Mithun Chakraborty’s Wife And Son

Mithun Chakraborty’s Wife and Son are a masterpiece. It is every bit as important a novel as The Sorrowed Son is. Even if you read The Sorrowed Son first, you will not lose out on reading this one. It is just that people forget, after reading a couple of books by this author, about the other two instalments in his epic. So here is a look at what we are missing.

Mithun Chakraborty’s Wife and Son are set in 1969. The author we follow is a renowned lawyer working for Indira Gandhi. She is seen as the mother of all the freedom fighters. One day she encounters a case which shakes her very foundations. She tries to file a case of rape against the husband of the accused woman. However, this proves to be a fruitless effort.

When she realizes that there is no chance of winning the case, she decides to do away with the idea of filing a charge against him. But, this all changes when the wife of another person is found dead in the house of Mithun. The next thing she does is to file a complaint for the murder. In the course of events the detective discovers that this crime has happened due to the motive of greed. This is the theme running throughout the novel. On top of all this, there is the question of revenge as the background.

The detective is given a task to find out who killed the woman. It goes the way for and on from there. The descriptions of the surroundings are detailed and the language is flawless. One would have been sure that this was written by a South Indian author. There is no question of plagiarism because it is clearly stated that the setting and events took place in South India.

The crime novel is an engrossing and thought provoking read. Mithun has a simple way of writing that makes the female characters believable. The detailed description of the crime scene and the victim’s personal circumstances add much to the understanding of this situation. The short story length also helps the reader to keep up with the developments without jumping around.

The main character of Mithun Chakraborty’s wife and son is brilliantly depicted. They are shown as normal, happy children with their mother’s loving care. The author seems to have done his homework well in preparing this novel. He has researched about the background and dealt with the various issues surrounding this crime novel. All this comes through in the detailed and precise manner he has written. Overall this is a very enjoyable read with some good mature subject matter and murder mysteries mixed in for good measure.