First time, I had heard about the restaurant chain Saravana Bhavan was around 2012, when my colleague took me for a lunch in the RK Salai outlet. I am not sure if at that time, I had vaguely heard or hadn’t even heard, that the founder of this chain was the prime accused in a murder case. Subsequently, a few months later I had a mini meals plate as a parcel and I don’t recall if there was any reference to the case from my other colleague.  Later in 2016 my mother sampled the food from the hotel’s branch in Texas, neither she nor anyone else bothered about it. One could attribute many things to this lack of context for the regular public or patrons of the restaurant. But maybe the most important of all is the fact that the name of the founder and the brand name he owned were completely different.

Coming to the book–‘Murder on the menu’–the title evokes a certain pulp fiction kind of flavor and one could construe it as a novel and even expect a serialised narration of the rise and fall of Rajagopal, the founder of Saravana Bhavan. However, the book’s tone is a bit of everything with a back and forth narration. It is an amalgamation of an expose, an editorial and regular article, with notes from public domain documents related to courts’ hearings and judgements, peppered with snippets from the exclusive interviews the author put together. There is an attempt to strike a balance with positive interviews and some incidents from the restaurant, and let the audience decide for themselves (as if there were any grey areas or any doubt about the heinous crime) like the Netflix documentary on Osho Rajnish (Wild Wild West). The book suffers from this lack of direction, and yet if you are new to the Chennai/Tamil Naidu scene, and not very plugged into the overall case, it engages you for the most part.

The book highlights the food scene in Chennai, the genesis and growth of Saravana Bhavan, the rise of Rajagopal and his fall, a woman’s crusade and the probable mysterious support of Ms.Jayalalitha that enabled fast tracking the case (after the inordinate delay). Guess the idea of the author was to present all the various threads as a mini lunch served in one of the Saravana Bhavan restaurants. To that extent the book succeeds, giving you a taste of each. It’s a small book and a fast read, one you could complete in one go, and then decide which ones you would like to dig in more, as per your interest. Or, pick up the next book on the same topic, if it were to come out.

Naseeruddin Shah is an actor par excellence, with his exploits spanning across stage and silver screen. His book—“And then one day: A memoir”— gives a detailed account of his formative years as an actor, his struggles to become better at his craft and his efforts to gain a footing in the transient film industry. The best part of the book is his realisation about the hard work that goes in any craft especially acting (when he observes his friend and fellow actor Om Puri’s splendid performance in a play), and his realisation that talent just is a window opener, and it takes a lot of persistent effort to open doors.

An actor by nature is a drifter, as he moves from one role to another, yet latching onto something that he can call his/her own self, to use the learning in the subsequent roles. Naseeruddin Shah does just that, learning everything he can right from his school days to his stint at NSD and FTII, and movies, all the while trying to make sense of the ups and downs of his personal life.

There is a lovely scene in Shyam Benegal’s ‘Nishant’ where Naseeruddin Shah has to look at Shabana Azmi furtively. One would be led to believe that Mr.Shah had actually done this scene during the course of the movie and hence in the character by then, so it came natural to him. However, it is one of the first scenes that Shyam Benegal had shot for the film. This speaks volumes about the director and the actor and their film making techniques.

Actors like Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah, with their unconventional approach to acting (at the beginning of their careers) still bagged leading roles in films that would be known as parallel cinema and then became popular in mainstream as well. Directors like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Mrinal sen etc, helped them secure a position in the ever changing film industry and they built on it, and won international fame.

The book ends with his marriage to Ratna Pathak, but it has a few limited references to the later period during the course of it. The book is a must read for all prospective actors, or for that matter, for anyone who is at pains to figure out his role on the world stage and once done how to enact/play/live it.

It would not be too much to ask for a part 2 of this book, with his take on the movies and directors he had worked with and his evolution as an actor and person, that would throw even more light on this terrific personality.