Book Review - Miss Laila Armed and Dangerous

Manu Joseph's Miss Laila Armed and Dangerous punches way over its height and only because of its author's ingenuity, it is able to hit more than miss.

MLAD has three sets of action unfolding in parallel. In the first, it is a straightforward case of Miss Akhila Iyer, a journalist lands up at the debris of a collapsed building due to an earthquake. As actions unfold, she becomes a primary messenger between an man stuck under the debris and the army outside. This man becomes a crucial person of interest as he mumbles about a terrorist plot and sets a sequence of events which includes national security advisors, a sangh like organization with no actual official position but a lot of political capita and finally a Damodhar Bhai, a fictional take on you-know-who.

The second set piece is the actual Miss Laila a muslim person suspected of a terrorist plot being chased by officers from a fictional IB unit. MLAD switches between the story lines of Miss Laila and the police officers trying to capture her along with his male colleague, also a suspect.

The third arc of the book, unarguably the best part, is the part where Manu takes down both the right wing and left wing individuals and ideologies. Under the guise of giving background to Miss Iyer, we see her taking down of top left leaning individuals such as Arundhuti Roy. How Feminist Men Have Sex - is a video of Miss Iyer, where in he brutally takes down the pseudo liberal thought.

Timing-wise, Manu places this action right after the victory of DaMo, and then fills various chapters on what it means for the country through various characters. This becomes his canvas to poke fun at the right ideology - from Koran burning lawyers to Gau rakshaks.

Frankly, the first and second story lines exist just just because Manu wanted to have that fictional cloak to unwrap the intellectual sham that exists around us. The fiction exists just to provide the existential cover for his inner frustrations of the present political milieu. Following Manu on Twitter and through his recent articles, you can see that these are truly his views and not a stab at fiction. And when Manu vents, it is his usual no-holds-barred takedown.


What also makes MLAD a treat to read is that Manu packs some of his amazing observational wit in his writing as well. For example read this para -

Or consider this one - The legends of men are the proof that they overestimate the beauty of their own lies.  MLAD is filled with such rich nuanced nuggets that it is a page turner not from a story point of view but to get to the next nugget.


MLAD is definitely a one time read but to make it worthy of your time, spend some time to know more about the author. It is definitely an extension to his non-fiction articles. It is also becomes a challenge because at many places Manu's ideology and mine are at odds but what makes him so good is that many a times, he definitely asks the right questions and sometimes is also able to change my position in the process.