I took one more chance to take a Hindi novel by Surendra Mohan Pathak - this time it’s of Vimal Series, and its name is Maut Ka Khel. I just passed by a small book thadi which provides Hindi novels on rent, so I took out this small novella which is also first part of a murder mystery, and is better read than Dhabba.
About the boook and author - The novella "Maut Ka Khel" is the first part of the murder mystery, 2nd part being named as "Daulat Aur Khoon". It is written by Hindi’s most prominent thriller mystery writer Surendra Mohan Pathak, and it belongs to the Vimal Series (He has 3 series in all). This series main character is nicknamed Vimal, and is a camouflage identity of Mumbai Underworld, main name is Sardar Surendra Singh Sohal, although in this book, it was not showing any links of him with underworld, maybe because this is one of the starting novels of the series (Not much idea about the information, kindly contact the biggest fan of Surendra Sharma Pathak’s novels - @jmathur sir). This novella is just 116 pages long, and it costs me only Rs.20 for rent. I am still reading the 2nd part of it.
The story and characters- The main protagonist of the story is a camouflage identity, whose real name is Sardar Surendra Singh Sohal, who got jailed since as per records, he stole millions from a bank where he worked, which was not true as per him. He ran from the prison, and is now living a beggar’s life, when he get an opportunity from a mysterious lady Shanta Gokuldas. He was hired as a servant to serve the paralytic-ridden body of her rich but old husband Sir Gokuldas, in place of the earlier servant Bosco, who also tried to kill the person. The reason is that this paralytic man is very rich man, and after his death, his money will be shared equally between his 2nd wedded-wife Shanta and his young daughter Madhuri. But vimal didn’t know why she did him a favour of providing a job to a unknown beggar, since she has her own motive - she wants to kill , but there are other characters involved who want to save but instead become problematic for Vimal too in the end like the maid Martha and Gokuldas doctor Dr. Kashyap. Will Vimal accepted the offer to kill? Or his conscience prevented him from doing a murder?That is what this mystery book hold, and the story continues to part 2.
The positives - 1. The best thing I liked about the book is climax part, which was not completed but urges the reader to start reading the 2nd part too, because it left the reader fully occupied with the guess about what will be the next move of Vimal, and this is what I liked.
Plus the readability of this novel is good, it doesn’t have a direct-dialogue kind of conversation like Dhabba. and it has a touch of old novels written by great Premchand types. At the starting it doesn’t even look like any murder mystery, infact looked like a simple artistic story is going on, but slowly it turns out to be a mystery thriller genre.
It is short and simple novel - just 116 paged, although it ask you to read 150 more pages of the 2nd part, but hey that is great. I read this one in just 1.5 hour.
Characterization is perfect as match to a plotted murder mystery should have.
The Negatives - 1. The novel has a touch of filmi style. A guy is paralysed, and since he can’t speak, the vamp told all her plans in front of him, just because she knows that her secret will always be a secret but no, it will not be. Ditto quite similar to many bolly movies, and as per the fact says that this series of Surendra Mohan Pathak is copied from Donald E. Westlake’s Parker series.
Characters are unreal, a perfect match to any bollywood kinda masala movie, so they are more filmi than being realistic, where a vamp will get everything on platter.
The mystery is predictable and easily looked copied. A good reader can guess in advance that what is coming up.
But I must say, that even a copied matter if not copied well can create boringness, and if done perfect copying, adjusting it to the planted plot, it can do wonders, and a reader felt refreshed even after reading a known copied matter, and that’s what Surendra Mohan Pathak achieved here, for which I must appreciate his skills. Ending mystery just asked me "Go and check the 2nd part". So, my rating is 3.5/5. Do read it.
GRuchirG.