Annie Zaidi's novel The Comeback is not just a story about friendship
This novel makes readers intensely aware that art in our time has become increasingly politically distant or neutral
The politics of The Comeback is not overt
In the 2024 Reema Kagti directed film Superboys of Malegaon, Varun Grover sensitively explores the spirit of artists, both in theatre and movies, alongside their vulnerabilities. A monopolistic form of art is driven towards fame and confiscates anyone who approaches the form with this particular thought. It makes one leave friends behind and acknowledges nothing but financial, class and personal comfort by minimising the ‘self’. Annie Zaidi’s The Comeback has a similar voice but the spotlight is placed on two characters, John K. and Asghar, each dealing with different issues on their own. Zaidi develops these two narrative arcs that are rooted in the characters’ helplessness.
The novel begins on a note of restlessness where the writer deliberately carves a distinct image of John K. and Asghar based on class. It cannot be denied that art, especially in the present time, is heavily tilted towards capitalism and becoming either politically distant or neutral. At the same time, with accessibility, most artists have grown susceptible to policing and fear losing what they possess. In the novel, John K. says something that lands his friend, Asghar in trouble. Zaidi captures the anger of the latter but keeps ‘care’ in the forefront. Similarly, John is portrayed as a glamorous movie star who has compassion and feels guilty about his actions. But he cannot show it openly since he is only a commodity in a capitalist society.
John K. is known as Jaun in his hometown, through which Zaidi shows that class and fame demand not only a change in personality, but also in identity. Asghar is portrayed as an admirable person but he is also invested in his own ideal world. They look good in fiction but Zaidi does not hesitate in bringing out the pain of idealism in an overtly practical world. Flaws become more distinct. Uneasiness becomes a companion. And the fear of getting lost is an everyday additive. Asghar goes through all of these to find his own space.
Zaidi, through Asghar, puts before us a figure who thinks he is invincible and can take desperate decisions to assuage his own self-respect. His decisions often align with those choices which most people do not dare to take, but long for. However, the novelist establishes the consequences of his decisions through the narrative of John K. The novel is not just about John and Asghar. It is also about the characters who decide how their dynamics should change with the progression of the story. Cheeku is the resolver and the bridge that always keeps the chaotic lives of John and Asghar in balance whereas the latter’s mother and wife are both subtle and loud inducers of chaos because their lives are associated with him and his work. Zaidi doesn’t undermine the women. She simply places before us the picture of India’s middle-class.
Whenever the writer has to stage a communion between the two primary characters, she uses art as her medium. Even in tumult, the reason and resolution are rooted in art. Asghar’s desperation to have his own theatre group is not just a platform where he can show his skills. Rather, it is a space where he can find himself, which has been battered by societal and familial responsibilities. It is also a pedestal created by complexities which he goes through because of his friend John’s success and his irresponsible behaviour. The writer is not biased and so, she reveals how John/Jaun worries about his friend’s decisions which do not align with practicality. While reading the novel, we find that neither of them are wrong in their positions, then again, neither of them has the propensity for transparency and hardly care to listen to what the other has to say even when their own downfall is clearly visible to them.
The Comeback is not just a story about friendship. It is also an approach towards what makes us human. We can exist in these divisive times only through love and compassion. The politics of this novel is not overt. It rises from a few spaces where the other kinds of emotions occupy a larger territory. Although Zaidi’s agenda is to make John and Asghar go beyond class and their choices, it does not happen in a few important instances since the writer is focused on writing with a particular intent in mind, which often does not resonate with pragmatism. Idealism takes the upper hand. This novel is an important read since it reminds us that art should not be veiled by the quilt of fame. It is meant to stay free of our cravings and vanity. Only then, in pursuing this particular element of humanity, will we get to notice that it sets us free from whatever tries to possess us.
(Kabir Deb is a writer based in Karimganj, Assam. His last book, 'The Biography of The Bloodless Battles' has been shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, 2025, Muse India Young Writer’s Award, 2024 and Yatha Katha International Film and Literature Awards, 2025. He is the Interview Editor for Usawa Literary Review.)
