'Witness' book review: With the vim and verve of a blockbuster, this memoir remains grounded in raw emotion
To its credit, Olympic bronze medallist, Sakshi Malik’s momentous memoir, Witness, does not bother with pussyfooting around what was, and is, an explosive issue. With Jonathan Selvaraj, Sakshi takes no prisoners as she goes after not just the likes of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and Amit Shah, but even fellow wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Babita Phogat, her own mother, and going so far as to almost, but not quite, accuse a fellow competitive wrestler of witchcraft. It has the vim and verve of a blockbuster while being grounded in raw emotion that is unlikely to leave even the most jaded of readers unmoved. She is also hyper-critical of the “mental weakness” that saw her struggle to stay competitive and relevant in a cutthroat world and her arms which she maligns for being too muscular, with 14-inch thick biceps.
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