It is just as well that the venue of the great drama now unfolding is Mumbai. Bollywood story writers may already have latched on to the juicy ingredients of murder, love, incest, multiple husbands, celebrity high-society shenanigans et al. The arrest of the high-living media entrepreneur Indrani Mukerjea for the alleged murder of her daughter Sheena Bora, whom she tried to pass off as her sister, has dominated the headlines in the last couple of days. Why would someone who had everything, money, fame, a prominent and top-earning husband, would ever commit such a ghoulish crime is beyond comprehension. It cannot be the concern for social mores since the Mukerjea were not particularly conservative in their own life-styles. Nor could it be about her step son romancing her daughter from a previous marriage. Nobody would have raised an eyebrow if Peter Mukerjea’s son from a previous marriage had married his current wife’s daughter from her own previous marriage. Why murder your own daughter? That is the question which remains unanswered. And why would the previous husband collaborate in such a crime, as is being claimed in the media reports.
For someone who had her roots in small-time India, Indrani Mukerjea had come a long way. A permanent member of the high-society in Mumbai for several years, the Mukerjeas never gave a hint of their murky past. Was it the illicit money stolen from the companies they had headed which led to the murder of the young Sheena? The Mukerjea couple was considered successful whom the high and mighty of the land would have loved to court till a few days ago. Now, they were condemned goods. Chasing financial success – which in our permissive times equals social success — exacts a terrible price on most people. We can point to a whole host of well-known names in every walk of life who have broken all manner of moral and legal rules to attain the illusory peak of monetary success. But the question that must be asked: Is it worth it? Why not play it by the rules, regardless of the success or failure it might entail. Anyway, watch the Mukerjea story unspool, bit by shocking bit. Even the best Bollywood script writer could not have conjured up the twists and turns emerging about the double life of the Mukerjea, murderers by night and respectable citizens by day.
