Nilesh Rathod, an entrepreneur makes his debut as an author with his book Destiny of Shattered Dreams . The book was launched recently in Bengaluru at Sapna Book House in the presence of Milan Vohra, India’s first Mills and Boon author. Nilesh admitted to Vohra that he began writing the story for himself and not for the public until friends recommended he publish it.
The book follows the protagonist, Atul Malhotra who makes his way to the top in the business world only to find a massive fall from grace awaiting him at the summit. When asked about how autobiographical the book was, considering he was a successful entrepreneur himself, Rathod joked, “For one, I have never been to jail; that gives away that it’s not an autobiography in any way.” Excerpts from an interview
Being an entrepreneur and an author, how do you juggle both? Does one get priority?
Yes, as an entrepreneur your priority is always business. The bigger the business, greater the responsibility. But it is the entrepreneur that gives stories to the author. A lot of stories which I have used in my first book are inspired by events that I have seen. Being the entrepreneur, I am able to judge them better, therefore people like what I have written and it sheds new light on these events for them. I think they complement each other.
The second book you’re working on, The Emissary , is a historical fiction. Why the shift from contemporary to historical fiction?
I am not typically the kind of person who’s looking at writing to become Chetan Bhagat. My first book was written with the aim of writing a book and I wrote it. It’s for the people to judge whether it’s good, bad, what genre it is. I hadn’t thought about it being a thriller or a contemporary fiction. When I took to the second story, I wanted a story that inspired me. So I took a story about British imperialism in India and the Nazi holocaust. I wanted to bring forth how these two are viewed in fiction. In the 21st Century, people see the Allied forces as good people and the Nazis as bad. But to my mind it was a war between the imperialists and fascists and both were equally bad. That side of the imperialist society hasn’t been brought out. Churchill is seen as a great man – an opinion seen across history books. But I want to show Churchill as evil as or more evil than Hitler in a lot of ways. The book has historical sequences that are real and have been untampered. I intend to knit it into a fictional story involving a protagonist who will go through those events. I will be questioned through my story and I’ll have evidence to back my claims. Therefore I chose historical fiction. The third genre I pick up may be something else, like design. It’s about me wanting to write something and I write it.
What is the scope for Indian literature, especially with writers writing in languages apart from English?
English is quickly becoming the popular language in India in terms of reading. When I was younger I read Harishankar Parsai’s work. Till today I haven’t seen anyone write satire the way he wrote even in English literature. There’s a host of Indian writers who are out there and have written brilliant stuff. In fact, at this point of time I am reading a book Churchill’s Secret War by Madhusree Mukerjee – a brilliant book. These books are out there for people to read but they don’t get the discovery or exposure. That is the problem with Indian writing in English. In English a lot of the fiction is just there, there’s too much coming out but quality works are getting hidden in the mass that is being produced. If you look there’ll be 10 books written every day, and nine out of these aren’t worth reading but the point is there’s one hidden there. So unless you get promoted, it’s difficult to stand out. I think Indian literature is coming of age and there are good quality writers and readers here. In five to 10 years you’ll have a massive market for fiction-reading. So if I decided to start writing 10 years down the line it would be easier for me than it is today. It’s hard work to get seen and discovered by your audience.
