Book Review: The Star From Calcutta by Sujata Massey

The Star From Calcutta by Sujata Massey

Publisher: Penguin India

Price: Rs 499

Pages: 375

Filmmakers of today will recognize much that is familiar in the crime novel, The Star From Calcutta, by Sujata Massey, set in the world of silent movies almost exactly a hundred years ago.

There’s the need to keep investors happy, for one thing. The rivalry with other filmmakers, especially over release dates (made all the more intense because of the paucity of theatres in that period). Not to mention the need to tell a strong story while keeping government regulations in mind (for example, the very same sedition law used today was used at that time). 

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Hopefully though, today’s filmmakers will not have to deal with the premise of Sujata Massey’s story – the murder of a member of the Censor Board at the premiere of a make-or-break movie at the producer’s house.

Who killed Joe Morgan and why? That’s what Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s only woman lawyer, needs to find out. Not just because she’s the lawyer for the film production company, but also because her best friend, Alice, the daughter of a top official in Bombay’s colonial government, is one of the suspects. There are other contenders for the role of murderer too, including Rochana, the star from Calcutta herself, who vanished on the night of the murder. Is Rochana the killer, or was she kidnapped or killed because she witnessed the murder? No one knows. Meanwhile, the release of the film in question must not be delayed, but until the murder is solved, not much can be done about it.

Perveen seriously has her hands full with this case, but as she had done in the four previous books in the series, she handles it satisfactorily, if not with quite the same verve as, say, Miss Marple or Sherlock Holmes. This might be due to two reasons. For one, the Perveen Mistry series, while presenting a standalone mystery in every book, has an overarching arc, which means the crime in each novel is not the sole point. And second, because this series is placed against a historical backdrop, the setting gets nearly as much attention as the story itself.

Overall, though, the book is thoroughly enjoyable (particularly if you are the type of person who keeps a sharp eye out for plot holes or quibbles over tiny historical details). The Star From Calcutta is easy to read and the settings – the worlds of the silent film industry and of Mumbai a hundred years ago – are fascinating, both close enough to today to be familiar and far enough back to be novel. This book would be best read on a rainy day, with plenty of hot chai and spicy pakodas on the side.