Clouds Don't Pass - Abhishek Krishnan

Clouds Don't Pass, first time I am reading a novel written by someone I know very well. Right after receiving the book I was bragging to everyone "hey look, the author of this book, Abhiskek Krishnan, is my friend". The title and the book cover itself made me curious.

Abi, the lead character in this book is the author himself, his passion is cinema and he wants to become a successful actor and he can't think of any other career other than cinema. This book explores his college life, his struggle, love, his true friends and ends with an unexpected twist. Most of them were his experiences with some exaggeration and it also gets fictional in the later parts.

The book consists of three phases, the first phase was Abi's college life. It was fun and goes lively, thanks to his friends Chalu, Peri, Renjith and their "sights". She has a girlfriend, Shruthi, I really liked Shruthi's proposal and Abi's proposal scenes followed by some usual cliched romance between them and even felt little jealous. And, his first love with Shruthi ends in a breakup and the worst part is he didn't even know the reason.

The next part, 'the wait' is his struggle he went through to get a chance in cinema and how many morons took advantage of him during this period. Some of these people were unbelievably sick. And, this part was his real life experiences which should be a lesson to all those people who are trying to get a chance in cinema.

The third part, happens in Bangalore where reality hits Abi and he starts working in a call centre. He was more stable and has a new girlfriend Sushmitha, who works with him. And, things gets exiting towards the end where he finally tries to solve the mystery behind Shruthi. This is where I can see Abi, the screen writer, who cleverly throws us a few twists and turns. You can never guess you are heading towards this kind of a climax till the last chapter.

I really liked this book, it was light read and enjoyed occasional Tamil in an English book, especially to see the words like "machi" and the most used word in Chennai, “Otha”. Also, the print and paper quality was really nice which made me read this without any irritation. I am mentioning this because I liked this book's quality among the few I read recently.

You could have seen this author in a blink-and-miss role in Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah and he's currently acting in another feature film. Few sequences from this book, like how they help his friend Renjith and his lover to elope, proposal scenes, etc., will be interesting to watch in the big screen. I really wish to see him direct this book as a movie soon.

The Curse of Surya - Dev Prasad

The Curse of Surya is written by an unknown author (only to me, because he has already written one best seller, Pitch It) is a thriller in the lines of Dan Brown series. To be precise it was like Davinci Code, here the protagonist are in search of jewel which was lost some 5000 years ago.

Dev Prasad Indianized the Davinci Code, here a reporter from Singapore, Sangeetha and Davies were on a treasure hunt for a jewel Shyamantaka. This jewel belongs to the god Surya and it always brings bad luck to whoever possess it. It has its own history and also an exiting unbelievable power to that gem which makes it the most wanted treasure by people across the world.

The main character, Sangeetha, reaches India to cover one important function which was about to happen in Agra and Davies was here to attend an international conference in which a swamiji was supposed to reveal the place of the lost jewel Shyamantaka. All thing broke loose when there was a terror attack which kills the swamiji and Sangeetha and Davies are present in the event becomes the most wanted terrorists. And, they were on the run, followed by a police office Nisha and they start their treasure hunt with an old man Blanchard who helps them escape from the crime scene.

The writing was simple and easily to follow. And, the places mentioned are some of the most famous sites in our country and it was fascinating to know the history of these places. So just like Dan Brown, Dev Prasad also tells us about the history of each place where the story travels. Also, another book which has the history about Lord Krishna, the last book I read about Krishna was Krishna Key by Ashwin Sangi.

The places where Sangeetha tries to fool the police by booking a flight ticket to Bangalore was explained elaborately in more than one chapter which I felt absolutely unnecessary. The moment she tells the receptionist to book two flight tickets, we know she's trying to fool the police. We didn't need the detailed police investigation, then Nisha calling another policemen at Bangalore to go to airport to catch them, then Davies acting surprisingly as if he didn't get why she is doing all this. The whole part could have been skipped. And, I wondered how Sangeetha and Davies able to talk to each other under water with their scuba dressing.

The treasure hunt came to an end very soon than I expected, but then Dev had an interesting twist there. And, it has all other twists which were expected in this kind of a novel. Like starting the plot with a mysterious murder, good guy turning into a bad guy, bad guy turning into a good guy. The lead character Sangeetha was like an encyclopaedia, she knows about each and everything in this world or able to find a solution for anything somehow. But, it was refreshing to have a female lead like Sidney Sheldon novel.

The Curse of Surya is definitely a worthy Indianized Davinci Code, the history about the treasure was fascinating and their search was thrilling. And, this book is an absolute page turner, well done Dev, looking forward to your next.