Mumbaistan – Piyush Jha

Rating : 4.5/5
Read between 3rd July to 7th July

Edition Details:
Format : Paperback
Page Count : 242
Publisher: Rupa

Mumbaistan by Piyush Jha is a collection of three crime novellas. Piyush Jha is a Bollywood film director and directed films like: Sikandar, Chalo America, King of Bollywood
This was his first book. The book contains following novellas:

1) Bombday 4.5/5

First Sentence:

‘If i don’t marry Tanvir today, I’ll die!’ Rabia’s words tumbled into the phone that fateful morning.

Rabia used to work as a sex-worker. But then she fell in love with Tanvir. And now all they want is to marry and have a family. There should be no problem right. But unfortunately there is.
After 26/11 the terrorists have planned another attack which will shake the foundations of Mumbai and inexplicably Tanvir and Rabia find themselves in the midst of it.

A cat and mouse game has begun between the police and the terrorists and the whole Mumbai is at stake.

And to be successful (in thwarting the attack) Tanvir and Rabia  may have to sacrifice their love.

Bomb day is the first story in the collection and has most number of twists and turns.  I enjoyed reading it.

The main characters of the story are:
Tanvir Khanzada – A fitness trainer and ex gangster who has pending cases against him
ACP Hani – Police officer of ATS(Anti Terrorist Squad) He knows a bomb will go off in Mumbai and he wants to avert that at any cost.
Alamzeb – Head of the terrorists who have planned the attack
Rabia – Tanvir’s love interest and an ex- sex worker. Tanvir and Rabia want to get married.She was ex-lover of Alamzeb.
Zohra – Roomate of Rabia. She is also a sex- worker.
The story is fast paced and the twists will keep you intrigued and entertained . Apart from  it the dialogues are good too. They remind of Bollywood masala flicks. You can imagine top bollywood actors mouthing them off. For eg: This is what ACP hani once says:

‘Love is a weapon. In the right hands, it can make a kheema of the hardest heart.’

I could easily picture Kay kay menon or Irfan khan speaking these dialogues. I really liked the characters in this novella. There is no good or bad in them. ACP here is on the right side but more often than not i found myself not liking him. It was the way he talked about Rabia’s profession. I think being a police office he must be most acquainted with the conditions under which women are forced into this profession and so i found his attitude was despicable. I know most people think like him only but here he is shown as a man of character.

2) Injectionwala 3.5/5

First Sentence:

The man sighed.

Dr Porus Udaiwala wanted revenge. And he got it. He took it by injecting a poison into his enemy’s body. It didn’t matter that the enemy was his lover Sakshi’s father. Then something happened and now Porus has decided to kill more people.

When more bodies are found murdered with an injection police know there is a serial killer on the loose. They have dubbed him Injectionwala. People seem to support this Injectionwala.

And standing between the victims and killer is Inspector Ramesh Virkar. He has his own issues to resolve and a moral dilemma : whether to let injectionwala to do what he’s doing or act according to law.

What happened to Porus and Sakshi?Why did he started killing more people? And how did the confrontation between Porus and Inspector Virkar went?

‘Injectionwala’ is not a mystery novella as we get to know in the first page who the killer is. It’s a thriller as we read to find out how these killings would end. It was a fun read which is weaved around organ trafficking. We do read in newspapers from time to time about how people have been duped and their kidneys removed without their consent. The victims are often powerless and from a poor background. But if one of them starts taking revenge for what was done to him, the story would be similar to this. I enjoyed reading the novella. It takes up a pertinent issue. 

3) Coma Man 4/5

First Sentence:

Naked. Beautiful. Uninhibited.

On June 15 2012 Coma Man came out of Coma. He had been in Coma for nineteen years and his waking up was nothing short of miracle. He had been kept in a secret ward of Bhonsale Medical Trust hospital. His memories are foggy. He just knew his name was Samir Khanna and June 15th was his wife’s birthday.

Madhukar Bhonsale is the chief trustee of  Bhonsale Medical Trust Hospital. Madhukar was the one who was paying Samir’s bills. He had been praying that Coma man wouldn’t come out of his coma. But now he has so he will have fulfill his promise that he made nineteen years ago.

Raghu Nadar is a municipal Councillor of Vashi,Navi Mumbai. He is a promising politician who knows he’s going to be rise to the upper echelons of power. But he has a dark secret which he doesn’t wants to let out. And this Samir Khanna would be the one who can either make or break his career. He’ll do anything to elicit that information from Samir even if it means killing him.

And then there is the question what happened to Samir. How did he end up being in coma?

For the last nineteen years the secrets were buried but now time has come when they’ll get unraveled.

Coma man is the last novella in the collection. It was an intriguing read. Samir when wakes up from wants only his wife Bahar. But the problem is he doesn’t remember much of his life. He keeps remembering snippets  as the story progresses. Thus there is a mystery to the story which keeps the reader hooked. Samir is being followed by a powerful politician which keeps the thrill quotient of the story up. I would just say it was a fitting end to this amazing collection. Like the other it too has sufficient twist to make it a satisfying read.   

I loved reading this book. I already have kindle edition of  ‘Raakshas: The Serial Killer’ by the author. So, i’ll be reading it soon. I hope it’s as good as this one. Then depending on that i’ll surely check other works by him.

If you like thrillers then i think you’d like it too. 

If you have read this book then do tell me what did you think about it. If you haven’t then you should give it a go. You can get the book from the following links:

Paperback

Kindle

© विकास नैनवाल ‘अंजान’