Book review:
Chanakya’s chant
Author: Ashwin Sanghi
Many critics have raved about and
against his Rozabal Line and Krishna Key..
The Chanakaya’s Chant is the second
one of his novels
This is a
supposed to be a Historical and Political drama , one thread on the famous
Chanakya , the wily, intelligent but crooked, smart but cunning, successful but
cruel Brahmin guide and philosopher who has a personal vendetta agenda to
settle with the present Magadha king.
He plots ,
confuses and creates a holy mess in warfare among neighboring kings and their
states to get what he wants…He wants to install his protégé Chandragupta Maurya
in place..
The second
thread of story running parallels is that of modern day politician/ king
maker called
Gangasagar
who does the same with modern political parties, forges alliances with crooked
mine owners, real estate businessmen, hijras, “honey traps” and assassins
to make and break alliances that he wants in power.
He also
has his puppet PM candidate who he wants to establish in Delhi…
How
things turn out for the original Chanakya and this modern chanakya ,
Gangasagar is the rest of the story.
It is Ok,
its like a new type of story line mixing History and present day
politics together . It is not very complimentary on Great Brahmin
Chanakya as we know him; in fact author tries his best to make him detestable
and as villainous as possible.
The
writing style is not so great. It is mere hype that this author is hailed as
'Indian Dan Brown' (of Da Vinci code fame)
This book
is supposed to be made into a Hindi movie by UTV.
Rating: 3/5
