The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries

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The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries (Hachette India; 2011. ISBN: 9789350092750) is the second book in the Muzaffar Jang series, and takes up where The Englishman’s Cameo left off. The problem of the cameo solved, Muzaffar has acquired somewhat of a reputation as an investigator. This is a collection of ten short mysteries, ranging from an odd bequest, to the theft of some wedding gifts, to the seemingly inexplicable disappearance of a woman travelling in a small caravan…

This is what reviewers had to say:

“…The series of mysteries in this collection are something else – from the elephant that killed his mahout to the murder of an artist, these ten stories will have you wanting more. I am always biased to good mystery stories and when they came with an appropriate historical background, it makes it even better…” – Vivek Tejuja, IBN Live. Read more.

“…In some way, these stories are a welcome break from the abundance of mystery writing that makes it impossible to distinguish one from the other. Where others would be lost for being too commonplace, Liddle has been ingenious in creating a detective who is set in a time which places him far ahead in any competition.” – Chitra Rao, The Asian Age. Read more.

The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries is available in major bookstores in India, and can be ordered online at Flipkart, Infibeam, Landmark, etc.

Or, download the Kindle edition at Amazon, by clicking here.

Ten of my favourite Dilip Kumar songs

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Today is the 90th birthday of one of Hindi cinema’s greatest legends. Dilip Kumar was born Yusuf Khan in Peshawar on December 11, 1922—and yes, they’re celebrating his birthday in Peshawar too.

Most people tend to associate Dilip Kumar only with sombre, melancholy roles: whether it’s Devdas or Aadmi, Andaaz or Deedaar, Dilip Kumar seems to have been the obvious choice to play the tormented protagonist (hardly a hero in some roles). While his acting as the drunk, or the self-pitying cripple, or the doomed lover—or, actually, just about any other character—was faultless, Dilip Kumar was also splendid as the debonair and dashing hero. Or the clown. Or the flawed, but still attractive lover…

Dilip Kumar in Andaaz

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Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun (1948)

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Or, in English, Spring in a Small Town.

In the years this blog has been in existence, I’ve watched and reviewed films in several foreign languages—but never Chinese. Then, some time back, I came across this film, and discovered that in 2005, it was named—by the Hong Kong Film Awards Association—the best Chinese film ever made. That (coupled with the fact that Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun is available in the public domain) made me eager to watch it.

Wei Wei and Wei Li in Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun

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Introducing another guitarist: Sammy Daula

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Do you recognise this tune? (The clip’s only a few seconds long, so it won’t take much time to listen to it). I’m sure most of you who like old Hindi film music will be able to guess this one.

O P Nayyar’s favourite guitarist was a man named Hazara Singh, but occasionally, he’d let another guitarist play a piece. As in this case. The man who played the guitar here was my father’s cousin, Samuel Naseeruddin ‘Sammy’ Daula.

Samuel Naseeruddin 'Sammy' Daula

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A new book: My Lawfully Wedded Husband and Other Stories

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For those of you who associate me only with Muzaffar Jang and historical fiction, this may come as a surprise (though a pleasant one, I hope): my third book has been released, and it has very little to do with history.

My Lawfully Wedded Husband and Other Stories(published by Westland Limited, ISBN: 9789381626870) is a collection of contemporary black humour, with some stories being more humorous than black, while others are darker and less funny. All, however, do have one signature element that I particularly like: the twist in the tale.

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Adalat (1958)

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My family first acquired a TV in 1982. For the next few years, Doordarshan remained our main source of entertainment. And the films Doordarshan telecast at 5.45 PM every Sunday (and a couple of times during the week, mostly at odd times) were the highlights of the week. We saw loads of films during those years. Everything that was shown—from the simply horrendous Fauji to Fedora, which I didn’t understand—was grist to the family mill.

Looking back, I now realise just how tolerant I was back then of cinema that now induces irritation at best, ‘kill-this-film maker’ fury at worst. Watching Adalat now, after having first seen this when I was a pre-teen, I can see that what I thought of as a tragic but entertaining film is really not that great. In, fact, almost tedious.

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More about Muzaffar…

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… and about me, and my sister Swapna. Swapna did a repeat of the Muzaffar Jang walk through some parts of Shahjahanabad – especially Chandni Chowk and just around, for a journalist, Priyanka Kotamraju of The Indian Express. Priyanka interviewed us along the way, and here’s what she came up with: a story about the Liddles and their love of history.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-liddle-world-of-mughals/1035997/0

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

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By an odd coincidence, all my entertainment (admittedly quite limited) over the past week has been related in some way or the other to Nazi Germany. I watch almost no TV, but I’ve recently been getting a lot of laughs out of the farcical British comedy series, ’Allo ’Allo. And, the book I’m currently reading is Robert Harris’s Fatherland, set in an alternate 1964, where Germany has won World War II—and Hitler reigns.

So why not make it a hat trick, I thought. Let’s watch a WWII film.

Therefore, this. Where Eagles Dare was one of the first war films I ever watched, and till this day, it remains one of my favourite films. When it comes to action/adventure films set in WWII, this one tops my list.

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Nausherwan-e-Adil (1957)

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Today, November 11, is the birthday of Mala Sinha, so I decided to finally watch this film—not because it’s one of her best, but because it has three elements I’m partial to: it has music by C Ramachandra, it’s a historical, and it stars Mala Sinha.

I have to admit my love for Mala Sinha sees ups and downs, based on which film I’m watching. In a film like Pyaasa or Gumraah, where she has good roles (and good directors), she shows just how good an actress she is. And in an all-out entertainer like Aankhen, she’s equally unforgettable as the feisty, glamorous spy. These are the films I prefer to stuff like Anpadh, Hariyali aur Raasta, or even Baharein Phir Bhi Aayengi—because the melodrama is kept in check.

But one thing I’ll happily admit: I think Mala Sinha is lovely, and I’ll watch most films just to see her.

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