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ladybookamore 's review for:
Badoga (Music Men Volume 1)
by Pankaj Saini
First and foremost, I thank the author for giving me an opportunity to review a Superhero Fiction. Yes. Quite surprising, eh?
Badoga is this unconventional origin story of a superhero who taps on his temples to tune in to different songs for his action sequences. No. This Indian superhero is bestowed with furthermore responsibilities, both social and moral; a sort of which we have not seen in contemporary Indian fiction of 2019 yet. Unfortunately, the book could not hold on to philosophical depths which Badoga tried to delve within. It lost its charm in its quest to create a fantastical superhero.
Let's start with the positives. I liked reading Badoga because of three reasons — the theme, the setting, and the language. The book explores the fundamentals of the Indian value system, if not to great lengths. Most importantly, it focuses on the purpose of life, or that of an individual so to speak. Fleeting moments of existential crisis and meaninglessness in everyday life set the stage for the theme to set in nicely. Secondly, the setting in the Indian landscape is really thrilling. After all, uh is definitely a surprise for Indian readers to come across Indian superheroes with offbeat fighting techniques, the likes of which apparently exist only in Hollywood. Thirdly, the language has this inexpressible flair in it. Inexpressible, because it is capable of hooking you to the story immediately from page one, and to capture so is not an easy task. The language, moreover, is simple and lucid, and the description picturesque indeed. To sum it all up, the book is quite an enjoyable read. Only at the surface.
The main plot of Badoga was not up to the mark. In fact, two big glitches seemed to stare right at the face of the book — the story itself and the plot structure. In order to make the book relevant to the trendsetters of our times, I felt that the book used a tad bit too much of pop culture references, that too at the most unnecessary moments of the plot. To make certain points dramatic, the author heightens the events to such a great level that they eventually become artificially overdramatic. And as far as the plot structure is concerned, the development of the events of Badoga was not quite convincing enough. At some point of the novel, the narrative tends to drag the storyline with it, hence a desperate attempt by the book to draw the reader's attention till the last page.
The fact is, with the superhero fanaticism in the air, perhaps I expected too much from the book. I am, being an ardent superhero fan of both DC and Marvel, still looking forward to good Indian superhero fiction. I convey my best wishes to the author for his future endeavours.
Badoga is this unconventional origin story of a superhero who taps on his temples to tune in to different songs for his action sequences. No. This Indian superhero is bestowed with furthermore responsibilities, both social and moral; a sort of which we have not seen in contemporary Indian fiction of 2019 yet. Unfortunately, the book could not hold on to philosophical depths which Badoga tried to delve within. It lost its charm in its quest to create a fantastical superhero.
Let's start with the positives. I liked reading Badoga because of three reasons — the theme, the setting, and the language. The book explores the fundamentals of the Indian value system, if not to great lengths. Most importantly, it focuses on the purpose of life, or that of an individual so to speak. Fleeting moments of existential crisis and meaninglessness in everyday life set the stage for the theme to set in nicely. Secondly, the setting in the Indian landscape is really thrilling. After all, uh is definitely a surprise for Indian readers to come across Indian superheroes with offbeat fighting techniques, the likes of which apparently exist only in Hollywood. Thirdly, the language has this inexpressible flair in it. Inexpressible, because it is capable of hooking you to the story immediately from page one, and to capture so is not an easy task. The language, moreover, is simple and lucid, and the description picturesque indeed. To sum it all up, the book is quite an enjoyable read. Only at the surface.
The main plot of Badoga was not up to the mark. In fact, two big glitches seemed to stare right at the face of the book — the story itself and the plot structure. In order to make the book relevant to the trendsetters of our times, I felt that the book used a tad bit too much of pop culture references, that too at the most unnecessary moments of the plot. To make certain points dramatic, the author heightens the events to such a great level that they eventually become artificially overdramatic. And as far as the plot structure is concerned, the development of the events of Badoga was not quite convincing enough. At some point of the novel, the narrative tends to drag the storyline with it, hence a desperate attempt by the book to draw the reader's attention till the last page.
The fact is, with the superhero fanaticism in the air, perhaps I expected too much from the book. I am, being an ardent superhero fan of both DC and Marvel, still looking forward to good Indian superhero fiction. I convey my best wishes to the author for his future endeavours.