Freddie Mercury
Lesley-Ann Jones| Hachette India| 374 pp, Rs 595
Born in Zanzibar, modern day Tanzania, to Bomi and Jer Bulsara on a Parsi New Year’s Day in 1946, Forrokh never considered himself to be an Indian. It could be because music fans of the 1970s were not ready for a rock star with African and Indian roots, says his biographer Lesley-Ann Jones. Queen’s Indian fans may feel let down. But it is obvious from Jones’ tactfully written biography that for Freddie, music and performance came first and that’s the way it stayed till his death from AIDS in 1991. As the front man of the hugely successful rock band, Queen, Freddie Mercury’s electrical performance at Wembley’s Live Aid concert 30 years ago is still remembered as one the greatest rock acts ever. Jones captures those heady days and paints a vulnerable picture of a deeply troubled artist. The book includes extensive bibliography, discography and some candid pictures. Pick it up.
*
Euphoria: The Story of Palash Sen
Ashish Kate| Harper| 249 pp, Rs 499
For some reason, artist biographies are given a short shrift in India. The publishers ignore the time and cost that research may entail and the writers fawn over their subjects rather than take trouble to mine for information and discover who they really are. Euphoria – The Story of Palash Sen falls somewhere between the two stools. “It’s my tribute to some of the greatest rock books ever written – Dylan on Dylan for example, or Bono on Bono,” says Ashish Kate. Drawn from series of interviews the author had with the pop singer, the book is short on insights and effusive in praise. The book comes with the band’s latest album, Item, stuck clumsily on inside cover.
*
The Reverse Journey| Vivek Kumar Singh| Frog Books| 122 pp, Rs 95
If you are a Hindi speaker, hail from Bihar and end up at IIT you are a ‘desi’ and if you come from a metro you’re a dude. But it all evens out when you land in USA, where every Indian is a desi trying to achieve the American dream. “I never did want to settle down in USA though I had been part of its workforce for five long years,” says Singh who worked his way up from government school in Netarhat in Jharkhand to Patna, IIT Kanpur and finally, New York. In telling his story, Singh slips into laboured monologue skipping plot, context and characters. Which gets a tad tedious. Had he followed his own advice on how “authors should engage in dialogue” we might have been spared the ennui.
(An edited version of the above reviews appeared in the Sunday edition of Mail Today, New Delhi, 6 November 2011)
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