It wasn't a book launch where the panel fumbled awkwardly, unravelling ribbons off gift wrapped books. The launch of Aditya Sudarshan's “Show Me A Hero” (Rupa Publishers) was as black and white as it gets, and the lack of colour was made up for with clever repartee, witty quips and intelligent conversation. Sudarshan, who is now settled in Bombay was in the city for the launch of his book at Crossword.
“Show Me A Hero” is the NLS graduate's second novel, which also falls under the genre of crime fiction like his first, and has been referred to as a coming-of-age novel by the author. “People are rather sceptical of coming-of-age novels because of all the crude literature that is being passed off for coming-of-age novels. But it is a legitimate phenomenon that everyone goes through. However, there are a lot of people who go through life without ever coming of age,” says Sudarshan.
Since 2008 Aditya has taken to writing fiction full time. This was heralded by his first novel “A Nice Quiet Holiday” and several short stories for Penguin India's First Proof anthology, the Scientific Indian's Science Fiction anthology, Kindle Magazine, Reading Hour Magazine, and others. Aditya is also a regular scriptwriter for NDTV's political comedy show, “The Great Indian Tamasha”, and the author of two stage plays.
The book revolves around a bunch of young people in Delhi who are making a documentary film on a cricketer. As an author Aditya has an imagination that runs on seven league boots, “But you should also be able to put the brakes and fortify what you already have,” he says.
The book deals with the cricketer, and fresh off the World Cup victory and smack in the middle of the IPL, the ubiquitous question about cricket was unavoidable, “Cricket is the greatest natural drama. You can shout ‘India, India', but there is only so much that can do. There is so much premium on this sport only because of the lack of involvement in other public spheres,” explains Sudarshan.
Although Sudarshan spent five years earning his law degree, he never quite chose to follow it as a career option. “It was merely a process of realising what I wanted to do. I saw what the legal practise entails and even though I was enjoying myself on a day to day basis, I did not see myself planning out a future in the field.”
