Murder, he wrote

Jasmine Singh

We can only imagine him sitting in one of the rows of a cinema hall, watching in rapt attention, reliving some moments, wondering about others, imagining a scene that could have been chiseled slightly better, admiring another, for the man sitting here knew the in and out of the story that was being shown on the silver screen. Avirook Sen, the author of the much-acclaimed book Aarushi, came out satisfied after watching Meghna Gulzar’s film Talvar, based on the infamous Aarushi murder case. At the Panchkula Art & Literary Festival, Avirook faces the first round of volley that has much to do with his book, and the film. Long slightly curled up hair, a cigarette pressed between his dark lips, Avirook who definitely isn’t wearing an impression of ‘I have arrived’ takes up the question. “If you have seen the film Talvar, then you know that my book Aarushi and the film are definitely two different things. My book is completely non-fiction, whereas the film, has taken up certain directorial liberties that are a must.” And the film? “Well, they have certainly done a good job.”

For those of you who have not read Avirook’s book, it carries a linear narrative, giving the details of the accounts, quotes on the incident from direct sources, and everything else that he did first-hand. Does this make you twitch, wonder what it means to witness and write about a murder trial in real life? If actor Irrfan Khan, who plays an investigative officer in the film Talvar felt so disillusioned with his own staff, what about Avirook who wrote about it? The writer doesn’t take much time to answer this; he is obviously living the subtle yet ‘etched’ change in him. “I was covering and writing a real murder trial, sometimes you can’t help your feelings seep into what you are writing, even though the two never crisscrossed while I was writing. All the same, the mere scene of seeing Aarushi’s grandparents, who were over 80, appear in the court everyday, and hear such derogatory remarks on the character of their granddaughter is something that stays with me,” shares Avirook not fictionalising a single word. At the moment, yes, he can look back at the unfair trial, the underhand game play that apparently went into the case, but talking to the real life characters associated with the case was not an easy task! “Obviously, people would see me attending the case everyday, also as a practice, I am upfront about what I plan to do with the matter I collect. In the course of the interviews, some knew about what I was doing, while there were some who didn’t approve of it.” The entire process of this, however, did left a few, probably invisible marks on the author, “See the so-called facts that maligned the Talwar’s came from the highly-placed sources that did not have any ground. As a routine, I would not depend on such sources, and now I know more, that I wouldn’t!”

Next up, Avirook is still gathering material, working on the lines of podcast. “Announcements on it can wait,” he exhales thick puff of smoke, enough to let some answers be.

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