गुनाहों का देवता (Gunahon ka Devta)

I had seen ‘Suraj Ka Satvan Ghodha’ long back and since then I had become the fan of the movie and then its creator ‘Shyam Benegal’. But the real thing which made me like this movie was its story.. so grounded with small town realities and people, with no heroes or heroines but characters living normal lives with complications of life, love and livelihood.

So I started searching the person behind the story and knowing it was ‘Dharamvir Bharati’ I wanted to read his book. He has been a popular Hindi author with a lot of acclaim and credit to his name. His books have not been translated into English and even though it would have been it would have missed essence of small village India and their simple dialects and daily conversations.

So after my considerable search I found his one book ‘Gunahon Ka Devta’ in the book shop outside Prithvi Theatre in Bombay. Weird isn’t it, out of all the places.. anyways knowing any language opens the opportunities to explore its literature so here I have found another special book in Hindi.. it’s a very well written book, characters, plots, story all has its consistent rhythm, flow and fluidity... each character has a simple yet strong personality – Chandar the idealist, Sudha the dreamer, Binti the realist, Pammi the modernist, Berti the crazy, all of them have their own meanings of love.. for one it is sacrifice and greatness, for another it is duty & dedication, for one it is practical and mutual respect and for the other it is freedom and charm. The debates between desires of heart & lust, love and sacrifice, marriage and romance, freedom and duty, all these things which affect us and make us a God or a devil. The choices we make, the decisions we take turn against us and we get into the rut of our past baggage.

The book was very heavy at places where Chandar’s monologues or deep conversations with Pammi-Sudha or Binti take you on thinking path. You sometimes feel it is a version of Devdas with love coming to haunt you and once lost it ruins the lives of all. But the book ends on a happy note showing a green light at the end of a dark tunnel. A situation from which no one could get out but they managed to find a life with or without each other.

Read it with a mature point of view on love like the black & white movies of olden days. The days of love and sacrifice and not love and attainment. So love is not enough.. my friends life needs more, it needs a path, a guiding light, it needs companionship and faith. Love is not about give and take it is also about all giving...

Must Buy Gunahon ka Devta
<<image credit: openlibrary.org>>

Comments

  1. A dear friend gifted me this book, thinking that it might change something within me. Over the last 8 years, the book travelled with me- even overseas. But I never read it. For, I was scared to read books on relationships and stuff.

    Now that the friend is gone, and I had nothing worthwhile to do a weekend back, I made a move. At the end of the whole ordeal, I feel it was the right thing to do- to not read over the years.

    Your review, though point out to the obvious contradictions to my understanding but I guess thats ok. We all are different people.
    Thank you so much for writing it out here for the sheer pleasure of it all :)

    PS- you have a wonderful reading list, if you don't mind me saying that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Tatsatji.it is a very good book n Bharati is a formidable writer. There is a need to give platform to Hindi writing

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Tatsatji.it is a very good book n Bharati is a formidable writer. There is a need to give platform to Hindi writing

    ReplyDelete

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