Dhaval Kulkarni, the author of ‘The Cousins Thackeray’, announced his second book on Tuesday. In the new book, titled ‘The Bawla Murder Case: Love, Lust, and Crime in Colonial India’, the famed journalist chronicles one of the most high-profile murders of pre-independence India, a true event from January 1925. The incident was the murder of Abdul Kader Bawla, one of the richest young men of Bombay.
The Bawla Murder Case was one of the most sensational tragedies of the 1920s, which involved a young business tycoon, a courtesan, and a prince. In this case, the tycoon was Abdul Kader Bawla, from the ultra-influential Memon clan, Mumtaz Begum, a former dancer in the court of Prince Tukojirao Holkar III, the then ruler of Indore. The plot of the murder was as dramatic as it could get – a ruler unleashing hitmen to disfigure an absconding courtesan who’s about to get married to a flamboyant businessman, who gets killed saving the woman.
Kulkarni’s second book, published by HarperCollins India, is up for pre-order on Amazon and will go on sale by the end of January. In a Twitter thread, the famed journo indicated that ‘The Bawla Murder Case’, much like his first book, will chronicle the era, and not just this one incident. He said,
“The narrative covers figures like M.A Jinnah, V.D Savarkar, Prabodhankar Thackeray, Dr Ambedkar, Chhatrapati Shahu of Kolhapur, Lokmanya Tilak, an upright Police Commissioner, and Mumtaz Begum, the protagonist of the case, who later went to Hollywood & inspired a Bollywood movie. The book is woven around micro-histories and themes like the Shuddhi movement, Hindu nationalism, inter-caste marriage & social reform.”
Dhaval Kulkarni is a popular journalist, whose first book, ‘The Cousins Thackeray’, was published by Penguin in 2019. Kulkarni has worked with various media houses over his 15-year-long career, which includes DNA, New Indian Express, Indian Express, Times of India, and Hindustan Times. He has extensively covered political and high-profile breaking news of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Goa. Kulkarni was also a reviewer for the prestigious journal Economic and Political Weekly (EPW).
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Noman Shaikh holds an MA in English Literature (University of Mumbai) and an MSc in Accounting and Finance (University of Portsmouth). His reviews at Bombay Reads combine literary interest with a practical reader’s perspective, focusing on storytelling, themes, style, and the overall reading experience.
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