Q. How and when did your writing journey start?
A. I have always been fond of writing since my childhood years. I am an avid reader and anyone who reads, always fantasizes about writing. About creating stories for others to read. I had forever been dabbling into it but that exercise took a serious turn in 2011 when I wrote my first full-fledged book. After doing Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen’s, I had joined CNN-IBN as a Correspondent. In 2011, I took a sabbatical to explore new horizons and ended up writing my first thriller novel, The Emperor’s Riddles, that became an instant hit.
Q. What do you think is more challenging, script writing or books?
A. Both come with their own set of challenges. When I began doing the screenplay for Porus, Sony’s epic historical television show, I remember creating a monumental escape sequence for one of the episodes. The producer smiled and said they do not have the budget of Transformers! I realised that day that while book writing allows your imagination to go wild, writing for a visual medium comes with certain constrains for you can write only what can be translated on screen. That was a big learning.
Q. How was your experience of writing a biography of Superstar Sridevi?
A. It was a bitter sweet experience given that I had spoken to her about the book when she was alive and we had planned to begin the process post the release of Dhadak. Sridevi’s legacy spans fifty years and yet there was no book chronicling these legendary achievements of her. I guess her massive body of work was intimidating for most writers and I am glad that I got the opportunity to celebrate her story. In her tragic absence, I met most of her co-stars and filmmakers that she had worked with in Mumbai and down south and they have all shared wonderful and heartfelt inputs. Some of them even got emotional while recounting her memories. It was wonderful to see the kind of equity Sridevi had in all these industries and the affection her name stirred in all of them. If her seniors and contemporaries spoke of her with love and emotion, the younger generation had nothing but admiration and awe for the sheer cinematic legend that she will always be.
Q. How would you describe your journey from the mystery thriller Venom to the mythological Mahagatha’?
A. I have surely been genre-hopping and I absolutely relish that. Venom was my second thriller after which I wrote Sridevi’s biography and now we have the mythological magnum-opus Mahagatha. I am often advised to stick to one particular genre but I cannot operate like that as an author. I am quite sure that if I write only a specific kind of book, I will not only get bored myself but also end up repeating my style which is unacceptable. I am not seeking a comfort zone. With every new genre, I challenge myself and that has made this journey of mine so enjoyable and worthwhile.
Q. What were the key elements that you took care of while writing every tale?
A. It took me five years to create Mahagatha because my source was the epic universe of Puranas. There are 18 Mahapuranas and 18 Upapuranas. Since I cannot read Sanskrit, I went through all those Puranas that have been translated in English. Thankfully there were many of those and navigating through them was my core research. And yet, so fascinating was this world that it never felt like a chore. Every new tale discovered was a joy. Every new connection made was enlightening. At the end of this process, the total number of stories collected were around 300. I filtered them down to 100 through a three-point criteria. How interesting was the story, who were the principal figures involved and if it was a lesser-known story that truly deserved a wider audience.
Q. What is the significance of the sequence of the stories or are they taken at random?
A. It was my intent to create a linear narrative despite the fact that the concept of time in Puranas is cyclical. Mahagatha is not a random collection of tales but a chronological narrative of stories connected to each other that take you through the four yugas from Satya Yuga to Kali Yuga. In such a reading you realise that these stories are not isolated events but each of them have a past and a future. A cause & effect. An interconnected cycle of Karma and Karma-phal which is how our universe operates in the grand cosmic scheme of things. Creating a linear timeline seemed but using many available Puranic markers like the avatars of Vishnu, the seven manavantaras and the lineage of gods, demons and kings, I was able to create the narrative which begins with the creation of Brahmanda in Satya Yuga and ends with the advent of Kali Yuga.
Q. The tales are short and easily understandable and stay in our mind forever. So was that intentional or were you suggested to write short tales?
A. Every story has been given its due length. The choice of word count was left entirely to me and each tale has been given the narrative space that it demanded. The fact that the final manuscript was never shortened by HarperCollins validated this attempt that the length of every story was completely justified.
Q. Chapter 10, where the Gods go hungry..
What is the importance of saying Swaha after every yagna?
A. This is one of those unheard-of stories that I discovered in the Puranas and it has found a place among my favourite tales in Mahagatha. I would not like to ruin the story here for any future readers of Mahagatha by explaining the importance of Swaha. Let them discover it on their own when they read this fascinating tale.
Q. Over the years, stories passed by oral and written tradition often get layered or some are forgotten. What are your thoughts on this?
A. The Puranas are a complex and a magnificent universe and I wanted to present it in a befitting way. Every story evoked intricate emotions that had to be captured and communicated. I was also conscious that this was a material that demanded utmost reverence and it was my sacred duty to present it to my readers with a certain amount of respect. Despite creative liberties taken here and there, I wanted that the core purity of these tales must remain undiluted. That their souls must remain untouched. Untainted. Unvarnished. Hence, they have been retold in the best way possible and the fact that Mahagatha has crossed 50k copies to become a National Bestseller, assures me that this is a job done well.
Q. Did the book Mahagatha change any perception or point of view of yours?
A. It has made me grow highly fond of Lord Vishnu. As the Preserver of the universe, his fundamental aim has always been the greater good that he strives to achieve in every yuga. And because he’s prepared to pay any price for it, he’s cursed in every yuga. And he accepts every curse with folded hands.
Any suggestions for youngsters who are aspiring authors.
Read! Read! Read! Then aspire to write.