Reading How to Kidnap the Rich by Rahul Raina was like being put in a sports car with no seat belt. Rakesh Kumar, the protagonist, gets your attention in minutes. Never does he make you bored as he narrates his life story, from being the son of an abusive tea stall owner, to an examinations consultant who commits fraud for a living. His bustling business attracts the attention of the Aggarwals who want him to take an exam for their good for nothing, glued-to-phone son Rudi. The deal is a golden egg moment — Rudi becames a star overnight, Rakesh becomes his assistant with a cut of whatever money comes Rudi’s way. Rudi is now a wish-he-was-my-son of the housewives of India. He is charming, sweeps the aunties off their feet, and hoards money “by being the perfect fat little son” in product placements, advertising and reality TV shows.
The plot is outlandish at best. Everything falls in place for the protagonist. Even when things go beyond control, there is a silver lining that he can pull himself up with. This book is best enjoyed without questioning how probable the twists could be — visas, love, loyalty — everything is served Bollywood style. There’s kidnapping, behind-the-scenes manipulation to skyrocket the TV show’s ratings, a fabricated past, and even a news flare of a Pakistani allegation. I found myself laughing my way through the sticky mess and close-to-death escapes. The novel mocks the Indian society blinded by caste, TV idols and its obsession with marks. The Indian dream is to be fat and rich —“If you are fat and Indian, you’re rich. If you’re fat and poor, you’re lying. It’s only the West where the rich are thin, and vegan, and moral.”— and Rudy has definitely become the Number 1 son of India, thanks to Rakesh.
In spite of the pacy, addictive plot, How to Kidnap the Rich, succumbs to many oft-tiring cliches. The two women in the novel have no other function than to sustain the protagonist. A nun is the white saviour who takes Rakesh out of his miserable life as his father’s assistant. Priya, his love interest, is one dimensional, and seems to have nothing to justify why her character behaves so. Well, other than to make Rakesh move forward in the storyline. There are comments on caste — “At the end of it, he was an Aggarwal. It was his name. He was expected to do great things. Your name is also your destiny…I am a Kumar, There are twenty million of us. Nothing is expected of us but to shit and die” but Raina seems unsure to make a firm statement. He chooses the safe path — to comment vaguely, and leave. Later in the novel, Inspector Bhatnagar’s lacklustre plan is blamed on her “limited Brahmin imagination or maybe the long reign of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty (who have) robbed all these do-gooding types of their initiative.”
The bizarre sexual adjectives stand out, not in a good way, in an otherwise fast paced plot. A client who wants to employ Rakesh’s fraud skills has “masturbatory fantasies of how low a fee he could bargain (him) down to” and while he persuades them with how their ward’s life can change with an investment, “their pinprick eyes glaze over with lust and trembling, all very pornographic”. Rakesh Kumar sits in his office-cum-flat in New Delhi and “sweat(s) and sweat(s), and out of my balls giants of the industry are born, future world leaders, presidents.”
Nevertheless, Raina manages to enthral with the breakneck speed at which the story moves. I wished this was a TV adaptation more than once while reading (There will soon be one, I hear). I was reminded of the recent adaptation of Arvind Adiga’s White Tiger. There are parallels between the books, but Raina’s debut progresses faster and memorably with quips, conflicts, and resolutions. How to Kidnap the Rich promises wit, satire, strange twists and will leave you entertained, frantically turning page after page to see how Rudi and Rakesh get out of the mess they thrived on. This one’s a wild ride.
Rating : 3.5/5
Buy on Amazon In
Outlandish plot, heavily entertaining debut HOW TO KIDNAP THE RICH by Rahul Raina promises wit, satire and strange twists Click To Tweet
Disclaimer : Much thanks to Little Brown for sending a copy of How to Kidnap the Rich. All opinions are my own.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
A murderous beauty and too many corpses — A Lagos noir
Club you to Death by Anuja Chauhan — a snazzy, murdery mystery
