Till now I thought that the themes and
action sequences of many Indian films are inspired from Hollywood. Now this vogue
has been transformed to literature even with the advent of The Krishna Key the
latest in the genre started by Dan Brown and which has now become a rage. The story
was started like Robin Cook novel but ended like a damp squib. It is quite similar to the Historical Puzzle based thrillers that were first presented by Dan Brown.
What is disturbing, however, that while the story is quite different in some
ways, there are clear cases where the story has been obviously inspired by the
iconic Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit in
the chunks and cannot be expected from an author of “The Chanakya’s chant.
It’s
an OK kind of book. Well it is not entirely a copy of “ The Da Vinci Code” I
personally believe that Indian mythology is far more interesting and far more
mysterious than western mythology. I also loved the Shiva trilogy books....I feel
good for both the authors to be able to present Indian mythology in this form
to the world....it’s a terrific effort though.
THE CHARACTERS
- Ravi Mohan Saini: Geeky, smart, intelligent and quick-witted professor of history
- Priya: 40, clever, phd student plus....
- Radhika Singh: Tom Boyish but honest police officer
- Sunil Garg: Head of the CBI...
- Taarak Vakil: Serial Killer
THE PLOT
Raja Man Singh left 4 seals kept in a base
plate, which together point to a secret that will point the way to Lord
Krishna's best - kept secret. That is the simple premise of the book. The book
is simply based on deciphering the various clues to figure out where the object
pointed to by the Key is located. One researcher - Prof Varshney - who knows
the secret is murdered; but he has taken precautions by sending 4 of his
friends 4 parts of the key. First the Professor and then one by one, the
friends start getting murdered
Professor Saini is one of the friends chosen
for a key-part; he is suspected of having murdered Prof Varshney; from here
starts his headlong rush to save himself both from the police as well as from
the real murderer - all the while trying to peice together the
near-indecipherable puzzle that has been left by Prof Varshney. He has only his
doctoral student Priya and her criminal lawyer father for help... and his wits.
He must find the 4 seals that form the key, the base-plate that holds the keys
and decipher the reality of the Krishna Key.
THE ANALYSIS
A professor, a female helper, a centuries - old
puzzle to be solved, both the police and the crooks hunting the poor souls, a
religion - based secret... it is the Da Vinci code all over again. At least at
first sight. Even at second sight, the impression of Da Vinci Code cannot be
forgotten. The similarities are far too many... let us say that this novel has
been inspired by The Da Vinci Code. There are enough twists in the tale that
keep it from becoming predictable, there are enough changes in the story that
take it away from Da Vinci Code. Further, the base story, while being similar
in some instances, has a different flow to it, is different in its nature as
well as its thesis. There is no religion-challenging here: all is as it should
be. It is slower than the Da Vinci Code, more contrived.
The Am bigrams used are too obvious that they
are created just to fit in the character’s
name but not derived out of history like in Angels and Demons. I was not able
to understand the main motto behind the killings as the assassin always have a option of accomplishing his task without
bloodshed.
Sir Khan’s biography is clearly Haji Mastaan’s
life story.
Most importantly, it deals with a subject that
we have heard about since we were born (at least the Hindu Audience); so
the interest is kindled automatically. The story does not move at a break-neck
speed - but rather at a leisurely pace. The character development could have
been better... the characters could have been more robust; there are instances
where the stated behaviour jars. Luckily, this is only towards the end of the
novel - and only in a few places.
The
Mahabharata story was very jarring and was written shoddily and very summarily.
The characters were amateurish and one dimensional. The writing was terrible
and the plot twists did not shock me. Yes, I did keep reading and that I
suppose is the only merit of the book. The story of the Mahabharata has been
interspersed - in the signature style of Ashwin Sanghi - which has a twin
effect: it breaks the flow of the story, refocuses your mind as well as
builds your impatience as you wonder how the story progresses. This
enables a sort-of refresher of the old story, which is quite entertaining and
interesting. However, in this novel, the flow of the story could decidedly have
been much better handled - unlike in Chanakya's Chant.
The book is all in all a quick read, is
interesting and is well presented. The writing style is lucid and free from any
pejoratives or curse-words, thankfully. I cannot say any more- positive or
negative- as it will reveal too much about the story. It is a good read
for a journey, or on a leisurely afternoon.
It
is a nice book... I believe I said as much in the review. But I don’t regard it
as his best, either at least like his first book “The Rozabal Line”! Can it be re-read? Yes, it can. Worth a buy...
