Desires in bioscope world

The story is set in the silent film era of Indian cinema. A practical good man Shankar Chattopadhyay sets up his empire "Bharat Talkies". With his sheer hard work, patience and support from his wife Ramola Devi and a few dedicated staff, who have been with him since the inception, Bharat Talkies becomes one of the biggest studies in India. When he's on the verge of taking it to international level by collaborating with a Hollywood studio for his new movie "Mirabai", he dies of a heart attack. When Shankar was alive, Ramola having come from a upper class family background maintains her distance with the rest of the staff. Equations were about to change with Ramola stepping into the shoes of Shankar. Realising things won't work her way if she has to achieve Shankar's goal, she transforms herself into an understanding personality. She, from being the heroine of the movie turns into director and ropes in Raju Bala as the lead lady. Raju Bala comes from a low class background and has been working in silent pictures for quite some time. The plot reveals how the two women are different in their styles and yet how similar they are in their temperaments, the troubles Raju Bala gives Ramola and how the later tames the former with patience and perseverance. Ramola even becomes saviour of Raju Bala when she gets into the danger of falling prey to one of the famous directors, who has played with lives of lesser privileged girls coming to bioscope world with aspirations.

The author Sharmistha Gooptu introduces several other vital and not-so-important characters to throw light on the gossips in the movie industry, how people cling with others for survival, importance of keeping team intact. Nativity is kept alive using Bengali words most of the times. There are insights into what makes the characters in the book behave the way they do and how and why a few characters go to extreme ends. Reader will begin to relate to swings in emotions with the way love and lust are projected. However, the story has some loose ends that do not work in its favour.

Sharmistha Gooptu in her attempt to bring reality to fiction literally fails to connect the dots. Menoka is just another heroine, who falls prey to the director and has nothing to do with the story. The book has necessary ingredients which if used in right proportions could have made for a better dish.

The book is published by Simon & Schuster and is priced at Rs 399