BOOK REVIEW : I 'm Heartless - a Real Confession
Confessions
are always intriguing. And, when it comes in a paperback with a bold-lettered
title of “I am Heartless” – it is sure to grab attention. Moreover, the graphic
cover design and an attractive intro at the back-cover of the book are
provoking enough to give it a try.
There
is an eerie feeling about the very term “confession”. It comes with a heavy
baggage of expectation of witnessing some dark allies of human behavior or
emotions – a sly wish of peeping at one’s nasty secret. Added to that, George Clooney
in his “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)” gave another dimension
altogether with voyeurism. And, the debutant author chose to trod this rare
path – much away from mushy campus romances.
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| I 'm Heartless By Vinit K. Bansal |
The
plot here revolves around Viren – the protagonist. In “Confessions of a
Dangerous Mind”, Chuck Barris(the main character of the movie) was torn between the
woman who loved him and the woman of his fantasy. In the very first few pages,
precisely after the prologue, the author has introduced us to Pari, the girl of
Viren’s ultimate fantasy. And, the fantasy got shape in his post-grad days in
form of Rashi. And, now began the age-long mockery of “very-good-friends” by
Rashi and hapless effort of Viren. And then, there is realization and an
attempt of self imposed seclusion. Enter Manasi, the good old friend and the
life began once again. Same old filmy melodrama? Naah !! It’s only the half! The author made
an attempt to explore the extremities of being a loser. The protagonist is a
tragic hero who realizes his loss when it is already lost. The last chapter
justifies the tagline “A Real Confession”. It ogles out the dark emotions and
portrays the curvature of human psyche in a state of ultimate repentance and
frustration. It painfully personifies the grey shades of human emotions – a
conflict of sadness, contempt, regret, shame and guilt.
Vinit
K Bansal has done a decent job in his debut novel. The character sketching of
Viren is excellent and deserves accolade. The constant eccentricity of the
egoistic character is captured in a fantastic way. In the first few chapters,
when the character was building up, the author gave a glimpse of the campus
life through a few subplots. The characters as Max, Sunny are very real and you
will definitely bump upon them on a single campus visit. But the two main
subplots revolving around Freddy and Max are too weak and half-baked. A bit more tightening of the sub-plots could have helped the characterization itself and supported the plot on the whole.And, unintended
pregnancy is unnecessarily tabooed all-over. Even, the character of Rashi(read Pari) faded suddenly. How can the author who has the potential to create Viren with all dedication can be so abrupt in creating his Pari.
The
book definitely stands out of the crowd of Indian fictions that revolves mostly
around candid college romance. And, Viren definitely stands out as a character
– a loser in love.
The
character reminded me of a Bengali master story-teller Mr. Sharat Chandra
Chattopadhyay. He in one of his novels wrote at the end note as “Please, spare
a single drop of tear for him”. The “him” here refers to as a character that
created history in Indian cinema – Devdas. Be it through Dilip Kumar,Shah Rukh Khan or Abhay Deol, Devdas was successful in justifying the end note of his creator.
Perhaps,
Vinit could have quoted the same line here at the end.
