CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted – Book Review

Discover CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted by Madhukant Acharya, a novel exploring corporate politics, film industry rivalry, ambition, and trust.
on Oct 31, 2026

CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted – A Novel of Corporate Rivalry, Club Politics, and Ambition

Ambition rarely unfolds in a straight line. In professional environments, the pursuit of recognition and influence can bring individuals face to face with rivalry, manipulation, and powerful networks determined to protect their positions. In creative industries, similar struggles can emerge when talent challenges established interests. CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted by Madhukant Acharya explores these overlapping worlds through two ambitious individuals navigating professional obstacles, personal trust, and the complicated realities of power.

At the centre of the story are Vinodini Nair, an aspiring author and film director, and Samresh Rana, a senior corporate executive with ambitions of becoming president of his club. Their professional lives unfold in very different environments, yet both discover that achievement depends on more than talent, hard work, or determination. Behind the outward appearance of success lie competing interests, entrenched hierarchies, and individuals willing to use questionable means to maintain their influence.

As their careers encounter serious challenges, Vinodini and Samresh must decide how far they are prepared to go to protect their ambitions. With questions of trust, professional survival, and strategic decision-making at its core, the novel examines what happens when individuals confront systems that appear determined to keep them out.

Book Summary

CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted brings together the worlds of corporate leadership, club politics, and the film industry through the experiences of Vinodini Nair and Samresh Rana.

Vinodini is an aspiring author and film director whose creative ambitions place her in a demanding and competitive industry. Samresh, meanwhile, is an accomplished senior corporate executive seeking to become president of the club to which he belongs. Both are driven by clear goals, but their respective environments are shaped by complicated power structures and individuals with their own agendas.

Despite their different professional backgrounds, the two recognise a strong connection. Their relationship develops against a backdrop of uncertainty, professional rivalry, and the need to make difficult decisions. Each becomes a source of trust and support for the other as their ambitions encounter unexpected resistance.

Vinodini's professional world is thrown into turmoil when a promising actor she has directed dies under mysterious circumstances. The incident raises allegations that powerful interests within the film industry may have sought to eliminate competition threatening their dominance. The resulting crisis places her work and ambitions under pressure, forcing her to confront the less visible forces that can influence creative careers.

Samresh faces a different but equally difficult challenge. His bid to become club president is obstructed by an entrenched and influential group, while his corporate career is threatened by a senior colleague seeking to advance by using him as a stepping stone.

As these conflicts intensify, both characters adopt strategies that are daring and potentially risky. Their decisions reflect the difficult calculations required when professional goals collide with manipulation and institutional resistance. Their mutual trust becomes an important element of their ability to navigate these situations.

The novel follows their efforts to overcome the obstacles before them, exploring the compromises, manoeuvres, and calculations involved in pursuing success within imperfect systems. The question is not simply whether they can achieve their ambitions, but what it takes to reach their goals when the rules of the game are not always applied fairly.

What Makes CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted Different?

1. Two Professional Worlds, Similar Power Struggles

One of the novel's central features is its exploration of two distinct professional environments: corporate life and the film industry. On the surface, these worlds appear to operate according to different priorities. Corporate leadership emphasises performance, hierarchy, and commercial outcomes, while filmmaking depends on creativity, collaboration, and artistic expression.

Yet the novel draws attention to the similarities beneath these differences. Both environments can be shaped by competition, personal alliances, gatekeeping, and the desire to preserve established influence.

Through Samresh and Vinodini, the story examines how ambition operates within these systems. Their experiences suggest that professional achievement is not always determined by competence alone. Relationships, institutional politics, and the interests of powerful individuals can influence whose work receives recognition and who gets the opportunity to advance.

This parallel gives the narrative a broader relevance, particularly for readers familiar with workplaces where formal structures coexist with informal networks of influence.

2. The Politics Behind Professional Success

The pursuit of leadership positions can expose the difference between an organisation's stated values and the behaviour of those seeking to control it. Samresh's attempt to become club president brings this tension into focus, as he confronts a powerful group unwilling to relinquish its influence.

His corporate career faces a related threat from a senior colleague whose ambitions create additional uncertainty. These conflicts place him in situations where professional competence alone may not be enough to secure progress.

The novel explores the pressures that arise when individuals must navigate workplace politics while protecting their own ambitions. It raises questions about fairness, loyalty, influence, and the extent to which success depends on navigating relationships as carefully as responsibilities.

For readers who have encountered organisational rivalry or competition for leadership roles, these elements may feel recognisable. The story uses its fictional conflicts to examine the complexities that can exist behind the outward image of professional achievement.

3. Creative Ambition and the Cost of Competition

Vinodini's storyline brings the challenges of the creative industries into the narrative. As an aspiring author and film director, she seeks to establish herself in an environment where artistic ambition intersects with commercial considerations and established power structures.

The mysterious death of a promising actor she directed introduces a serious crisis into her professional life. Allegations of attempts to suppress competition raise questions about the relationship between talent and influence in an industry where opportunities and recognition can be fiercely contested.

This plotline adds a different dimension to the novel's treatment of ambition. While Samresh's difficulties emerge through corporate and club hierarchies, Vinodini faces uncertainty within a creative environment. Both experiences illustrate how personal goals can become entangled with forces beyond an individual's immediate control.

Her story also creates space to consider the vulnerability of creative professionals when their work challenges established interests.

4. Trust as a Source of Strength

Amid the novel's conflicts, the relationship between Vinodini and Samresh provides an important counterpoint to the deception and rivalry surrounding them.

Their connection is built on a strong sense of mutual trust. As professional crises threaten their respective ambitions, they rely on one another while developing strategies to deal with the challenges they face.

This relationship adds an interpersonal dimension to a story concerned with power and competition. In environments where motives are uncertain and alliances may be driven by self-interest, trust becomes especially significant.

Their bond also raises an important question: how can individuals preserve meaningful relationships while navigating professional worlds that encourage caution, calculation, and self-protection?

Themes Explored in CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted

Ambition and the Pursuit of Recognition

Ambition drives both central characters, but their goals differ. Vinodini seeks to develop her creative career, while Samresh aspires to a position of leadership within his club and continued progress in the corporate world.

Their journeys demonstrate how ambition can motivate individuals to pursue difficult goals while also exposing them to rivalry and disappointment. The obstacles they encounter test their ability to adapt and reconsider their approaches.

The novel's treatment of ambition extends beyond professional advancement. It also explores the systems within which ambition operates and the extent to which individuals can control the conditions affecting their success.

Deception, Manipulation, and Institutional Power

The book's two principal settings are marked by competing interests and efforts to maintain influence. In both, the appearance of order can conceal personal manoeuvres and resistance to change.

The alleged attempt to eliminate competition in the film industry and the opposition to Samresh's leadership ambitions present different expressions of the same broad concern: the use of power to protect existing positions.

These conflicts invite readers to consider how institutions respond when established hierarchies are challenged. They also highlight the difficulty of distinguishing legitimate competition from conduct designed to prevent others from advancing.

Resilience and Strategic Decision-Making

Vinodini and Samresh cannot simply ignore the forces working against them. Their circumstances demand careful decisions, adaptability, and a willingness to consider unconventional strategies.

The novel presents resilience as an active process rather than mere endurance. Both characters must evaluate their circumstances and determine how best to respond to the pressures they face.

Their approaches are described as daring and risky, reflecting the uncertainty involved in challenging entrenched interests. The story explores the calculations that arise when conventional routes to success appear blocked.

Ethics and Compromise

When individuals encounter unfair systems, the choices available to them may become complicated. They must weigh their ambitions against the risks of confrontation, the demands of professional survival, and the consequences of their actions.

The challenges faced by the protagonists place these questions within the narrative. Their decisions invite reflection on what people consider acceptable when the environment around them appears to reward manipulation or resist legitimate competition.

Rather than presenting professional advancement as a straightforward process, the novel explores a world in which decisions must be made amid uncertainty and conflicting interests.

The Intersection of Personal and Professional Lives

Although the novel focuses on career-related challenges, the relationship between Vinodini and Samresh demonstrates that professional conflicts do not exist in isolation from personal life.

Their trust provides continuity amid the instability of their respective careers. It offers a contrast to the alliances and rivalries that shape their professional environments.

This theme highlights the importance of personal connection when individuals face demanding circumstances. It also suggests that navigating professional uncertainty can involve not only strategic thinking but the ability to place trust in another person.

Writing Style and Narrative Appeal

CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted brings together corporate intrigue, club politics, and a crisis within the film industry. Its premise relies on the contrast between two professional environments while drawing connections between the power struggles that operate within each.

The parallel storylines allow the novel to explore ambition from different perspectives. Samresh's corporate and club-related challenges focus on leadership, organisational influence, and career advancement, while Vinodini's experiences introduce the uncertainties associated with creative work and competition in the film industry.

The mysterious death of an actor adds a layer of suspense to Vinodini's storyline, while the opposition to Samresh's ambitions creates a different source of tension. Their relationship connects these strands through the theme of mutual trust.

Readers interested in workplace intrigue, professional rivalry, and characters forced to make difficult decisions may find the premise engaging. The novel's exploration of deception and ambition also offers opportunities to reflect on the difference between the ideals associated with professional institutions and the realities of navigating them.

About the Author: Madhukant Acharya

Madhukant Acharya built a successful corporate career with prominent multinational companies, progressing from management trainee to a position on a company's board within twenty years. His professional achievements were recognised with the title of Marketing Man of the Year by the President of India.

An avid reader and traveller, he has explored destinations in India and abroad and maintains an active interest in fitness, social engagement, and charitable work in rural areas. Following his retirement, he chose to pursue a long-standing ambition to write fiction.

This decision led to his debut literary work, Friends and Five Seasons, presented in two volumes: Rupen's Early Years and Publishing Hero Rupen. His transition from corporate leadership to novel writing marks a new chapter in a career shaped by professional experience, personal interests, and a desire to explore storytelling.

With CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted, Acharya turns his attention to ambition, organisational politics, and the challenges faced by individuals seeking to advance in competitive professional environments.

Who Should Read CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted?

The novel may appeal to:

• Readers of corporate fiction interested in workplace rivalries, leadership ambitions, and organisational politics.
• Professionals and business leaders who want to explore fictional portrayals of competition, influence, and career advancement.
• Readers interested in the film industry and stories involving creative ambition, industry power structures, and professional uncertainty.
• Fans of character-driven intrigue who enjoy narratives built around difficult choices, strategic manoeuvres, and personal relationships.
• Readers interested in ambition and ethics who appreciate stories that examine the compromises and challenges involved in pursuing success.

Its combination of corporate conflict, club politics, creative-industry intrigue, and interpersonal trust gives the novel several points of connection for readers interested in the complexities of professional life.

Conclusion

CLUB CHICANERY: Done and Dusted by Madhukant Acharya explores the complicated relationship between ambition, power, and professional success. Through Vinodini Nair's challenges in the film industry and Samresh Rana's struggles in corporate life and club politics, the novel examines environments in which talent and determination can be complicated by entrenched interests and personal manoeuvres.

The protagonists' mutual trust provides an important counterpoint to the deception and rivalry surrounding them, while their decisions raise questions about resilience, strategy, and the compromises involved in pursuing one's goals.

By bringing together two distinct professional worlds, Acharya offers a fictional exploration of how power operates behind institutional appearances and how individuals respond when their ambitions are challenged. For readers drawn to corporate intrigue, creative-industry conflicts, and stories about navigating imperfect systems, the novel presents a narrative centred on the difficult pursuit of success.