When a Bollywood journalist turned to fiction

Yes, even in these times of being inundated with information, images, opinion, there is always a little quiet space for a 'good story.' The question is, when you draw from your personal experiences, and professional skills, do you really write fiction? Or couch the truth in a language that makes the truth more palatable?

Ram Kamal Mukherjee, a former colleague, has been a film journalist for nearly two decades. And that has brought him close to the most elusive of creatures in this world - stars. He has been privy to their secrets, parted the smoke screen and the looked beyond the facade that they build over time, to get a glimpse of the person behind the personality. The experience, glamorous as it may sound, can make one cynical, or fill the person with empathy.

Mukherjee is a storyteller. And a skilled one at that. In Long Island Iced Tea, he takes his experience as a journalist and celebrity watcher and marries it to his capacity for empathy. From the story of a superstar mother and her uneven relationship wit her daughter to a couple's deep sense of loss, to a man living out his delusion, there are lovely little vignettes of life scattered across myriad landscapes.

Mukherjee understands drama, dramatic pauses, the virtue of a killer ending. But what could have been an absolute page turner is marred by the poor production of the book. Wish publishers paid a little more attention to the editing and proofing of an author's work for a much more seamless experience.

To sum things up, Long Island Iced Tea, will not take up too much of your time (it is a very slim title) or  you money (priced at Rs 199 only) but is likely to remain with you long after you turn the last page.

Long Island Iced Tea
Author: Ram Kamal Mukherjee 
Publisher: Leadstart Publishing