Book Review | Ghalib Danger (Hindi Version) By Neeraj Pandey

Neeraj Pandey, is well known for his films. He is a fantastic movie director, no doubt about that. A very few readers know that he authors book also.

A long ago, we got a chance to read the Hindi edition of his book Ghalib Danger (गालिब डेंजर), and today we are going to talk about that.

By the way, the proof reading of this book is done by Manoj Muntashir Shukla, a well know lyrics and script writer. So we have even higher expectations from this book.

Book Cover:

The cover page plays an important role in book purchase/pick-up decisions for sure. Well, we humans, love beauty and are naturally atrracted towards the same. So, if the cover page is attractive, chances that we will go for the book (or for that matter, any respective media) gets increased.

As you can see, the cover page of Ghalib Danger is moderately attractive.

The faded red background compensates the genre quite well. Additionally a pistol in the top half of the cover pages represents “danger” word quite well. The illustration of a car with broken glasses represents the incident proved to be a turning point in Kamran’s life. And, a book is there to represent the inclusion of a diary containing the lines by Ghalib, the famous Urdu poet.

It is quite honest to the book title and story both.

What do you think of this cover page?

The Plot:

Let us take a bird’s eye view of the story.

A taxi driver named Kamran is living his not-so-complicated life in Mumbai. One day, he saves the life of a person. The person was a big name in the underworld of Mumbai. And, as you can guess, the life of Kamran is diverted to a different direction altogether from this point.

Feeling grateful to Kamran, Mirza (the man he saved) introduces him to the dark world. The life took its path and eventually Kamaran took Mirza’s place!

He adopted an interesting philosophy, that Ghalib’s poetry can be used in any situation and can even be used as an inspiration to get out of the trickey situations! And, that earned him the tile – Ghalib Danger (ग़ालिब डेंजर).

Of course, he came into conflict with powerful people from various streams of business, politics, law-enforcement authorities and more. Some will definitely took his side, and some may be found on the opposition.

What situations Kamran will face? Will “crime never pays” (no matter what your reasons are, to commit the same) proverb show its effects here also? Should a criminal be celebrated? Or the definition of good and bad are based on perspectives? What this story is trying to convey at the end?

Well, you need to read the book to get answers! And, over the course you will meet with Kamran Khan (कामरान ख़ान), Sonia (सोनिया), Avinash Sharma – SI (एस.आई. अविनाश शर्मा।), Mukhtar Sheikh (मुख़्तार शे़ख), Pratap Khatri (प्रताप खत्री), Damodar (दामोदर), Pramukh Joshi – HM (गृहमंत्री प्रमुख जोशी), Salma (सलमा), Farukh Khitkhit (फारु़ख खिटखिट), Yakub Mental (या़कूब मेंटल), Shankar Anna (शंकर अन्ना), Kanitkar – SI (एस.आई. कानितकर), Bunty (बंटी), Mohan (मोहसिन), Chhote (छोटे), Samir (समीर), Arif (आरि़फ), Nusrat (नुसरत), Hamid (हामिद), Mirza Azmat Ali (मिर्ज़ा अज़मत अली), Murli Highway (मुरली हाई- वे), Pramod Gupte – SI (सब- इंस्पेक्टर प्रमोद गुप्ते), Ramesh Naik (इंस्पेक्टर रमेश नाइक), Vidhya Rai (विद्या राय), and others…

Views And Reviews:

If you like masala films which are complete entertainer, you will also like to read this book.

This book presents a good thriller where sarcasm and philosophy also found its place. The author’s idea to infuse famous Poet – Ghalib’s lines at various points in the story. I found it adding the spice to the story!

It is not easy to write a thriller that is based on a criminal. Though, written solely for the entertainment purpose, the author needs to take care that in the the crime should get punishment.

The layered characters is a strong point of this book. The course of events let us uncover various layers of many of the characters. As we see in our lives, most of the people we meet, has shades of grey and are not pure black or white. Thus, the layered characters are more relatable.

There are some slangs and local proverbs etc. are used that gives the book a regional flavor. Eg:

आरा ज़िला घर बातो का चीज़ के डर बा?

It actually works in favor of the book as the incidents and characters look even more real.

At the same time, the author knows that just having the regional flavor will make the reach of the book limited. So in addition to 2013— तलोजा जेल, महाराष्ट्र, भारत, he sets up some events in 2007— ला चैपेल, पेरिस, फ़्रांस as well.

As mentioned earlier, the author has explored various attributes of book characters effectively, here are some such lines in regards to Kamran.

वह हमेशा सुनने और मदद करने के लिए लालायित रहता। कई बार सि़र्फ सुन लेना ही अपने आप में का़फी होता है।
——————– —————-
उस पर कई सारी शादियाँ करने का इलज़ाम था। जब वो पकड़ा गया, अपनी पाँचवीं शादी के मंडप में था। 15 साल तक जैसे वो चार बीवियाँ सँभाल पाया था, उससे कामरान का़फी प्रभावित था और इसी वजह से उसने दामोदर को अपनी सेवा के लिए चुना था। कामरान को चमचे पसंद नहीं थे; लेकिन इस दुनिया में आपको सेवा तो चाहिए ही।
——————– —————-
अपनी पहली कमाई से उसने अपने लिए सि़र्फ एक रुपया रख लिया।

These lines show that such fellows are smart and know the human psyche well. (How otherwise they could have controlled so many people?) They know the art of manipulation, too well.

When required, they can deliver motivational speeches also.

सलमा, हम एक ही बार पैदा होते हैं, एक बार जीते हैं, एक बार मरते हैं; लेकिन अगर हम गलत फैसले लेते हैं तो हर दिन, हर पल मरते हैं।
——————– —————-
हमें पता नहीं होता कि हमारे अंदर कितनी हिम्मत है! गुस्सा और प्यार किसी भी हद को तोड़ सकते हैं।

Things in most of such places should not be taken for the face vlue. Often, the stakeholders are the one, whom you expect least.

कामरान के जजमेंट डे ने तीन लोगों को चिंतित ज़रूर कर दिया था— फारु़ख खिटखिट, या़कूब मेंटल और सोनिया।
——————– —————-
उस दिन अंडरवर्ल्ड और पुलिस ने माना कि फली का साम्राज्य वास्तव में उसकी पत्नी नज़मा बे़गम ने खड़ा किया था।

Here are some more character defining lines from the book:

इन मुला़कातों के दौरान उन्होंने एक- दूसरे को छुआ तक नहीं था; लेकिन उस दौरान के हालात इस क़दर गरम होते थे कि अगर आप कमरे में हों तो आपका डिस्चार्ज होनेवाला फ़ोन एक सेकंड में चार्ज हो सकता था।
——————– —————-
रात काली होती है और फ़ोन पर बिना चेहरेवाली ख़तरनाक आवाज़ का दिया मौत का पै़गाम और डरावना लगता है। इसका नतीजा यह होता था कि टार्गेट की नींद उड़ जाती और उस पर डर हावी हो जाता।

The book is not glorifying the shady characters. It utters some truths like:

कानून जब अपने पर आता है तो उन लोगों के लिए ज़्यादा कष्टकारी होता है, जो खुद को इससे ऊपर मानते हैं।

The book has some wisdom lines that are worth sharing.

सफलता बोझिल भी होती है और अनावश्यक रूप से ज़्यादा महत्त्व पाती है। जीवन में ज़्यादा स्थायी सीख हमारी विफलता से मिलती है।
——————– —————-
‘वो कहते हैं कि आपके पास हमेशा दो रास्ते होते हैं— लंबा रास्ता और छोटा रास्ता। लेकिन मेरा तजुरबा ये कहता है कि एक सही रास्ता होता है और एक ग़लत रास्ता।’ ‘मुझे कैसे पता चलेगा कि कौन सा सही रास्ता है और कौन सा गलत?’ ‘आमतौर पर सही रास्ता ज़रा लंबा होता है और ग़लत रास्ता थोड़ा छोटा।’
——————– —————-
प्यार के बारे में यही सबसे अजीब बात है। यह एक ही समय में चोट भी पहुँचाता है और मरहम भी लगाता है।
——————– —————-
‘पैसे से खुशी ख़रीदी जा सकती है। इससे मुसकान भी हासिल हो सकती है। दुःख भुलाने में भी ये मदद कर सकता है। जो कहते हैं कि ऐसा नहीं हो सकता, वे मूर्ख हैं। पैसा अपने आप में बुरी चीज़ बिल्कुल नहीं है।’
——————– —————-
एक अच्छी सेवा हमेशा आपके प्रभाव को सामनेवाले पर दुगुना कर देती है।

And yes, the author, of course adds lines representing the influence of Ghalib on Kamran’s life (and Mirza’s too).

गालिब केवल अपनी शायरी ही इस दुनिया को देकर नहीं गया, बल्कि कुंजी दे गया है जीवन की।’

So, by now you must have got a fair idea about the book and its content, right?

Would you like to read such books?

Summary:

Overall, it is a complete masala entertainer with some dark humor and interesting twists. Thriller lovers will enjoy reading it. Not for immature readers.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7.5 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy - गालिब डेंजर (Ghalib Danger) by Neeraj Pandey - Paperback - Amazon IN
• Buy - गालिब डेंजर (Ghalib Danger) by Neeraj Pandey - Kindle EBook - Amazon IN
• Buy - गालिब डेंजर (Ghalib Danger) by Neeraj Pandey - Paperback - Amazon US
• Buy - गालिब डेंजर (Ghalib Danger) by Neeraj Pandey - Kindle EBook - Amazon US

Over To You:

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