Book Review: Sutapa Basu’s ‘Padmavati: The Queen Tells Her Own Story’
By Bhaswar Mukherjee
Title: Padmavati: The Queen Tells Her Own Story
Author: Sutapa Basu
Publisher: Readomania, 2017
Sutapa Basu’s book, Padmavati: The Queen Tells Her Own Story, is timely and topical in the milieu of all the controversy that a yet to be released film has generated in India.
Though this novel is in no way connected with the film, for the international reader perhaps, it is necessary to explain the polemic raging against a movie titled, Padmavati, whose release this month has been stalled indefinitely. During the shooting itself, the initial rumblings that the director was taking artistic liberties and distorting history got out of hand when a fringe group of protestors in Rajasthan ran amok, destroying the sets and manhandling the director, cast and crew. Though the film was completed under police protection, the release was withheld because of the groundswell that the movie was a distortion of history. Specifically, the ire of the Rajputs was against a supposed dream sequence in the movie, fantasised by the blackguard villain, Allauddin Khalji, and involving the heroine and protagonist, Padmavati. It is pertinent to note here that nobody has yet seen the film and the director and cast have refuted ad nauseum about the filming of any such dream sequence. The Hindu sentiment was supposedly slighted and soon assumed political hues. To add to the drama, elections in two states were underway simultaneously as well. There were threats of disruption if the film were to be released; even the lives of the actor and director were threatened. Currently, the fate and release of the film remains a proverbial hot potato with no clarity of when it will see the light of day and visit the theatres.
This review eschews historicity and the strife seems pointless. Rani Padmavati, or more popularly Queen Padmini of Chittor, Rajasthan, was a brave and alluring beauty, who may at best have been an illusion; a historical fiction born out of folklore, perhaps. There appears to be no factual evidence that Padmavati ever existed. She is waxed eloquent in an Awadhi epic by Sufi poet, Malik Mohammad Jayasi, captured in timeless essence in myths, legends, and tales, but without any hard substantiation. Hence Padmavati may have well been the creative liberty of a poet rather than a well-entrenched and accepted character from the rich Indian history. There is, however, adequate data and affirmation that the king of Chittor, Rawal Ratan Singh did exist and that Allauddin Khalji had indeed laid siege at Chittorgarh in the year 1303. This is to set a context to this novel.
Basu’s first novel, Dangle, was narrated on the canvas of a travelogue. Padvmavati is her second novel, which pleasantly surprises the reader as she dares to experiment and weave her wonderous tale against the backdrop of a questionable historical premise. However, the cadence, the capture, and the confidence have grown in stature this time around, as the author hurtles the reader from one bewitching page to the next.
The word, ‘Padmavati’, denotes having or holding lotuses. From the rich cover of the book, the pages contain the experience of unpeeling the petals of a lotus as the writer takes the reader on a captivating and plausible journey of Padmavati. From her idyllic upbringing in Singhaldweep to a hard landing in Bharatdesh to become Rawal Ratan Singh’s wife and the queen of Chittorgarh, to the denouement of her tragic end to escape the lust of the villainous Allauddin Khalji, Sutapa’s sketch seems picture perfect. Her command over the English language is deft, delectable and deep as she weaves a wondrous tale narrated by Uma, who is as mysterious as the night shadows shrouding the Chittorgarh Fort, which journalist Mrinalini is visiting.
By seamlessly weaving Uma-Mrinalini’s interaction and the narrative from ostensibly Padma-wali, the queen’s own diary, Sutapa fleshes out the characters in bold and myriad hues, doing justice to each one. Her etchings of those of her friends Ambika, the talking Hiraman parrot Gini and the crafty and evil, Raghav Chetna, need special mention. The cameos played by Prince Gora Rajsinha and his son, Badal, to protect her valour will leave a touching residue in the reader as will the detailed and gut-wrenching sketch of the conflagration of jauhar or mass suicide of the brave Rajput women.
Sutapa’s research appears thorough as her descriptions bring alive the players in a story that captures the morals of labour of love, values of valour, and the catastrophe that coveting and carnality could beget in equal measure.
Did Padmavati really exist? Did she write the Padma-wali at all? These imponderables are an exercise in futility; what remains are the many life’s lessons that the trajectory of Padmavati’s passage tells. Between the bridge spanning chimera and reality, Padmavati: The Queen Tells Her Own Story will hold you breathless and the denouement spellbound.
Padmavati: The Queen Tells Her Own Story is available here.
Bio:
Bhaswar Mukherjee calls himself a fairly reluctant and an accidental writer. His short stories have been published by Notion Press, Readomania, and Penguin India. In 2016, his short story ‘It was not their war’ was selected by author Ashwin Sanghi as one of the winners and published in the anthology by the Times of India in the Write India Contest Season 1. Bhaswar has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from IIM Bangalore. He is passionate about theatre, having acted and directed many. His other passion is distance running. He lives in Chennai and is working on his first novel. Email: m.bhaswar@gmail.com
***
Like Cafe Dissensus on Facebook. Follow Cafe Dissensus on Twitter.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday is the blog of Cafe Dissensus magazine, based in New York City, USA. All materials on the site are protected under Creative Commons License.
***
Read the latest issue of Cafe Dissensus Magazine on ‘Remembering Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in Bicentenary Year (1817-2017)’, edited by Dr. Irfanullah Farooqi, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday 
One Response to “Book Review: Sutapa Basu’s ‘Padmavati: The Queen Tells Her Own Story’”
Liked the reviewing style very much