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Book Review of 'In Hot Blood'

Book Review
In hot blood: The Nanavati case that shook India by Bachi Karkaria, Juggernaut Books, 2017



The Nanavati Case was an event, which turned Bombay of the 1950s and 60s into a seething cauldron of intense emotions. A handsome Parsi war hero and naval commander Kawas Nanavati learns from his English wife Sylvia that she was having an affair with a Sindhi businessman and friend Prem Ahuja. On the afternoon of 27 April 1959, Nanavati storms into Ahuja’s bedroom and “meets, shoots and leaves” turning himself in to the law. When the cause celebre comes for trial, the legal eagles have a field day, the courts are turned into a circus, and the media frenzy is stoked by the flamboyant Russi Karanjia of ‘The Blitz’ sending the tabloid’s circulation soaring in that pre-television era. Coming to the party are a galaxy of political, naval and legal luminaries—Nehru, V.K.K Menon, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Katari and Nanda, Nani Palkivala, H.M. Seervai, Ram Jethmalani and others.

In this dramatic story, Bachi Karkaria depicts with sympathy and discernment the complex reactions that follow the trial and punishment. Because it is a window into human nature and a city’s immigrant communities, this story is not forgotten and has cast a long shadow on the judiciary, the executive and the media. Many versions of the epic tale of love and sex, honour and betrayal, crime and courtroom drama continue to play out even at this time where everything else has changed, but not, it seems human nature. It’s a fascinating story of l’affaire Nanavati and its aftermath told by a veteran journalist.


The reviewer is K.S.Loganathan, a tyre and rubber expert and author of technical books.

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