Shudh Desi TV Serial ka Script

A lady appears wearing a Kanjeevaram silk saree straight out of bed in the morning. She looks at the visitor who rang the bell. Ma-in-law, sister-in-law, are listening in. It is not considered to be rude to listen in to private conversations.

The lady-in-Kanjeevaram (LIK here onwards) looks at the visitor and gasps, (translated into English) "...you, I thought you were dead."

The visitor looks at the LIK and freezes,  " ..You mean.."

LIK:  "Yes, I got married again. Why have you come here now?"

SIL and MIL (out of sight) begin to smirk with an expression that says, "I knew it. This holier-than-thou bahu had a secret..wait until my son/brother gets back.."

The frozen guy unfreezes, and gives a sacrificial lamb's expression, and says, "I will never want you unhappy", and then freezes his expression again, and walks out.

The LIK turns around, only to find the smirking in-laws coming out of their positions behind the respective walls. (it is very important to have sets with walls, crevices and corners in a desi serial). They all look at one another, about four times....

Episode ends tantalisingly, and you wait for the next one eagerly..

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Search for the killer in a serial murder situation. Countless books and films have done the honours before 'The Girl...', but this book has certain pluses going for it.

One, the setting is corporate (and journalistic) battles. One can identify with those shenanigans, as they are universal. Second, the locale is Sweden, an exotic land to most of us. Even within Sweden, the isolated village-island makes it even more interesting, with a cast of characters who are fairly weird. Most belong to the Vanger family, one of the corporates involved. The hero is an outsider hired to solve a disappearance from among the family, and how he does it is the story.

Then of course, the heroine. This is a singular (Holmesian terminology, but it fits in this case) character, well-developed by the author. And I think finally she makes it all different from the rest of the books in the genre. Rightfully, the title is based on her character. In a way, she is the hero too, or as much of one as the male lead, a journalist who is set up by a corporate rival whose shady secrets he tries to unravel.

Found it a good read, and might end up watching the film one day.