Manish’s post on Tokyo Cancelled a few weeks ago reminded me that I needed to finally pull the book down off the shelf, where it has been resting since S. brought it back for me from a brief visit to Bombay some months ago. I read it and was well-pleased (though perhaps not overwhelmed) by the imagination at work.
After a visit to Rana Dasgupta’s interesting homepage, I was intrigued to discover he’s signed off the filming rights for one of the stories in Tokyo Cancelled to a young Australian filmmaker named Robert Hutchinson. Hutchinson spent six weeks in India this past spring doing research on it for the screenplay he’s writing, and kept an interesting blog about it here. Aside from the fact that he misspells “Hindutva” at one point, Hutchinson has some interesting observations to make, both on India and on the script in progress. Here is how Hutchinson summarizes the plot for the film version of “The Billionaire’s Sleep,” which follows Dasgupta’s story quite closely:
Rajiv Malhotra is a billionaire who inherited an Indian steel empire and turned it into a trans-national concern with a focus on India’s ability to provide outsourcing services to the rest of the world. For him every moment of every day in every timezone is an opportunity to provide efficient services. His obsession with utilising every second of the day means he has never been able to sleep. This inability to sleep has also meant he is infertile and has not been able to produce an heir to his empire. His decision to have a ‘perfect son’ made for him through the use of genetic technologies is the inciting moment of the story. From that moment powers beyond his control come into play. (link)
That’s just part one. Note that it’s Dasgupta who uses the name “Rajiv Malhotra” (there is also a real person by that name, you may have heard of him; hard to know if any connection is intended).
Part two is where it really starts to get interesting:
Sapna is his unexpected daughter, when his wife gives birth to twins, a girl and a boy, Rajiv finds he has a daughter who sleeps beautifully. That sleep is so powerful that as she approaches puberty SapnaÂ’s fertility when she dreams brings organic objects back to life. Her bedhead grows branches and a perfect white flower. The spores in the carpet burst into life over night filling the air with floating tendrils, her clothes basket grows into a thicket of bamboo. This exhuberant fertility frightens Rajiv and he does everything within his power to have this excess of organic material removed from his sight. (link)
There’s a little more at Robert Hutchinson’s blog, but if you really want to find out what happens in “The Billionaire’s Sleep,” you’ll have to go to Barnes & Noble or whatnot and pick up Tokyo Cancelled (it should be there). I’m pretty envious at this point, because “The Billionaire’s Sleep” could make a really great film if done right. (We’re overdue for a good outsourcing-themed film, I think.)
A side note: at one point, Hutchinson makes an offering at a temple in Maharashtra with the wish that Amitabh Bachchan signs on to play a part in the film — presumably Rajiv Malhotra. Good luck with it, Mr. Hutchinson! (Though I should mention that I think Om Puri would also excel at this kind of role.)
Before getting back to diaper-changing and burping, I do have one quibble with the Vij I wanted to register:
Another annoyance in these tales is that they feel derivative, more remixes than totally novel plot points. Much of DasguptaÂ’s surrealism has been done before by authors working both in magical realism and sci-fi (link)
I actually liked the cross between the fairy tale plot structures with the contemporary speculative fiction themes. And yes, the idea of a misshapen lost twin or offspring has been done by Rushdie several times (not to mention innumerable 70s/80s Bollywood films), but it’s also just a plain-and-simple fairy tale conceit going back to the Brothers Grimm: the demon who comes back to haunt you, who demands the secret be unveiled, and the payment due.
p.s. Which desi actress should play the part of Sapna?
I hated the book! I read it while I was visiting India two year ago and was seriously disturbed by it- I’m not sure what it was, but I remember feeling really irritated every time I put the book down.
Maybe I’m just too hard on the “South Asian fiction” genre, but besides Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies (which was great cuz of where I was in my life at that time), I really haven’t found one that’s been A-mazing.
Taz, just curious — could you be a little more specific about what you didn’t like about Tokyo Cancelled?
That was ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ crossed with Moraes Zogoiby, the misshapen, muscular Moor from The Moor’s Last Sigh. Rajiv Malhotra, the man who can’t sleep, has the sleeping sickness from One Hundred Years of Solitude. A good read, but very pre-read.
As for the actress, if she sprouts chili peppers it’s Aishwarya again. Mistress of Mashups.
Amardeep,
I honestly don’t remember – I just remember getting really irritated. I think it must have been the fairy tale factor…It reminded me of Russian fairytales. Reading that book made me cranky that week. I did finish the book though. My mom used to tease me when I was little (I was a bookaholic) because she could tell what kind of a book I was reading and/or if it was good based on how moody I was. The last book that irritated me before that was “Reading Lolita in Tehran.”
Last three desi books: “The Dancing Girls of Lahore” (B+), “The Village Bride of Beverly Hills” (C+), “StoryWallah” (A).
Ok. I’m done threadjacking. 🙂
Aww, you don’t like Russian fairy tales? Vassilisa Most Lovely–with Baba Yaga, so awesome–was a childhood favorite of mine.
sorry to threadjack…Kiran Desai is going to be on Charlie Rose – for those still up on the west coast
Here’s another example: there’s a story about a man whose job it is to cull people’s memories, eliminate the trauma and sell it back to them on disk. That was done by Robin Williams in Final Cut in ’04.
Manish, I hadn’t seen The Final Cut — that does sound pretty similar. Since you’ve been very forthright on the negatives on this book (and compelling for the most part), one has to ask what exactly you enjoyed? Somehow, despite its flaws (which I admit), I found this book fun to read.
I also still think there’s a lot of potential there for a good film based on “The Billionaire’s Sleep.”
I know this is a little off topic but Taz what about Mistry’s A Fine Balance? Although it starts of a little slow it definitely picks up and ends up being an amazing book!
My thoughts….
What was disappointing about the book is the need to use magical realism as the actual plot of the stories. When in an airport, or on a crowded commuter train, is it not interesting enought to ponder/discover the real life of strangers? I don’t mind magic realism so much when it is in someone’s head AND it is so well written, the language just grabs the reader.
That’s true- that was really good and was my inspiration to write this article on hair extensions…
It’s a critique out of love, I couldn’t put the book down. The writing strikes me as talented and fun to read (literary fun, not pulpy fun), but a touch lazy.
…and, this being a literary thread, has anyone looked at Robert Olen Butler’s book – each piece 240 words long about what goes on in a decapitated head.
Taz,
I really liked “A Fine Balance” too. I was so into it that I read it in just a few days. I know this is a bit old skool (and also part of the Desi Carribean literature group) but have you ever read Naipaul’s “A House for Mr. Biswas?” If you haven’t, it’s definitley worth reading.
I loved Tokyo Cancelled – was the movie ever made? And if this thread is not yet obsolete, Taz, may I suggest “A Suitable Boy” by Vikram Seth.