Book: Karl, Aaj Aur KalAuthor: Cyrus Broacha
Publisher: Random House India
Pages: 234
Price: Rs 195
Eisha Sarkar
Publisher: Random House India
Pages: 234
Price: Rs 195
Eisha Sarkar
Posted On Mumbai Mirror on Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 02:16:29 PM
"Much against my will, and under severe duress, I have been coerced into writing this book. If I am found dead by the end of it, please arrest the publisher forthwith." This could well be Cyrus Broacha's apology for writing Karl, Aaj Aur Kal. Unfortunately, it comes a tad too late - on the last page of the book.
The only reason why you'd even think of picking this book up is Cyrus. Never mind the badly-Photoshopped image of him with devil horns on the cover. Cyrus is funny and the book will be humourous, you think. But the problem with humour is that it has to come at the right time and give the right impact. A little late in the timing and it becomes lame. A little too much on the impact and it looks forced.
Unfortunately this is where Cyrus gets it wrong. Slapstick and sarcasm work well together on TV. You watch a man slipping on a banana peel, you laugh. But reading about a man slipping on a banana feel is more likely to evoke empathy. Cyrus's humour relies heavily on physical movement. Unfortunately, word imagery can’t match up to it.
"Much against my will, and under severe duress, I have been coerced into writing this book. If I am found dead by the end of it, please arrest the publisher forthwith." This could well be Cyrus Broacha's apology for writing Karl, Aaj Aur Kal. Unfortunately, it comes a tad too late - on the last page of the book.
The only reason why you'd even think of picking this book up is Cyrus. Never mind the badly-Photoshopped image of him with devil horns on the cover. Cyrus is funny and the book will be humourous, you think. But the problem with humour is that it has to come at the right time and give the right impact. A little late in the timing and it becomes lame. A little too much on the impact and it looks forced.
Unfortunately this is where Cyrus gets it wrong. Slapstick and sarcasm work well together on TV. You watch a man slipping on a banana peel, you laugh. But reading about a man slipping on a banana feel is more likely to evoke empathy. Cyrus's humour relies heavily on physical movement. Unfortunately, word imagery can’t match up to it.
Cyrus's tale is simple. It has two friends Karl and Kunal, who start out as "two ordinary Mumbai boys who like ordinary things: bunking classes, films, food and pornography". They fly off to the legendary Lee Strasburg Acting Studio in New York to sharpen their acting and skirt-chasing skills. They fail on both counts and return to Mumbai with a jackpot: their maiden movie role.
What starts off as a light tale of two boys finding their own space in this world, develops into a third-grade Bollywood script. The book lacks three essential elements: storyline, emotions and sadly, humour. It fails to connect to the reader in spite of the clichéd descriptions of Bollywood, Mumbai and politics. He tries to pack in information, sometimes seriously too, but it simply adds to the readers' confusion.
The book would have been better had it been proof-read and edited. There are places where the names of the characters have got mixed up, a sin by editorial standards.
That Cyrus is not a writer is fact. But he does use language to his advantage and he should do it more often in a medium where he can be heard. As for this book, ignore it.
1 comment:
It's funny because his humour on television has also become so repetitive, that you see him and change the channel. I can only imagine how bad the book was
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