Party Animals

Set in the 2014 elections, this is humour in deadly earnest.

With so many characters, and such little experience, will Banerjee win? Does the nation want to know?

Book: The Candidate

Author: Anirudh Bhattacharyya

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 306 pages

Price: Rs 299

The world is conspiring against Jaideep Banerjee: at 50, he is given the pink slip at his job as a computer systems administrator in New York, his wife of many years seeks a separation, and the only person who called back after he applied for jobs said he’d called the number by mistake. So far, so bad.

Banerjee decides to return home to Delhi to take stock of his swiftly crumbling life. Upon his return, he discovers that his childhood friend, Govardhan Ray, has been caught in a scandal and is unable to contest for the Lok Sabha elections from his constituency in West Bengal. Ray has a brainwave — why not start a new political party and get Banerjee to be the candidate for the constituency? “Don’t you think if new people entered politics — those who aren’t professional politicians, but actually want to make a difference — then that could be a welcome development,” Banerjee asks during dinner with his parents. With nothing to lose but his marbles, he agrees and becomes the face of Sonar Bangla Party in fictional Narayanpore. Banerjee is naïve, and as his wife puts it, has morals, too much integrity and lacks an ego. He’s bound to be chewed up and spat out before you can say “vote”.

Bhattacharyya begins his narrative about the prodigal son returning to serve his people, but plays it too safe. The first half is amusing with Banerjee navigating his way through press conferences, TV interviews; it is a breezy look at the Indian elections’ free-for-all and the media that is documenting the hullabaloo.

But that moment of chuckling at stereotypes and puns runs out as soon as our hero-cum-neta begins to find his way. He is filled with righteous purpose, a straight man in a crooked world. He wants to do things the right way and strangely enough, is surrounded by characters malleable enough to be persuaded to change their outlook and loyalties almost instantly. His rivals consist of a faded but Botoxed starlet, a scam-struck former cricketer and a mumbling economist, there is no bite in their bark.

There’s some light flirting with a “comely” journalist, a few real efforts to bring change and infrastructure to the constituency, and in a ridiculous plot insert, there is a leper colony in a nearby forest, the walking dead who have held on to their voter ID cards and are tipped to be the game-changers. With so many characters, and such little experience, will Banerjee win? Does the nation want to know?

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