Bahubali shook the nation like no other movie has
done; carrying the franchise forward, SS Rajamouli has decided to create a book
series filling the details and carrying the story forward. The first book of
the series – The Rise of Sivagami – goes back into the story, before the time
of Bahubali, providing a surprising background, a background which will provide
motive, passions and flesh to the main characters in the movie Bahubali. This
is a first of its kind association between a film presentation and a well known
author; kudos to Team Bahubali for thinking of this
THE NEGATIVES
That said, at the outset, let me place on record the
one or two negatives of this book, even before I lay out the basic plot; the
crude and, to my eyes, ugly use of vulgarity and sexually explicit narratives
in parts – for example the crude description of female body parts of captive
slaves – has left a highly negative impression on my mind. These scenes seem
forced, at least to me, and have no place in the story whatsoever. Due to this
one reason alone, I reduce the rating of this book by 2.5 stars as a punitive
measure. I rate this book 1 or 1.5 stars only. `
Vulgarity has no place in a good fiction {or
non-fiction for that matter} book; especially since this is meant for general
reading. If the above was only one instance, I would have ignored it; but I
happened to notice it in other places, which was ugly to be honest. The net
result was I was so disgusted by this out-of-place stuff that I stopped reading
the book for a time. I don’t want to turn to a mainstream book for sexually explicit stuff
– and yes, I count even one paragraph of nudity, vulgarity as the same as sexually explicit material,
and call them the same!
Second negative is the story – surprise, surprise.
Yes, the story: it is way too complex. I constantly found myself jumping back
to the Dramatis Personae section trying
to figure out who is who. This got irritating, after a point. The flaw isn’t that
the story is engaging – it is engaging, without a shade of doubt. The problem
is that the current book is way too long. When you have created such a vast
scope, the presentation matters one hell of a lot- and this is where the book fails big time. It
could have been shortened & subdivided into more books, making for easy
understanding. The net result is that an excellent story has been made less
attractive by the execution. Or a simple frequent mention of who is who would definitely
have helped!
THE PLOT
Coming to the plot, this is not your rapid action
fast-moving thriller. This is a story of political intrigue, back-stabbing,
jealousy, plotting, planning, human drama, naked ambition & desire. This book
tells the story of the Mahishmati empire before the events in the movie –
specifically, it tells the background to the main characters Sivagami & Kattappa. Saying more would spoil your fun, so I wont say anything else. Read
it for yourself to know more.
THE POSITIVES
The positives are also many, to be perfectly honest.
The story is slow-moving, by and large. It has rapid sections throughout the
book – that is true; but the overall impact is a slow moving tale. This isn’t a
negative – the plot does not lend itself to pace. The plot is intense – so is
the narrative. Given the intrigue and interplay, the slow and intense narrative
style draws you into the story, and absorbs you. Once you get used to its
stupendous scope – the events play out before your eyes.
The second positive is the scope – magnificent, and
grand; every bit as grand as the movie. This is thoroughly logical – you are
talking of a massive and powerful empire here; the scope has to be grand and
massive to be believable. And that it is – beyond a shade of doubt. The third
positive is the story itself; given the nature of the empire, all the events
come across as natural – the intrigue, the plotting, the powerplay, the
injustices, twists & turns. The fourth positive is the characterization –
the author has provided for a vivid, detailed character background for all
relevant characters, making the reading almost like a life event – almost like
you are there. The full details on every aspect help you relate to the story,
the environment, all of it – placing you in Mahishmati.
THE CONCLUSION
All in all, stupendous! My heart aches, for the needless vulgarity in some small parts and slightly
lax presentation is forcing me to rate
this book as 1 star, when it deserves 4! If you can ignore the small vulgar
aspects, this is easily a classic book – unmissable for the reasons given. {To
me, even nudity is Vulgar, period. Those are my non-negotiable prerequisites
while rating. There is no repeat no place for any nudity in a fiction novel,
regardless of genre. Do we discuss such
things in family? We don’t. That is my only barometer of judgement; can you talk these things to your family? And If we don’t, there zero place for nudity in
good books}. Despite this, the book is one of a kind - go ahead and read it. Even I, despite my criticism & objections, did enjoy the book overall. This is an intriguing, fascinating and involved plot – you will
enjoy reading it!
Thanks for sharing
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