Sacred Games - Vikram Chandra (Book)

Sacred Games - Vikram Chandra.

I had no idea of this book's existence till the city was decorated with huge hoardings of Netflix Original TV Series "Sacred Games". With half of it showing Saif Ali Khan as Sartaj Singh the good Cop and remaining half of it showing Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the Hindu Don Ganesh Gaitonde :). The day it came out, I saw a copy of the book at the nearest Crosswords and realized that there was no way I could have finished the book before going ahead with the TV series. And on top of that, the TV series was an overnight success as predicted for its makers that they announced the Season 2 immediately. Before even I could get the book, I gave in to the urge of downloading the series and saw it twice back to back, imagine it was that fantastic. But the best part was that the TV series indeed left its viewers at the tenterhooks of what is going to happen next? And that made me pick up the book as the second season I believe is still some months away if not more. Just to give you a hint that how amazing the book is, I will only say that Vikram Chandra must be a huge Quentin Tarantino fan and he wrote it exactly how QT must have written it, if only he was born in India :). The choicest of Indian cuss words in their authentic pronunciations and multiple uses per page was the cherry on top. It turns out beautifully well when on one side its a frustrated Cop cursing the gangster and on the other side it's the Don who is cursing the world he rules with them. Bravo!! I haven't read a more beautiful, thrilling and chilling story from our part of the world. It isn't for the weak heart for sure but let me tell you, it is indeed much much better than the TV series for sure. Isn't that the case is with all the adaptations, even Anurag Kashyap, my all time favorite Indian Director with his partner Vikramaditya Motwane (another terrific maker) couldn't do justice to the book. And let me not even start talking about the diversion from the book, I can only imagine how and what they will come out with in the second season :).

Like I said above that Vikram Chandra has mightily impressed me with this book big time and he will now show up in my list of contemporary Indian writers who have superb stories to tell. Totally loved the way he carved out the character of his Hindu Don Ganesh Gaitonde and his journey from Mumbai slums to the man with superb powers to shake the world. And an equally brilliant character of Sartaj Singh, the cop with a mission, hand in glove with RAW agents and his own team to uncover the Don's plans. The way both the tracks grow in parallel was totally mind-blowing, even when at the very start you know (almost) how the things are going to end. The way story starts, goes in flashbacks and connection of Sartaj Singh and Ganesh Gaitonde is disclosed, it was totally unbelievable. Unfortunately I had no expectations in terms of the timeline of the story but the way Vikram narrated it, right from the partition of India to the current time, it just keeps getting better by the chapters it opens and yet keeps everything covered till the very end. It is indeed amazing to read how Ganesh Gaitonde rules and his mysterious mentor plans to end the world in one kool sweep with Sartaj Singh chasing them to uncover the whole plan with the help of RAW agents and his own mentor Parulkar, the Police Chief. I love the way Hindu Muslim animosity and the friendship too is shown in the book. The way Gaitonde keeps Muslims as his right hand men and the way Sartaj's friend, another cop, a devout Muslim keeps a bottle of whiskey at his place only for him was simply heart-touching. A perfect cat and mouse chase game but the only regret that I have is that, I couldn't give much time to the book with my busy schedule and it took me close to 20 days to finish this gem.

Sacred Games, which I believe is very aptly titled as the story it covers can very well qualify as a Historical Non-Fiction from our part of the world as it at least tells the last four decades of India's history in almost 100% authentic way. I am glad we have no censor in literature or this book would have never seen the light of the day. The book has everything and in right quantities, perfect story(s), believable true to life characters, amazing love stories, amazing political commentary, corrupt system, not so great lime-light life and a lot more. Hats off to the Author for covering so much in such an amazing way that the reader actually roots not only for the good guys but for the bad too at times when they are not so bad. I was surprised by the way I myself was in love with Ganesh Gaitonde and the way he handles his friend (a female), keeps up with her for decades and almost never comes face to face with her but I expected a heart-break in the end and you really need to read the book to know how it all ends.

The book is full of shocks especially in killing department, blood, sex and gory details, unfortunately I just wrapped up the amazing series "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George RR Martin so it wasn't that bad but no doubt, the book made me go numb multiple times with its ruthlessness in handling so many of the amazing characters. My heart cried out for them, if only a reader had any control on the characters he was reading about.

Have you read Sacred Games? Do let me know how you like it if you have. But if you haven't, trust me, you need to read it before the Season 2 of the TV Series comes out. As I guarantee you that they are going to goof it up big time and for sure Season 2 will be a disaster in comparison to the first one which was totally engrossing.

PS: If you plan to read the book, do not miss the Glossary at the end. The way Author explains the 100's of the Hindi words he has used in the entire story is super hilarious, especially the curse words, loved that too :).