’s intriguing enough.

As the name suggests, this thriller plot is based on a chess game where the pawns represent the characters. No, the movie does not revolve around the game of chess or but on dirty politics and corrupt thoughts that the characters portray, just like one does in chess.

The plot- The protagonist Pandit Omkar Nath Dhar (Amitabh Bachhan) is a wheelchair bound grand chess master who lost his daughter in an accident. Deep down in his heart he knows the killer of his daughter but is unable to avenge him because of two reasons- Lack of concrete proof and his disability.

The second character Daanish Ali (Farhan Akhtar) is a high ranked cop in the anti-terrorist squad who is married to Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari). The couple lives a happy life with their cute six year old daughter Noorie. In an unfortunate accident, while chasing a terrorist, Noorie gets shot and dies on the spot. A grief stricken Ruhana blaming Noorie's death on Daanish, gets separated from the latter, refusing to see him.

A devastated Daanish promises himself to avenge the death of his daughter. He finds confidante in Pandit Ji and as both share a common thing – grief of their dead daughters. In their unique friendship, Pandit teaches chess to Daanish and narrates to him how he had lost his own daughter Nina. Daanish is intrigued by Pandit's story and promises to help him find Nina’s killer. The suspect Minister Quereshi holds the story in the second half. The hunt grows messier and shocking truth gets murkier as reality unfolds.

Screen brilliance by Farhan

Neil- The surprise package

Character analysis-
Needless to mention, Big B outshines and Pandit’s character is unbeatable. Farhan Akhtar gives his hundred percent in every role. The intensity and the hard work in his performance clearly shows on screen. This is Akhtar's another commendable performance after Bhaag Mikhaa Bhaag. From an officer on duty to a father mourning his daughter’s death, Farhan’s shift in expression and body language is superb. He is superb as the new age actor.

Aditi Rao in the role of a classical dancer and perturbed mother, justifies her presence quite well. I surely would love to see more of her classical dance moves. John Abharam adds just the right amount of spice in the climax. What’s more- Neil Nitin Mukesh is a surprise character, who is slyly named Wazir. Why slyly? Well, you gotta watch that for yourself!

Cinematography by Sanu Varghese is brilliant, giving an excellent angle and feel to the story.

The plot is promising and very well executed. Yet the punch of spice unlike in fast paced thrillers is missing. The climax was a little over the top and not out-of- the-box. Could have been better!
In many a places, the story was kind of predictable.

The songs are excellent and enjoyable. In fact it was the song "Atrangi Yaari" that made me watch the movie. (But it does not feature in the movie). Kudos to Big B abd Farhan for singing, considering their talent and energy they have always displayed for audience. A special mention of Ankit Tiwari, Shantanu Moitra hence!

Rest, the songs are not disturbing, performance was excellent and in a true sense a potentially great thriller.

Spoiler- If minister Quereshi could kill Nina, he might as well had killed his own daughter and easily fabricated it as an accident. Sympathies would still remain with him. No?

Rating- 3.5/5

Book review- Bankerupt

Book -Bankerupt                 Author - Ravi Subramanian                       Publisher-  Penguin

Genre- Thriller                     Number of pages- 319, paperback        Purchase Price- Rs 250 from book stall

Available- in all book stores, online stores

The plot- Aditya Raisinghania is a senior investment banking manager at the prestigious Greater Boston Global Bank (GB2) in Mumbai. Cirisha Narayanan and her father walk into BG2 on a warm summer morning of 2000 for a huge loan amount. Cirisha is a research scholar at M.I.T Boston struggling for a permanent job there. The duo meet and get married a year later. While both are doing well in their fields, Aditya bumps into his old classmate Shivinder who is a top shot with a footwear giant. Aditya helps Shivinder professionally to inflate the profits of the company on papers and cook up a false success story to attract international investment. Aditya soon gets promoted to the head of the bank, Shivinder is able to show profits for the company and together they literally mint money.

Meanwhile Aditya and Cirisha’s marriage starts to fall apart because of the growing distance between them. Her frequent trips to Boston and absence in Mumbai frustrates him.  To make the marriage last, Cirisha comes to India on a long break for a research project only to find something fishy at Shivinder’s company. Oblivious of Aditya’s involvement, she requests authorities of the parent company to investigate the fraud. The whole scam balloon built by Aditya and Shivinder bursts one day, costing Aditya his job. Aditya moves to Boston with Cirisha in quest of a new career. The worse and unexpected happens when an esteemed M.I.T professor supports the National Rifles Association (NRA) against the favour of gun control and wins several accolades across the country for his book. Richard, Cirisha’s colleague and closest friend, is also struggling for a permanent tenure in M.I.T since long. A frustrated Richard, on losing his last chance of tenure during the campus interview allegedly shoots the council members before shooting himself dead. Multiple rounds of chasing the culprits, protecting the victims and fishing out the clues happen. What follows next puts the readers in awe with an unexpected series of incidents, difficult to believe.

The 319 page book is a true thriller that involves financial fraud, politics in educational institute, murder of characters, all driven by desire and greed!  The story is quick paced without a single boring or dull moment. It keeps you riveted throughout. At least I was engrossed thoroughly! Subramanian’s style of writing is unique where he keeps the chapters short, interesting enough to keep readers at the edge of their seats.

The character portrayal is good, could have been better though.

Bankerupt lives up to its name and the tag line (desire, greed, murder). The plot is very well written and sub plots neatly weaved in together.The climax is not a happy ending fairy tale. It’s tragic and sad, leaving the readers thinking about the protagonist’s future. (I do so when I am totally attached to the characters).

Spoiler, loopholes of plot- Mr. Subramanian, why did you kill the character and take the story in reverse? By the time the actual story is revealed, the readers forget the initial incident and the time warp.  Secondly, checking email is one of the first things on a crime investigation, especially when a prestigious institute is concerned. Thinking of doing so and hacking a password would not have been difficult by Boston police team!

Recommended for- Thriller lovers, or Finance professionals in large corporates who would love the story and its twists.

My rating- In spite of a gripping plot and quick pace, I would rate it 3.5 on5, owing to a weak climax and loop holes in the plot.

About the author- (Source:Wiki page)- Ravi Subramanian is a banker by profession and an alumnus of IIM Bangalore. Post a career spanning two decades in the banking industry, he has authored novels such as Devil in Pinstripes, If God Was a Banker, The Incredible Banker, and I Bought the Monk’s Ferrari. He is also a columnist for The Economic Times. He has won the Economist Crossword Book Award twice, and has also won the Indiaplaza Golden Quill Book Award.