Horror is the least explored genre in Indian
fiction. As far as I recall, I haven’t come across a horror book by any Indian
author in last few years. In spite of having versatility in themes such as
gore, slasher, pure ghost horror, demon, Indian folklore version of vampires
and werewolves [Narkitaas and Bhakol respectively], Indian authors seem less
interested in creating spine chilling tales of this genre. Indian Film Industry
have already come up with a number of blockbuster horror movies. Now, Indian
popular fiction sets to explore the dark fantasy world.
“7 Days” by Mr. Stanish Gill marks the
beginning of this trend. This psychological horror has much more to offer than
just the chilling effect of its cover blurb.
About the Author
Mr. Stanish Gill is a young writer associated
with Film Writer Association as an Associate Writer. Apart from writing
fictional novels, he also writes Hindi songs. Some of his works have been
published in newspapers and on the Film Writer Association portal. He is an
Educationist by profession and lives along with his wife and two sons in Mumbai.
Storyline and Plot-Structure
The storyline of “7 Days” is not that
intricate. The story opens with a romantic essence and gradually moves towards
the haunting elements. After few lovey – dovey meetings, Apurva and Suman
decide to marry. They choose the jungles of Nainital for their honeymoon and
there strikes the horror. How they cope up with it and how they overcome, is
the story the readers would love to explore. The beauty of the story lies in
its alliance with psychology. The author
makes his intention quite clear when the impact is laid more on the
psychological element than the horror one. With this twist, “7 Days” becomes
more of a psychological exploration than a plain horror. That is the beauty if
you may call it.
Plot structure is very fine. It is simple
with evenly divided chapters. The scene breaks make the book more
enjoyable. One particular mentionable
thing is the scene-shifts have been highlighted. It is not indispensable but it
certainly makes the story more graspable leaving no room for plot confusion.
The technical aspect of plot structure is quite evident in the book.
Narration and Dialogues
“Dracula” by Abraham Stoker is my all time
favourite horror. Deep within, the story is not intricate. There is a
blood-thirsty vampire against whom few humans stand challenging him and his
allies. Quite simple! But it is the intriguing narration and nail-biting thrill
in every page which keeps the readers hooked till end. Narration is a very
important element in every thriller-horror book. Thankfully, “7 Days” stands up
to this requirement. The narration of Mr. Gill is lucid and vivid. The striking
feature of his narration is keeping up the readers’ interest without any
unnecessary description. Not even a single scene seems dragged. Everything is
just. Mr. Gill has kept the script tight perhaps keeping in mind the racy
contemporary readers. Today, people don’t like reading a book of 300+ pages. It
becomes difficult for dedicated writers to wind everything up in rather lesser
pages especially when the story demands wide spectrum. But Mr. Gill manages
everything quite well. Narration has not been bombarded with the technical
horror elements. That is actually a ‘cool’ feature of the book.
Dialogues are abundant in this book. I firmly
believe that abundance of dialogues gives any book a cinematic feel of reading
as if everything is happening just in front. “7 Days” stood true to this belief
of mine. To be true, the nature of dialogues actually gave me a screenplay type
of feeling. Given the author’s profile, the screenplay effect of the dialogues
and narration seems so apt. It gives more of a movie feeling than a book.
Characterization
Mr. Gill hasn’t dwelt too deep in
characterization in this book which itself has very few characters. Both the
protagonists are simple human beings who have different approach towards life. Both
approaches are very common in our society. Apurva, who is quite serious about
life, represents a majority of men. And Suman, who is very lively, can mingle
easily with middle class Indian women. Parents of both individuals represent
the typical affluent class. Apurva’s friend Arijit is a gem of a person who
stands with his friend in most terrible times. Though, Apurva and Suman have
got the credits of being the protagonist in this book, I believe that Dr. Vincent
becomes the actual heart-stealer. Again, his character is not that much
intricate. But he manages to leave a mark behind, with his philosophies and
beliefs. Dr. Vincent represents those people who learn the lessons of life very
hard way. And then, there is this mysterious woman Sapna whose seemingly innocuous
womanly dreams never cease to torment her soul.
As I said earlier, Mr. Gill has kept the characterization
quite simple. But simplicity is the best beauty and “7 Days” stands true to it.
Treatment of Love and Romance
“What do women want?”
It is the common question which almost every
man whines about. The irony is they never accept the answer that easily. Leave aside
few ambitious ones, then what could women want more than care, love, respect,
and a bit of romance in their life? But instead of trying to accept it, men
chose to blame the women stating ‘they are never happy’. It is because men have
a broader universe which includes their family, career, friends, hobbies and ambitions.
Once everything is concluded, a little room is left for their life-partners. Sometimes,
they go so low in their priority list that their quality ‘times’ never match. On
the contrary, women’s lives revolve around their men. They plan their career,
friends, outings and even interaction with their own parents as according to
their ‘men’. It is about time, men need to understand that the woman; who left
the people who brought her in this world, educated her, taught the meanings of
life, the people she grew up and played with; and happily made an unknown
person and his dreams and wishes the topmost priority of her life actually
deserves abundance of love and care. Since the day, she tied knot with this
unknown man, her previous relations got twisted and she may never look upon
them as before. She cannot confide in them as earlier. And if in return, she
wants his attention and his pampering, is it too much she asking for?
“7 Days” explores this desire of women. I find
this treatment of love very unique in this book. Perhaps, the vast experience
of Mr. Gill shaped his emotions and views and he poured them in the love
sequences. It is one of the strongest reasons I would recommend this book to
book-lovers.
If anybody asks for my opinion on what kind
of book this is, I would simply say that “7 Days” is an exploration of Love
through a woman’s soul…
