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Hindustan Times
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Review: The Wanderer by V Shinilal
Early on in the novel, the narrator-sutradhar, Karamchand, sees a travel guide, India, fall in muck and get rescued by a porter who then hands it over to a white man. He muses, 'India drops into shit. A labourer redeems it. A foreigner rewards him. As a Malayali, he was unable to ignore the politics concealed in those actions.' He thus invites readers to read into the politics of the goings-on in the train. The fact that the train, Sampark Kranti, is a metaphor for the country and humanity is also established early on. In The Wanderer, the train is a metaphor for the country (Shutterstock) 296pp, ₹599; Westland Karamchand is a writer while his co-passenger, the generic white man, John, is a wildlife photographer. Karamchand is, of course, named after Gandhi. So, we know his ideological standpoint from the very beginning and that we are meant to trust him. This despite Karamchand at one point echoing Dvi, the self-appointed people's leader-turned-despot. But there's a still a sense of whose words are to be heeded – Karamchand, maybe John, Kariman, the boy with no history, Sameera, Amanushi. The reader is told to recognise that Karamchand is to Dabholkar is to Govind Pansare is to Gauri Lankesh is to MM Kalburgi is to Sunil P Ilayidom is to Perumal Murugan is to KS Bhagwan is to Kamal Haasan is to Amartya Sen, among others. On the other side are the people in the black, the power-hungry despots like Dvi and Almeida, the railway authorities. They are all later besieged and their reigns ended – often violently. Even so, the hunter and the hunted do not quite cross over despite it happening symbolically and the narrator insisting that they do. We empathize with Kariman's acts but not with Almeida's. One is justified as revenge, anger and survival, the other was just an act that stems from sadism and the need to dominate. Almeida is served just desserts only when he is powerless. Before that, he has brutalised so many that the reader cheers his gruesome death. Then, there is the mob, 'an ogre-sized human'. It adjusts in the face of shortage, then revolts, turns it back on the weakest among them, appoints a new leader, obeys his every whim without question and then overthrows him too. But never do the white and black bleed into each other. In that, this is a novel of ideas alone and the people in it are just metaphorical, two dimensional. The reader is left wondering if everything that happens in it is actually all in Karamchand's imagination, just like the boy without history is. Karamchand is more chronicler than character. The novel is also a reflection on the power of literature. The narrator at one point, talks about how Train to Pakistan has stayed with him despite his having read it 20 years ago. This book is, in some ways, an update. While the Partition and the Emergency loomed large in the imagination of a certain generation of writers, for us it is rampant materialism, the invasiveness of social media, dependence on smartphones, the dream and disappointment in the promise of a better life and communal disharmony. The book references the past and comments on the present. Language and dialect changes as the topography outside changes with the train moving from south to west India. The translator does a commendable job of bringing out these changes. There's a reflection on the 'zha' sound which fails many north of the Vindhyas. However, The Wanderer was perhaps not the best choice for the title of the translation. The original Sambarkkakranti or Sampark Kranti was more apt as the book is both about connection and revolution. There are a few lines that seem to hew too closely to the original. 'Does a man carry his memories or do his memories carry him?' Karamchand wonders but the reader might wonder if a nation carries its memories or have its collective memories carried/shaped? As a nation, are we where we are because of our history? An amusing bit has the narrator wondering why Indians prefer arson as weapon of choice during protests and riots; is it because the Vedas prescribed fire in all purification rituals? Author V Shinilal (Courtesy the publisher) The same sense of meditation comes through in the reflection on sex and power play in different contexts – in rape, in the marital and the extra-marital. There is a surfeit of phalluses in the book. Train bogies decoupling and re-coupling seemed like another pun with a couple of bogies going their separate ways. If the intention was to show how arbitrarily relationships can be sundered by sudden lines, then Sameera's desire to fill Pakistan and India with mustard fields so as to erase those lines, does it more effectively. The women in the book flit in and out and are mere sites of action. Sameera, Lekha Namboothiri, and the Gujarati Nimesha Mehta reflect on the happenings around them but are like cardboard cut-outs without much agency or even the capacity to reflect too deeply. The heavy-lifting is all left to the men, though they don't quite save the day. Priyanka Sarkar is an editor, translator and writer.
Indian Express
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
‘Naseeruddin Shah was jobless and drunk…': Jalwa director recalls being mocked by actor, getting him to do his film
Naseeruddin Shah is often associated with some of the finest works of Indian cinema's parallel movement, with films like Manthan, Sparsh, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai, and Aakrosh. Yet, during the 1980s, he also ventured into more mainstream fare, one of the most notable being Pankaj Parashar's Jalwa. Remarkably, Jalwa came at a time when Naseeruddin had just delivered the acclaimed Paar, for which he won the prestigious Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his portrayal of Naurangia. The transition from such a powerful, serious performance to a slick commercial action-comedy was seen as a shocking shift. Now, in a recent conversation with Sutradhar, director Pankaj Parashar opened up about how Naseeruddin came on board for Jalwa. 'Naseer didn't have any work at the time, he had no films in hand when I signed him for Jalwa. And the funny thing is, he had just done Paar, and had won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, where Robert De Niro was the runner-up. That was the level he was at.' Parashar went on to recall a hilarious incident from a party, one that led to Shah's unlikely casting. 'I had gone to a party, I saw Om Puri and a lot of others there, and sitting somewhere off to the left on the floor was Naseeruddin Shah, with a steel glass in his hand. I remember it like it was yesterday. He asked me, 'Pankaj, what are you up to?' I told him, 'I'm making a film.' He had done voiceovers for four episodes of my TV series Karamchand, so he said, 'I like Karamchand. Now do something good.' I told him, 'I'm making Tarzan.' He paused for a moment, probably sipping rum, and said, 'You're making Tarzan? Who's in it?' I said, 'Hemant Birje.' He said, 'You're going to work with Hemant Birje in Tarzan? You're a gold medalist from film school, you've made Karamchand, and now you're going to do this crap?' I said, 'Yeah, I'm doing it. I've signed Kimi Katkar.' He said, 'Don't be an idiot.' I said, 'You keep drinking whatever it is you're drinking, let me do my thing.' Honestly, I was getting demoralised internally, because he was my senior, and more than that, he was Naseeruddin Shah. So I again told him, 'I'm doing it.' Then he said, 'Do one thing — cast me as Tarzan.' I said, 'Naseer, please keep drinking what you're drinking, you're hallucinating.' I left.' Also Read | When it was 'harrowing' for Naseeruddin Shah to dance alongside Mithun Chakraborty: 'First time I became aware of split personality' He further recounted: 'The next day I told Gul Anand (the producer), 'That guy's crazy, he said he wants to play Tarzan.' Gul Anand heard this, stood up, and said, 'Naseeruddin Shah can play Mickey Mouse if he wants, call him!' I called him, and we went to meet him. And Naseer actually said, 'I'm doing it. I'm joining Sea Rock (gym), and in six months I'll build my body, you'll see.' When we came down from his house, Gul said, 'I'm excited.' Then I told him, 'Maybe we shouldn't make Tarzan.' But Gul, being extra smart, said, 'Let's remake Beverly Hills Cop, throw in some Commando-style action, and flip the whole thing. And you bring in your Karamchand-style touch, plus Naseeruddin Shah building a body. That'll get front-page coverage!' So that was the plan, and then we wrote Jalwa.' Jalwa, co-starring Archana Puran Singh, went on to become a huge box-office success. It was later remade in Telugu in 1988 as Trinetrudu by A Kodandarami Reddy, starring Chiranjeevi.
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Time of India
Age no bar: Man, 62, friend, 58, go on crime spree, arrested after 29 theft cases
BAREILLY: Age may just be a number, but for two elderly men, it also came with a long criminal trail that spanned nearly three decades and at least 29 theft cases, police said on Monday after arresting them for snatching a woman's gold chain in Moradabad. Karamchand, 62, a retired plywood factory worker, and Shravan Kumar, 58, both serial offenders living in Haridwar, had arrived in Moradabad on Friday. They checked into a hotel in Budh Bazaar and spent the evening scouting the area before narrowing their focus to Avantika Colony. Around 6:30am on Saturday, they targeted Anita Kaushik, a woman in her 50s out for a morning walk in the Civil Lines area. Their age didn't fit the typical profile of chain snatchers, which made identification difficult and delayed police response. "Since they weren't locals, tracking them was a challenge," said SP (city) Ranvijay Singh. Multiple teams scanned CCTV footage from across Moradabad and extended the search to Haridwar, eventually identifying the duo and recovering the stolen chain, their scooter, and a firearm, police said. While Karamchand has 29 cases registered against him dating back to 1997 and was arrested in 2019 by Muzaffarnagar police, Shravan has 12, with most of their targets being elderly victims, officers added. "They have been sent to jail. A cash reward of Rs 10,000 has been given to the team that cracked the case," Singh said.
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Time of India
Age no bar: Man, 62, friend, 58, go on crime spree, arrested after 29 theft
Bareilly: Age may just be a number, but for two elderly men, it also came with a long criminal trail that spanned nearly three decades and at least 29 theft cases, police said on Monday after arresting them for snatching a woman's gold chain in Moradabad. Karamchand, 62, a retired plywood factory worker, and Shravan Kumar, 58, both serial offenders living in Haridwar, had arrived in Moradabad on Friday. They checked into a hotel in Budh Bazaar and spent the evening scouting the area before narrowing their focus to Avantika Colony. Around 6:30am on Saturday, they targeted Anita Kaushik, a woman in her 50s out for a morning walk in the Civil Lines area. Their age didn't fit the typical profile of chain snatchers, which made identification difficult and delayed police response. "Since they weren't locals, tracking them was a challenge," said SP (city) Ranvijay Singh. Multiple teams scanned CCTV footage from across Moradabad and extended the search to Haridwar, eventually identifying the duo and recovering the stolen chain, their scooter, and a firearm, police said. While Karamchand has 29 cases registered against him dating back to 1997 and was arrested in 2019 by Muzaffarnagar police, Shravan has 12, with most of their targets being elderly victims, officers added. "They have been sent to jail. A cash reward of Rs 10,000 has been given to the team that cracked the case," Singh said.
The Hindu
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Detective Sherdil' movie review: Diljit Dosanjh is all talk in middling murder mystery
Detective Sherdil begins with a rap number talking up its quick-witted protagonist, ending with a declarative 'Sherlock and Bakshi could never compare!' A tall claim, but also true in a sense. Neither Holmes nor Byomkesh hung around at crime scenes making reels. This, however, is what Sherdil (Diljit Dosanjh) does in the film's opening scene, calling it a highlight of his job. The camera circles him in an arc. We are being introduced to a genius investigator. Instead, Diljit looks like he's ready to drop his latest single. Having busted the biggest kidnapping ring in Budapest — oddly, no one, not even the White characters, speak a line of Hungarian — Sherdil is starting on a vacay. Promptly and unceremoniously, he's dragged back to investigate the murder of telecom magnate Pankaj Bhatti (Boman Irani). On a highway, Bhatti's car was waylaid and blown up by a bike-borne assassin. While the killer was caught, who were his paymasters? The obvious thing to do will be to interrogate the assassin first. Instead, Sherdil rolls up at the Bhatti mansion and places everyone in house arrest. It transpires that Pankaj, like any self-respecting victim with a large fortune in a murder mystery, had altered his will before his death. His family—wife Rajeshwari (Ratna Pathak Shah), kids Angad (Sumit Vyas) and Shanti (Banita Sandhu), plus a missing sala (Chunky Pandey)—comes under suspicion. Also missing is Bhatti's driver, Jaipal (a shifty-looking Mukesh Bhhatt), and Shanti's boyfriend and entrenched outsider Purvak (Arjun Tanwar). Things are looking particularly grim for Purvak, whom Pankaj had bequeathed the lion's share of his wealth. Detective Sherdil (Hindi) Director: Ravi Chahabariya Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Diana Penty, Boman Irani, Ratna Pathak Shah, Sumit Vyas, Banita Sandhu, Mukesh Bhhatt Run-time: 106 minutes Storyline: In Budapest, a fast-talking, quick-thinking detective is called in to solve a complicated murder The film name-checks everything from CID to Karamchand to Pink Panther. In treatment and tone, however, it has but one franchise in mind. The pop-cultural impact of Rian Johnson's wildly successful Knives Out films has been so huge that it, across the globe, several imitations have cropped. Detective Sherdil is not the first Hindi title to adopt the template. From the spiral staircase and antic accoutrements in Bhatti's study to a shot of Sherdil lounging in the tub, not to mention the ambitious use of flashbacks, the visual language is very Knives Out. The characters, too, are assorted hanger-ons and unreliable kinfolk. Where director Ravi Chahabariya invents is the darting, breakneck plot, which keeps stealing away from the mansion and bounding across town. The second half gets too convoluted for words. The film, also edited by Chahabariya, has a frisky music video aesthetic, evident in flashy transitions and intertitles. Though he never breaks the fourth wall, Sherdil talks frequently in voiceover, at times speeding through whole conversations to hand us the gist. The jokey dialogue writing does poorly by his rapid-fire mind. Fatally for a detective, he has a habit of stating the obvious ('This is a planned murder', 'this is a classic whodunnit'). The beat is perpetually dropping in Diljit's head in Detective Sherdil. The actor hits his comedic marks, blowing on a gold-plated harmonica to punctuate his deductions and doubts, wielding it on one occasion like a batarang. Mostly, though, he struggles to enliven scenes. Sherdil is perhaps too chipper an investigator to take seriously (for the right balance between quirkiness and command, see Radhika Apte in Monica, O My Darling).This is where the voiceovers would've come of use—but they don't. Despite the constant inner monologues, Sherdil gives no hint of an inner life. ALSO READ:'India is nobody's property': Diljit Dosanjh amid calls for protest against his concert Irani, Vyas, Sandhu and Bhhatt do respectable filler work—nothing more, nothing less. And a minor bravery award should be conferred on Diana Penty (as Sherdil's co-investigator Natasha) for sitting for a staring match with Ratna Pathak Shah. Better actors would have shuddered. From sassy Maya Sarabhai to icy Rajeshwari, the heat in Pathak Shah's glare has remained undimmed. Detective Sherdil is streaming on ZEE5
