किंग खान: द राशोमॉन सागा (Hindi Edition) By Kamal Upadhyay | Book Review

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A person who can take a satirical look at the current happenings is more often one of the most intelligent fellows. Kamal Upadhyay is one such author. Inspired by the writings of Premchand-ji and Parsai-ji, he love to explore the things from the satirical goggles. It was Lankapati Ka Loktantra (लंकापति का लोकतंत्र) – a satire by him, that connected us. The way he elaborated the current political system (then and now) in this book, is something interesting. Eventually, he wrote the second part of the story as well. Here are quick links to our reviews for both these books.

• Lankapati Ka LokTantra (लंकापति का लोकतंत्र) | Book Review
• Ravan Aur LokTantra (रावण और लोकतंत्र) By Kamal Upadhyay | Book Review

It is not that he writes political satires only. His short EBooks for kids, featuring a sparrow-kid Ilu (ईलू) are worth reading as well.

• Ilu – A Hindi Short EBook By Kamal Upadhyay | Review
• Ilu : Chalnewali Chidiya (ईलू : चलनेवाली चिड़िया) by Kamal Upadhyay | Book Review

In addition, he wrote some emotional books on social canvas as well.

• Christmas Gift | An Emotional Short EBook By Kamal Upadhyay | Personal Review

So, when we came to know about his latest (writing) venture, claiming that it explores a territory he hasn’t explored before, we were more than curious to read it. Yes, we are talking about his latest EBook – किंग खान: द राशोमॉन सागा.

By the way, the Rashomon effect is the situation in which an event is given contradictory interpretations or descriptions by the individuals involved, and is a storytelling and writing method in cinema meant to provide different perspectives and points of view of the same incident. The term, derived from the 1950 Japanese film Rashomon, is used to describe the phenomenon of the unreliability of eyewitnesses.

Despite believing in the fact – “one should not judge a book by its cover” – we cannot ignore the influence of the book cover on a remarkable number of reading and/or purchase decisions. Actually, the cover page is responsible for creating the first impression of the book (or for that matter any media it is associated with) and it also serves as a gateway to the virtual world explored within.

Let us take a look at the cover page of – किंग खान: द राशोमॉन सागा.

The book revolves around 3 versions of the same sequence of events happened. The events brought dark(!) time for the characters involved in. The dark themes, thus go pretty well for the cover design. The use of illustrative sketches adds to the mystery element. A well-thought, eye-catcher cover page. Probably designed by Chetan Adlak.

The Plot:

Popularly known as King Khan, one of the prominent film stars of Hindi Film industry is seeing tough times. Gone are the days when his films guaranteed box office success. Now he is desperately waiting for films that may bring him to limelight again. His next film is almost ready to release and his hopes are at high.

Son of this famous superstar is in his younger days and loves to enjoy parties. A girl calls him and invites him for the same. However, his father has strictly instructed one of his confidantes to remain with his son, like a shadow. Already desperate for the party, the son gives him a miss. The things took an unexpected turn when the supposed party place was raided by the police and the son was caught under the influence of drugs.

Inspector Tendulkar is having hard time in the police department. He needed to prove his worth as otherwise, his transfer to “gadh-chirauli” is waiting for him. He found himself unlucky as he didn’t get a chance to resolve any remarkable case so far!

Was the son of King Khan actually took drugs or was he caught as part of a conspiracy? Will political big guns support King Khan in getting out of this trouble – clean? Will Tendulkar get a chance to revive his career? You can read this short E-Book to get answers.

Views And Reviews:

As the book revolves around 3 versions of a set of incidents, you will be able to see the same chain of actions and reactions from different perspective. All of them are different and exploring a different conspiracy than the others. But that is not the only USP of the book. Of course, it has thrilling moments, but, to me the most interesting aspect of the story is – you can relate almost all the major scenes with a real set of incidents happened with the son of a now almost fading Bollywood movie star. The incident grab the media headlines for days and was talk-of-the-town(!) – or talk of the nation! – for days.

Of course, the memory of the people is getting shorter these days. But, the incident is not that old, so it must give the readers, the ‘deja-vu’ feelings :)!

The author makes it clear in the beginning itself:

राशोमोन प्रभाव वह स्थिति है जिसमें किसी घटना को शामिल व्यक्तियों द्वारा विरोधाभासी व्याख्या या विवरण दिया जाता है, और सिनेमा में एक कहानी कहने और लिखने का तरीका है जो एक ही घटना के विभिन्न दृष्टिकोण और दृष्टिकोण प्रदान करता है।

यह कहानी तीन किरदारों की है। हर किरदार की कहानी को तीन भाग में लिखा गया है। जो एक – दूसरे के साथ पैरलल यूनिवर्स में घट रही है। तीनों किरदारों की कहानियों को एक – दूसरे से सिंक करने की जिम्मेदारी पाठकों को दी जा रही है।

The bigger challenge for an author (especially when writing a short story or satire) is – to let the reader feel a connection with the story. And, the plot proves helpful in achieving the same (to the author). Like every other impactful satire, this one is also having philosophical messages to convey. For me, the messages are:

• Every star has an expiry date, beyond that he/she will have put-in explicit efforts to appear – still shining – to the viewers.
• Not everything can be taken for its face value.
• And, below the shine of fame and money, there exists a dark and sad world even in the lives of celebrities, which remains hidden from most of the common-folks.

The “once a superstar”‘s realization of getting outdated slowly but steadily is reflected in the story, with a reference to the yesterday’s superstar (though the movie name should have been “wafaa” here), and his fading time, proves to be effective.

जब काका को बूढ़ी उम्र में जुली जैसी फिल्म मिल गई थी तो मुझे भी काम तो मिलता रहेगा लेकिन फिल्म सफल होने का चांस अब कम होते जाएगा।”

Of course, there will be fans, who love the work and charisma of their favorite superstar, always:

“किंग खान भी साला क्या डांस करता है ना। पचास साल का हो गया है लेकिन डांस आज भी वही DDLJ जैसा स्टाइल में जोश भरा।

And, some of the rational viewers/fans do feel that:

“भाई एक उम्र के बाद, करिश्मा ढलने लगता है। गाँधी जी भी सौ साल जी जाते तो लोग उनकी बातें सुनने से भी इनकार कर देतें हैं। हर प्रोडक्ट की चार लाइफ स्टेज होती है। चौथी स्टेज में कोई प्रोडक्ट नहीं जाना चाहता लेकिन सब चले जातें हैं।”

Also, fame has its own trolling impact, not only on the famous person, but also to his/her associates as well. As said in the book:

“पापा की स्टारडम की चमक इतनी तेज है कि उसकी चमक से अब हम सब की पर्सनल लाइफ में बहुत डिस्टर्बेंस आती है।

The challenge for famous persons often is keeping their children away from unwanted attention. Sometimes for media and other fellows, it is merely a news-piece or gossip, but for the children who are looking towards their parents as their “idols”, the things are not easy to cop-up with.

The author mentions this tough situation quite effectively in the book.

“खाने की टेबल और बच्चों के सामने सिने वर्ल्ड की बातें मत किया करो उमा। कितनी मेहनत से इन सबको इस जहर से बचाकर रखा है।”

“पापा वैसे भी अब हम बच्चे नहीं रहें। हमारे मोबाइल में अब वो सारी खबर आती है, जो आप हमसे छिपाना चाहतें हैं।”

The reference to the media is mentioned as:

आपने दीपावली के इस महीने में मीडिया वालों को रॉकेट थमा दिया।”

The author doesn’t shy away from mentioning current happenings and the way situations are made in the country.

साहिबा बड़ी जोर से हँसी, “मैं किसी हिंदू लड़के से शादी करके घर वापसी कर लूँ?” “पापा आप बोलो तो मैं लव जिहाद कर दूं?”

And yes, the author refers to the “other superstar” who was also convicted in past, through a conversation in jail.

“क्या रे किसी बड़े आदमी का छोकरा लगता है तू? साहब ने बोला झाड़ू लगाकर, फिनॉयल से पोछा लगाना है। तीन सालपहले इस कोठरी में फिनॉयल से पोछा लगा था। तभी इधर वो बड़ा फिलिम स्टार आया था। वो जो डायलॉग मारता है ना कि मैं दिल में आता हूँ, दिमाग में नहीं। तू बोलेगा नहीं क्या?”

The author also mentions that more often than not, the actions we took with different intent may come back as thorns in our path. So, be vigilant of what you say and when you say.

“क्या पता था कि हाजिर जवाबी और सबको खुश करने के चक्कर में एक दिन सारे डायलॉग ख़ंजर बनकर शरीर मे लगेंगे।”

The book has some philosophical lines too, and that is the most important part of any satire.

कैमरा भी किसी का दोस्त या दुश्मन नहीं होता। वो तो बस समय और अवसर का दोस्त होता है।

भाषा… संवाद बोले तो डायलॉग का माध्यम है। डायलॉग जरूरी है चाहे जिस भाषा में हो। बस सामनेवाले को समझ में आना चाहिए।

Some spelling-mistakes are also there.

समर को एक बार फिर खानी पड़ी मूकी, एक्स सॉलिसिटर रस्तोगी भी नहीं दिला पाए जमानत।”

The most important punchline of the book, according to me, is the tagline of the book – सत्य + असत्य = अर्धसत्य.

Summary:

If you love satires, you will enjoy reading this book.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7.5 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy - किंग खान: द राशोमॉन सागा by Kamal Upadhyay - Kindle EBook - Amazon IN
• Buy - किंग खान: द राशोमॉन सागा by Kamal Upadhyay - Kindle EBook - Amazon US

Over To You:

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