Racy, cinematic narrative
Reviewed by Nonika Singh

Mumbaistan
By Piyush Jha. Rupa. Pages 242. Rs 195

what happens when a filmmaker turns a writer? You bet the book reads like a film and pages turn into dramatic scenes and are powerful enough to evoke a visual imagery. Piyush Jha's Mumbaistan comprising three novellas is an engaging read, almost unputdownable once you begin.

Be it the opening story Bomb Day woven around the theme of terrorism or the concluding one The Coma Man, a more individualistic account of the man who wakes up from coma to find himself unravelling the jigsaw puzzle of his life, the author's felicity with words is unmistakably impressive. So is his ability to weave in the topography of Mumbai as well as its smells and flavours into the story-telling format.

For a book titled Mumbaistan, expectedly, the backdrop is Mumbai, rather the underbelly of the Maximum City is where Jha's pen moves, often incisively, digs and explores and brings out three riveting tales. At least two stories seem to be directly inspired by real-life happenings, while the third one too is steeped in the socio-political background of the tumultuous times we are living in.

Terrorism isn't exactly a new issue in India. What's new is that Jha goes beyond what is published in the news reports and let's his imagination soar.

So while keeping terror as a leitmotif, he weaves a story that has love, emotion, intrigue, murder and, of course, violence.

Love, sex and dhokha anyway is the recurring thread that manifests in all three stories. Sexual escapades, as is the wont with many a writer of Indian English, do not cross the limit in this thriller. However, intimacy between man and woman remains the central crux; it's from this backbone that the stories flesh out. The writer's background in cinema does not manifest overtly, although he often relies on conjectures and stereotypes to complete his plot.

None of it takes away his storytelling ability. Jha is a deft raconteur who knows how to keep his audiences (call them readers) engrossed in the twists and turns with which he imbues all his tales, particularly The Injectionwala, which unearths the grimy account of organ trade in the otherwise noble profession of medicine.

In this novella he also brings alive the socio-economic dynamics of the new India in the manner in which he details his characters many of which come from humble backgrounds. His characters, despite the unusual circumstances in which they are caught, are believable and their dilemmas fascinating if not soul stirring. A potboiler, it is meant to engage your senses, which it does emphatically. For a book that's dedicated to his wife, female protagonists are pivotal, even if not always virtuous.

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