Book Review #12 - Unreal Elections By C.S.Krishna And Karthik Lakshman

Bhaiyon aur Behenon aur mere pyaare mitron, When I read this book, I was simply taken aback. Can satire go to such an extent ?. Indeed Yes. This is an awesome attempt to take a dig at the Indian political arena. Loaded with witty jokes, fake facebook walls and fake interviews and what not. A complete laughter package to end your apetite for humour. No matter, whether you are an AAPtard, Congtard, Moditard or BJPtard. You will love this book.!

This book, Unreal Elections penned by the founders of the satire site THEUNREALTIMES CS Krishna and Karthik Lakshman. It is a complete package of comedy and spoofs. After all the serious election battle came to a conclusion a week before. And, expectedly, Mr. Modi's thumping win has set the records straight for all his haters. All modi baiters are finding a new channel of hope to malign modi and BJP.

When the whole country was in much awe of the elections, who can think about writing something funny that cools down you a bit. Ofcourse, you should be a hardcore political enthusiastic maniac!!. Take a break from your regular work and sit back, relax and put your hands on this book. I assure you, you will never be disappointed. At the end of the book, you feel much delighted and refreshed.

Coming to the writing style of this book, it is much more lucid and engaging and holds you back till the end. You can very well finish reading this book in one sitting. You would certainly find a new way of looking at the politics than regular one and wish that this writing is actually a real incident. As far as the characters in the book are concerned, all the main politicians, party spokespersons, TV journalists names and their pictures are retained as it is. This is a classic attempt, becuase, the reader actually feels the story as real while reading through. The readers feels connected to the story and they can easily relate to the existing political affairs.

The story opens with Ravi Shastri's epilogue of welcoming the audience to the match. Whereas, the match is a preparation of all political parties for the 2014 elections. As the book progresses, Ravi Shastri's commentary runs like a tracer bullet, who introduces us to the opening overs, slog overs and climax.

Few tidbits from the book which I would like emphasize:

Incident 1:

When Narendra Modi was about to wake up in the morning:

"Dekho Dekho, kaun aaya ?", "Gujrat ka sher aaya"
"Dekho Dekho, kaun aaya ?", "Gujrat ka sher aaya"

And, suddenly, Narendra Modi, stops his NAMO Smart Alarm clock!! :)

Who would have thought about this (Un)real story. Can this joke be a true incident after all?, Only, NAMO can answer. :D

Incident 2:

Why Mamata Banerjee hates McDonalds that server Mayonnise ??

This is certainly a takeaway from the book. Its a sheer brilliance of the author to connect Maoism with McDonalds. May be the symbol "m" would have distracted her a bit.

The discussion with famous quiz master and a sitting MP Derek'O Brian and his madam Mamata Banerjee.

Mamata: What do you call a person who plays a piano ?
Derek: errr... a pianist.

M: OK, What do you call a person who exercises ?
D: Well, may be.. excorcist ?

M: ok.. now answer me., what do you call a person who server Mayonnise ?
D: Ohh madam, you are genious, It is indeed, Maoist.

Then Mamata tells derek, why she hates to eat at McDonals, and justifies calling McDonals, a Maoist restaurant.

These are just few trailers from the book. Picture abhi baaki hain mere dost. The (un)real stories of why Pawan kumar bansal had to quit. The grammar battle of former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, Why Sanjay Jha feels Rahul Gandhi is a true Heir Apparent and why he fits to be the prime minister, etc.. Both of the authors had shown no mercy while poking fun at everyone. Right from Modi's 56-inch chest comment till Arvind Kejriwal's "Main ek aam admi huun, mere koi aukat nahin".

The best part of the book is when the authors go after media guys, especially Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose, Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami. The funny incident of why Arnab Goswami had argued with Doodhwallah is a real cracker. Every little incident has blown out of proportion to achieve the full comic effect.

The climax part is the best one, where the elections are conducted not by voting, but by playing a game of KBC, hosted by Amitabh Bachchan. Where the ace contestants were asked to answer some questions in first round, had to give speech in 2nd round, and goes on till the end to announce who is the winner. But, who is the winner ?, that you must read it in the book.

Also, you must not miss the "Baker and Bakery" analogy at the end of the book. The candid talks between Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi, which will leave you spellbound and feels like it is for real. There is also an interesting character V-MAN, created as an alternate to BATMAN. I can't reveal much details of V-MAN here, you must fetch your copy to read who is V-MAN here.!!

All said and done, the things with the satire, especially political satire, is that you actually never come to a conclusion that is this real or (un)real. And being a regular reader of the unrealtimes myself, I never had a thought of reading a fiction though. Because, it makes you think parallelly about the current political happenings as well. As I flipped the last page of the book, I am left with a big question, "What if this is all real?".

My Rating: 5/5