“I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore romance writer nor is the word ‘fiction’ right. Because everything I write comes out of my observations from real life situations, a reflection of the society,” declares Sudeep Nagarkar, who will be unveiling his book called The Secrets We Keep in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. It is his 11th novel.
Published by Penguin Random House India, this story revolves around the life of protagonist Rahul, an intelligence officer on a secret mission, who is undercover at a Major’s house. He falls in love with the Major’s daughter Akriti, but soon finds himself trapped in a mystery.
Sudeep does however allow himself to call The Secrets We Keep a “romance thriller”. He says writing it was a challenge. “I was always fascinated by thrillers. But I was daunted and wasn’t quite sure if I would be able to pull off a thriller. You have to keep your readers on the edge of their seats all the time.”
According to him the book has layers of emotions and shades of relationships within the twists and turns of the main plot. “For example, a growing gap between a father and a son, and sibling rivalry,” he explains.
- Venue: Pages The Book Shop, Rednam Gardens
- Date: May 18
- Time: 6 p.m.
Are his characters a reflection of his personal experiences? “Not always, but there definitely are bits and pieces inspired from my life,” he says. Sudeep admits that communication with his parents were far from smooth when he was a teenager! “I had a couple of backs in my engineering days. But I never opened up much before my father; though I always received support from them.”
Sudeep confesses that writing has improved him. “It has brought a lot of patience in me. Each of my book’s characters has inspired me in some way and taught me to be a better person. It has also changed the way I look at life and made me calmer from within.”
- Where do you write: A table and chair
- When: No specific time as such; but when I do, I just go round the clock
- How: A laptop
- What do you need while you write: Absolute silence
- Favourite authors: Dan Brown and Jeffrey Archer
He says writing for him is a personal journey. And while he is flooded with fan messages on social media begging him to write more thrillers, “it is tough to please everyone,” he smiles.
