Indrani Mukerjea is back from near death and she knows her life is not the same. She has taken 381 pages to write her life story and called the twisty non-fiction Unbroken, probably it is the state of her mind. She has got a second chance to live in the same society she once left to enter the prison. Mukerjea knows her second chance at existence comes with some profound dilemmas.
Harper Collins, which routinely checks manuscripts with lawyers – even if the lawyers have no idea of the subject – before reverting to the writers, has suddenly turned bold and published whatever Mukerjea said. This is a very significant thing. I am convinced more and more people will come forward with their manuscripts.
But then, the publisher should have remembered the case – she is an undertrial in her daughter’s alleged murder – is still wide open and her criticism of her ex-husband and former Mumbai Police commissioner Rakesh Maria means nothing to the courts. And also, her claim that her friend saw Sheena Bora at Guwahati airport means nothing. And that Sheena could be anywhere between Assam and the snow-capped upper reaches of Kashmir also means nothing. She also says Sheena – probably in hiding – also spoke to Peter. And now she has claimed that it was her ex-husband Peter, the former head of Star India and top promoter of NewsX, who messed up her life. Will this hop-skip-jump hold water? It is a subject of a contentious courtroom battle. But now that she has written her life story, she will have to run with it.
