Book Review
Title: The Bestseller She Wrote
Author: Ravi Subramanian
Publisher: Westland Ltd, 2015
Pages: 391
Price: Rs 295
Paraphrasing Francis
Bacon, one may say that some books are potboilers, a few are the fire beneath
the pot, and still few are the food inside the pot. Ravi Subramanian’s latest novel, The Bestseller She Wrote, belongs to the
first category. It has all the
ingredients of a successful Indian potboiler.
There is the hero who is a successful executive in a leading bank and
also a famous writer, a heroine who is the quintessential Indian wife with all
the virtues and no vices, and a villain who is ambitious, scheming,
manipulative and above all a ravishing beauty who is happy to shed her clothes
as required by the author (or the director of the movie).
The main plot revolves
round a modern version of the ancient triangular love. Aditya Kapoor is a happily married,
successful banker and “a rock star author.”
Maya, his wife, is a paragon of virtues, a teacher at Dhirubhai Ambani
International School, who also involves herself in the social initiatives of
the school among the urban poor in Mumbai, particularly the slums of Dharavi. A young graduate from IIM Bengaluru, Shreya, storms
like a virus into the idyllic life of the Kapoors and churns the ocean of their
married life with as much drama and skin show as required for a roaring
Bollywood movie. And the churning will
also yield the amrit in the form of a
moral lesson preached by none other than the hero.
Shreya is a ruthless
egotist, a typical contemporary villain.
For her, everything and everybody is a means that can be manipulated to
achieve success and fame. “Everything is
commerce,” as Aditya says in the novel, for people like Shreya. “Others be damned. Sense an opportunity, go for the kill.”
If Shreya enters like a virus
into the Kapoor paradise, Ebola enters as the tear-jerker without which a movie
in India can be a box office disaster. “Soon
to be a motion picture,” declares the cover of the novel. When Shreya’s “bestseller” is released,
Anurag Kashyap (yes, the real one) is the guest of honour and the movie rights
are bought by him in a grand public gesture.
Promising to become a movie is
one of the essential ingredients of a bestseller.
What are the other
ingredients? The journey must be tragic
but the ending happy, dictates Aditya Kapoor.
If the writer is glamorous and sexy, the book will sell more. “You will be the darling of the media. A pretty author gets away with a lot.” A few pages later we are told, “If an author
is an MBA, or well qualified, foreign educated, young, well-networked, he or
she finds many backers. This is because
the publishers know that they will be able to sell a significant number of
copies in the author’s own personal network.”
Finally, “Sometimes the best-written books fail and the miserable ones
do well. It’s also a matter of luck.”
Ravi Subramanian knows
what makes a publishing success and he uses that knowledge effectively. Towards the end of the novel, a character
says about whatever has been happening, “This is turning out to be a potboiler.” That’s just what the novel is. For those who want a quickie, The Bestseller She Wrote is a good choice. Apart from the fairly fast-paced plot and suspense,
skin show and panty-groping, there is a lovely moral lecture welded with an apology
from Aditya Kapoor crowning the climax of the novel. I can imagine the thunderous applause with
which the Bollywood audience will receive that lecture coming from a tinsel
Kapoor.
“The Bestseller She Wrote is a combustible cocktail of love,
betrayal and redemption,” declares the blurb.
Indeed it is that. A
cocktail. Once the intoxication is over
there will be little to carry home. Not
a single character that sinks into your psyche.
Not a single line that bubbles in your memory. But bestsellers are not meant to do those
things.
I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian
as a part of the biggest Book Review Program forIndian Bloggers. Participate now
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Links to prominent sellers:
I must read this book. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteWelcome and all the best.
DeleteA wonderful review :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Purba.
DeleteA wonderful review... I have also read it and quite liked it too...
ReplyDeleteGood for a break.
DeleteHow real and hard-hitting are the emotions,sir? I want to read something about loss of morality,sexual affairs,betrayal,jealousy etc involving Indian society but written in such a way that it disturbs me and keeps me awake in the night. If not this,can you suggest me something else?
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm reading K R Meera's 'Hangwoman.' A good novel, set in Calcutta, a fascinating blend of history, mythology and legends. I recommend it strongly.
Delete