Centering a mystery series around a retired Mumbai policeman of unimpeachable honesty and integrity whose investigative sidekick happens to be a one-year-old elephant named Ganesh gifted to him by a friend by seem like an impossibly twee basis for some crime solving.
But in every book of Vaseem Khan’s read so far by this reviewer – The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra and The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown – the undeniable cuteness of a highly intelligent elephant baby and a man who can’t give up his pursuit of justice even after his departure from the police force, works an absolute treat, leavened by the stark realities of life in India which don’t always feature the kind of justice Inspector Chopra delivers.
In fact, wonderful though Indian society can be, and Khan pays homage to everything from the food to the vivacity of life in a teeming metropolis with obvious real affection, it is often the poor and the powerless who suffer at the hands of criminals and warlords and those who can game the system to their benefit.
So, you can think of the Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation series as a way of evening the outcomes and the odds, delivering up justice to those for whom it is often unattainably out of reach and who could find solace in seeing the manifest injustices wrought against them righted.
She fixed Chopra with a sorrowful look. ‘He is all right, isn’t he? Vicky, I mean?’
‘I’m sure he’s perfectly fine,’ said Chopra, with more confidence than he felt.
The premise may be cute but the execution, while everything a cosy, warm mystery should be, feels a little more welcomingly gritty than you might be expecting.
In The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star, Khan peels back the curtain on a city that thrives on massive, colourfully excessive spectacle, revealing that while the movie industry may be the cinematic lifeblood of a city not short on size or possibility, it also has a darker side which can swallow people whole.
People like Bollywood star on the absolutely magnetically hunky rise, Vikram (Vicky) Verma, who disappears one day in the middle of a stadium-sized public appearance, leaving a blockbuster film production in jeopardy, a long list of people who might want the playboy star to disappear for a little while or for good, and red herrings aplenty strewn all over the place.
Like every good mystery writer worth his or her salt, Khan goes all out to deflect us from what might actually have happened, a delicious narrative sleight of hand that keeps you guessing right until the end, with an enticingly inventive Agatha Christie meets Scooby Doo vibe percolating appealingly throughout.
Adding to the mystery of The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star is that Chopra’s associate, Rangwalla, an ex-police force colleague, has some sleuthing of his own to do, trying to get to the bottom of a case that is crying for some long-denied justice to be delivered on behalf of a downtrodden group in Indian society who have long been denied it.
These two men have their hands full, and both of them, in their own ways, strike blows for justice that prove that you can make a difference in the world one crucial action at an time.
What elevates The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star from being just another exercise in fairytale justice wish fulfillment is the way in which Khan grounds his story in the reality of life in Indian society which, while it has many rich and rewarding points, suffers from a dog-eat-dog mentality which it can be tough to survive or rise above.
This societal commentary, which is lightly and effectively woven into the overall narrative, springs from two elements in the novel – the first is Irfan, a street urchin whom Chopra and his feistily devoted wife adopted after he all but marched into the restaurant they operate, and the eunuchs with whom Rangwallas becomes close as he investigates a mysterious case.
Khan uses both these characters, as well as elements of Chopra’s disappearance investigations which reveals corruption, crime and mistreatment in both the Indian justice system and the work of criminal gangs, to highlight the inequities in a country that for all its many virtues, suffers from excoriating vices too.
While each of these weighty points strike home, they do so, set as they are in an engagingly light and quirky storyline which celebrates love, found family and connection, in a way that doesn’t sink the narrative and which opens your eyes in a way a full frontal discussion of the facts may not.
The Master looked at the eunuch with astonishment.
‘Why? Why would you help me?’
Pavarti’s pumpkin-like face split into a smile. ‘Because it is the right thing to do.’
In many ways, The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star is a superlative example of what can be achieved in a warm and cosy mystery novel.
While there are some who would likely dismiss the genre as being of little consequence besides the escapist diversionary entertainment it offers, the truth is that novels like offer an astute and incisive author like Khan the chance to dig deep under the cover of what appears to be simply a light and frothy whodunnit.
That’s not to take away from light and frothy writing which serves a valuable soul-soothing service and which is necessary alongside more intense literary efforts; simply put, a novel like The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star allows an author to offer escapism to their readers while educating them on substantial issues which directly impinge on the storyline.
Khan’s wondrously lovely Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation series is a superb example of how you can have your escapist cake and eat it too, serving up justice-righting storytelling which accomplishes in a fictional setting what may elude someone in the real world, while also laying bare some of the more unpalatable but necessary to be exposed aspects of the world in which the story lives.
Diving into a novel like this is to be rewarded by a fun mystery begging for solution, characters who make the story come alive with substance and quirky emotional resonance, and some pithy social observance which far from sinking the escapist froth and bubble like a stone, elevates and add to it, delivering up in the process a storyline which both diverts and enriches and which satisfies the need we all have to see justice truly done.