The Bioscope Man

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A witty historical novel about ambition, cinema, identity and self-deception in 1920s Calcutta.

Author Name	Indrajit Hazra
ISBN	9780143101741
Year of Publication	2008
Pages	320
Language	English
Binding	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin

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Details

ISBN: 9780143101741
Year Of Publication: 2008
Pages : 320
Language : English
Binding : Paperback
Publisher: Penguin

Overveiw

Set in Calcutta around 1920, The Bioscope Man follows Abani Chatterjee, a young man determined to become one of India's first silent-screen stars. His rise takes place against the backdrop of a city whose political importance is fading as the British administration shifts its capital from Calcutta to Delhi.

Abani's life takes an unexpected turn when German director Fritz Lang arrives to make a film about the Orientalist Sir William Jones. Abani persuades Lang to focus instead on Pandit Ramlochan Sharma, Jones's Sanskrit tutor, and takes the lead role himself. The resulting film becomes a reflection of Abani's own complicated life, ambitions and illusions.

Meet the Author

Indrajit Hazra is an Indian novelist and journalist. He is the author of The Burnt Forehead of Max Saul, The Garden of Earthly Delights and The Bioscope Man. He has also worked as a journalist with the Hindustan Times, where he writes the weekly column Red Herring. His fiction is known for its wit, historical imagination and engagement with urban India.

Book Summary

Abani Chatterjee dreams of becoming a celebrated silent-film actor in Calcutta. As his ambitions grow, however, a personal scandal turns him into an outcast in the emerging world of the bioscope. Retreating into solitude, he becomes increasingly entangled in memories, family history, romantic longing and self-deception.

His fortunes change when Fritz Lang arrives in India to make a film about Sir William Jones. Abani convinces the director to tell the story of Jones's Sanskrit tutor, Pandit Ramlochan Sharma, and secures the starring role for himself.

The film becomes more than an artistic project: it mirrors Abani's own life and exposes the relationship between performance and identity. Through Abani's story, Hazra explores fame, ambition, pretence, love and the ways people construct stories about themselves.

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