‘The Comeback’: Annie Zaidi’s short and sweet novel about second chances

All’s well that ends well in Annie Zaidi’s new short and sweet novel, The Comeback. A departure from the more sombre themes that Zaidi usually writes about in her fiction and nonfiction, this is a novel about second chances in love, friendship, and career.

John K, a small-time movie star, has unexpectedly tasted success in a low-budget Hindi movie. After slogging for fifteen years in Bombay badlands, the movie despite paying peanuts has catapulted him to critical acclaim. The reward is an exclusive profile in an entertainment magazine that wants to sense the “textures” of the actor’s life – his small-town origins, the long years of struggle, etcetera. In an attempt to exaggerate his quirkiness, John lets slip that he had helped his best friend Asghar cheat in an economics examination in college.

This detail would have been of no consequence had Asghar not been a bank employee and his mother, Shakeela ma’am, a well-respected math teacher in their small hometown of Baansa.

Like a row of dainty dominoes, everything comes crashing down – Asghar is fired, his wife is miffed, Shakeela ma’am feels betrayed, and Jaun (he’s John to the Bombaywallahs only) loses his best friend, everything that he held dear in Baansa.

Back to Bansa

With no money and a lot...

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