Short Takes 31

Mother, Maiden, Mistress
Bhawna Somaaya, Jigna Kothari & Supriya Madangarli | Harper Collins | Rs 299

Charting the role of women actors in Hindi cinema from 1950 to 2010 is no mean task. To define it, and bring out the nuances, is even tougher. The problem with the writers of this loftily titled book is that while they are able to reconstruct the timeline, they struggle with the multiple-questions that rise from within. The fault lies in the structure of the book and its flimsy narrative.  The chapters are divided by decades. And the roles essayed by women actors are viewed through the mythological looking glass. First person narrative is included in form of six insipid interviews. Rest is a role-call.

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The Diary of Amos Lee
Adeline Foo | Hatchette India | Rs 195

‘Growing up’ is serious business. And no one understands it better than writers who write books for children. It’s not easy to get under the skin of a teenager. But Adeline Foo does it with aplomb, helped in good measure by animated illustrations provided by Stephanie Wong. This is the third illustrated diary in the series that describes the ups and downs in a life of a primary school boy student, Amos Lee. In this book, Foo deals with the ambitions, the envy and the impact of modern technology, in particular, twitter and facebook has on the mind of a young hipster.

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Chittagong Summer of 1930
Manoshi Bhattacharya | Harper Collins | Rs 450

Nearly 12 years after the publication of Manini Chatterjee’s celebrated Do or Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 comes a book that charts a similar territory. The two books are, however, very different from each other in one respect. If Chaterjee’s book broke new ground by reconstructing the revolutionary motive and ethos that drove the movement and thereby forced a reassessment of history, Bhattacharya’s book romanticizes it. From the word go, Bhattacharya is driven by ‘bringing to life’ the people that rebelled against the British and were labeled as ‘traitors’. Curiously, Bhattacharya’s book makes no mention of Chatterjee’s seminal work. Not even in the bibliography.

(An edited version of the above reviews appeared in the Sunday edition of the Mail Today, New Delhi, dated 20 May 2012)

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