Plot Summary

A stranger visits Faridi unannounced, entering the bungalow from a path nobody else knows except Faridi and his DIG. The stranger claims to be the DIG,  claiming that his body is swapped with someone else. This happened in Surkhab Valley. Soon, many such body swapping incidents were reported in the Valley. Hameed is made to travel to the Valley, with Colonel shortly following suit. 

Review

Devpaikar Darinda aka The Humongous Beast was published in 1967. As the name suggests, this one has a hint of sci-fi, Mix that with Hameed’s rib-tickling sense of humour and induced with Qasim’s him wanders to a haveli where he meets people and experience events as if he was part of Alif Laila or Tilism-e-Hoshruba. A minister is killed by a flying rifle when he’s just about to start his speech, and a mysterious Mr Q is taking control of all the criminals of the city.

Devpaikar darinda is a nice amalgamation of humour, quirky characters, over the top villains who think they are formidable, and Faridi’s quick wit as always. It also reminded a lot of Maut ki chattan, the Gerald Shastri where Qasim was forced to work with Shastri in the underground world doing stuff suitable for his physical strength, and that despite being stupid, he knows he’s working for the bad guys and hates it. The events leading to the climax were a bit too fast and kinda overwhelming. Faridi steals a pincher, wins Gilbert’s vote (one of the caretakers of that gorakh dhanda), Qasim kills two people under the influence of some drug that Dr Tosdle created, Graham overpowers Faridi and co but the situation is overturned quickly. 

Qasim and Hameed’s shenanigans were really on point though, especially Hameed’s frequent argument with Dr Saeeda.

That concludes the review . What do others feels about this one?

Shabana Mukhtar