A master of guises who has pulled off seemingly petty crimes is hibernating in Varanasi, until he’s summoned for an art heist. Vagh Pratap Singh, also referred to as Captain, is commissioned to find ‘Poppy Flowers’, the 1890 painting of Vincent Van Gogh that was stolen and is supposedly in India. A politician from UP wants the painting for a client in Japan. Captain masquerades as an art professor in Delhi and forges connections in eclectic circles. When he finally traces the painting, it sets the stage for an unrelenting chase. The Captain and his partners in crime realise that the mission is far more trickier than they expected it to be. In The Heist Artist (Harper Collins India; ₹299), Vish Dhamija leverages the context of a real painting as opposed to a fictional work of art, to give the story better impact.
The author has eight crime thrillers, including three legal fictions, to his credit. During a visit to Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, he learnt about the theft of ‘Poppy Flowers’, from which emerges this thriller.
Edited excerpts from an interview:
How did you go about making ‘Poppy Flowers’ fit into this story and how did you arrive at its value?
While at the Van Gogh Museum, the guide told us about some of the Master’s (referring to Van Gogh) stolen works, and ‘Poppy Flowers’ was the first one he mentioned. Any piece of art or a large enough precious stone would have served the purpose of this thriller, as long as it was portable, and of significant value. The value of the painting is incidental too, although the guide at the museum mentioned €50-55 million if it was recovered by authorities. He also explained that value would be significantly higher if it exchanged hands in the black market: €150-175 million (and that was in 2015). However, it could be worth a lot more or maybe totally worthless, depending on its condition.
- This 1890 painting by Vincent Van Gogh has reportedly been stolen twice. It was first stolen in 1977 from the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo, Egypt. It was found in Kuwait 10 years later. Poppy Flowers was stolen again, from the same museum, in 2010, and is still missing.
Tell us how you built the character and backstory of the Captain?
Partly from imagination, partly from my admiration of Steve McQueen, although no man in flesh or in fiction can ever fit into his shoes. The backstory came from my own experience — I was stupid to run after burglars after an armed robbery at my own home. It could have turned ugly, but fortunately it didn’t. I fictionalised it in the case of the Captain’s father, and the rest followed from there.
We see both the Captain and Damodar turn narrators and echo their thoughts. Despite being a prominent character, why don’t we see Sylvia doing that?
While I wouldn’t say I banked on suspense, giving Sylvia a voice would have ruined the two little surprises — if Sylvia gave her side of the story, either she would have had to conceal the truth from readers or give away the surprises early.
There’s cynicism about the ways of the art world and its audience in the initial chapters. Does it stem purely from the Captain’s point of view or yours?
The views expressed in the book are the Captain’s own. I absolutely love art.
The Heist Artist
The women in this story are under strong male gaze and it gets lecherous when seen through Uddham Kumar and Bipin Patel. How did you want to present Sheena and Sylvia?
Both Udhham Kumar and Bipin Patel are not exactly portrayed as men with any kind of moral rectitude. It would be less believable if I showed them as gentlemen. The irony is, I would have been accused of not doing my research well on those kinds of men.
Sheena, in my mind, is not a prominent character at all; Sylvia is. But Sheena was easy to write about if you’ve met a few socialites, although I admit I’ve embellished the character to meet the needs of the story. Sylvia’s character was difficult to build since I wanted a strong woman, but one who wasn’t given her own voice. Her character had to be put together by various perspectives — the lewd one as seen by Udhham Kumar, and the respectful/admirable one by the captain.
