Indian cinema has seen a major shift with movies like Gangs of Wasseypur, Gangs of Wasseypur-II, Ugly, Shahid, Udta Punjab, etc. They also proved that good script backed by awesome performance can win audience’s hearts as well as garner appreciation by critics [and be a box office phenomenon]. When was the last time when you read a book and got an adrenaline rush as you encountered when you watched these movies. Most of the movies in this genre clicked with the audience since the story was told with panache ensuring that the local flavor, be it language, clothes, etc. of the characters were retained in order to make it look authentic!
The Jeera Packer by Prashant Yadav, a first-time author and entrepreneur narrates a story that sticks well with the audience since it is a story of each one of us, at some point in our lives. So, let’s go ahead and review The Jeera Packer. The publisher is Fingerprint! Publishing.
About the Author
Prashant Yadav is an entrepreneur and founder of BodhiSutra. He graduated from IIT Kharagpur, IIM Ahmedabad and Stockholm school of Economics. For more information, please visit his LinkedIn Profile.
The Jeera Packer – Trailer
As mentioned earlier, The Jeera Packer is Prashant Yadav’s debut novel. It is a story of a former dreaded gangster who once changed the history of Uttar Pradesh with a gun and a finger. However, this was around thirty years ago. He now packs jeera in a basement. His life takes a sudden twist when one of his former companion reaches out of him with a task to assassinate the Chief Minister (CM) of UP. What happens next? Will he take up the assignment, will he be caught, whether he would be successful in assassinating the CM? You would find answers to all these hindering questions in The Jeera Packer.
Politics, UP and Crime are three keywords that makes The Jeera Packer an intriguing read !!
The Jeera Packer – Detailed Review
The Jeera Packer is a fiction with politics as its backdrop. Of late, politics has become very interesting with social media adding some more flavor to it 🙂 Politics in Uttar Pradesh [UP] has always been closely watched & followed even by non-UP residents, recently concluded UP elections proves that point!
In order to weave a very good story centered around crime and politics in UP, the author has chosen a Jeera Packer. The main protagonist was once the best sharpshooter in the state. Fast-forward thirty years, he now lives a normal happy, stable life with his wife and a college going son. He now runs a small kirana shop in Ghaziabad. His wife manages the daily operations of the store and he packs jeera in the basement. He is going through a mid-life crisis and is not happy leading a common man’s life. Due to these problems, he is now loosing confidence as well as self-esteem. He comes to the conclusion that in order to be happy he needs to take control of his life.
As they say fortune favors the brave, a chance encounter with his older acquaintance could turn to be a stepping stone for him. He is handed the task of assassinating the Chief Minister who is himself a notorious man and has committed many crimes. For the Jeera Packer it is not only the question of regaining his self-confidence but also the question of doing something good for the people of UP. So, would he be able to pull off this one last act? Will he able to brush away the jeera dust and rediscover himself or has the sharp-shooter already left his soul ? The remaining 320+ pages of the book answers these questions in a very effective manner.
Though the central protagonist of the book is a dreaded gangster, he manages to leave a mark on the readers. The writing is very lucid and Hindi is used at appropriate places. As a reader you can easily co-relate to the instances with the drama that normally unfolds in UP politics. Other than the Jeera Packer, other characters are politicians namely Lal Mani, Nawab Sahib, Nanhe Samrat. Every character is crafted with detailed perfection and the suspense keeps the readers hooked on to The Jeera Packer. The plus point of the story is that these characters can be easily visualized especially in UP politics.
The ‘Suspense Element’ reaches a new height when it is revealed when not only the Jeera Packer, there are others also who plan to kill the Chief Minister and it is a matter of self-respect as to ‘Who will kill the Chief Minister first’. The book also sheds light on the corrupt political system and how power-hungry politicians can ruin the entire state/country.
Closing Thoughts
The Jeera Packer is a well-etched political crime thriller where each character is crafted to perfection. Being a thriller, it was very important that there are few characters in order to stick to the story-line and Prashant Yadav has managed to deliver the same with The Jeera Packer.
The book comprises of 41 chapters and each chapter deliveries the story with a punch. Through the last few chapters, the story becomes a bit predicable but it manages to recover the lost mojo quickly. Each one of us do a self-introspection to assess ourselves in life and hence you can easily co-relate to the central character of the book.
If you have liked loved Bollywood movies like Gangs of Wasseypur, Udta Punjab, NH10, etc. then you would love reading The Jeera Packer. Barring aside a few shortcomings, The Jeera Packer has the perfect ingredients for hit Bollywood movie 🙂
You can purchase The Jeera Packer by Prashant Yadav by clicking on the link below
Thanks Prashant for sending us the review copy of The Jeera Packer, we enjoyed reading the book…