PLOT: 3.5/5
CHARACTERS: 3.5/5
CLIMAX: 3/5
WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5
From the winner of the Shri Dwarka Prasad Agarwal Award 2018 comes this fun-filled, light-hearted, and wholesome Banaras Talkies, a book about friendship, first love, exam tension, academic stress, crass jokes, late-night group study sessions, and food tours with friends across the city.
The book talks about all those things that are bound to tug at the strings of one’s heart and fill them with nostalgia about their college days. A good example of a well-constructed campus novel set in the Indian city of Banaras, this book was originally written in Hindi and published in 2015 by Satya Vyas, who is also the author of other notable books like Dilli Durbar, Uff Kolkata, and Chaurasi (on which the web series Grahan is based).
This book is translated into English by Himadri Agarwal. It is an outcome of the translation initiatives of the Ashoka Centre for Translation by Ashoka University.
The plot is set in the city of Banaras, where the internationally famed Banaras Hindu University, a premier academic institution of India, is present. One of the hostels of BHU is named Bhagwandas Hostel (BD Hostel), which houses Suraj, the narrator of this novel. Along with him are his two friends: Anurag, who is a die-hard cricket fan, and Jaivardhan, who seems to be a deep thinker and a melancholic soul but uses the term ‘ghanta’ a lot for almost everything.
Campus life at BHU holds center stage in this novel. Parallel to this runs the fun and frolicking that students engage in at the BD Hostel. They are students of Law. Like everything has a nickname on campus, Bhagwandas Hostel is called BD Hostel and houses 240 students in 120 rooms. They are known as BD Jeevis. Every student has their own study schedule and pattern, likes and dislikes, all of which are slowly and swiftly unfolded by the author to portray the nature of hostel life. Here, even though everyone is away from home but they all try to create a home away from home with their friends and classmates.
Another side of campus life is the teaching faculty, who each have their own style of teaching and certain idiosyncratic patterns that the students enjoy mimicking or creating jokes about. Missing the first class on Monday is an unwritten rule of campus life, and going to Lanka, which is the usual haunt of the students at BHU, is called “Lanketing” by the students. On the whole, the plot is relatively light-hearted and simple, making it easy to follow, full of subtle humour and a lot of nostalgia, which is bound to remind readers of their carefree college and university days.
A twist in the plot appears when Anurag takes a sudden liking to a fellow female student. He finds out that she lives in Room 7 of Ganga Hostel and wants to get to know her better, confess his feelings, and take the next plunge in his love life, which is otherwise rather bland and full of the worries of building a good career graph. Additionally, the plot has legal issues and political matters intertwined with each other, as the personal lives of the characters are set in the background of the narrative.
Characterisation is central to this novel and a key element in storytelling and plot building. Satya Vyas masters the creation of memorable characters. The characters are well-rounded, relatable, and realistically depicted. They act their age and exude the contrasting traits of youth, which is full of fun and joy, while also showing tidbits of wisdom that come with the passage of time and the gaining of various experiences in life.
The language of Banaras Talkies is easy to follow, simple, and does not have unnecessarily complicated idioms or phrases. There is no tough vocabulary either. Rather, the language aims to create an emotionally engaging and heartfelt atmosphere for the reader, who is going to be captivated by the simplicity and aptness of descriptions that hold up the essence of the story and emotions of the characters.
Nonetheless, to add to the characteristic features and make the characters more lifelike, there is the use of Banarasi colloquialism, interspersed with a lot of Hindi/Hindustani vocabulary. There is also the use of some Bengali, as Anurag De is a Bengali character.
The city of Banaras and its various locales are an important attractive feature of this novel. The story develops with the locales shifting constantly as the characters take strolls across Banaras and discover new places. They also end up sometimes in Shivolaspur—the biggest red-light district in Banaras.
The book covers a span of 3 years, which is also the duration of their course of study. There is also the mention of the different ghats of Banaras, like the Assi Ghat, all of which add elemental flavours to the story.
This is one of India’s great coming-of-age novels, with a colourful and beautifully done book cover that spans a little over 200 pages and makes for a memorable read.
Can’t wait to read it? Get your copy of Banaras Talkies right away.
