The launch event of Amish Tripathi's second book, The Secret of the Nagas at Landmark recently was absolutely packed with fans of his Shiva Trilogy.
It wasn't just that every seat was taken, or that shoppers paused to listen to the author speak; it was how knowledgeable the audience members were about the books, and how vociferous they were in their praise of the series.
The book, which is a sequel to Amish's hit debut novel the Immortals of Meluha (2010), has already climbed to the top of Indian bestseller lists, and the two books between them have had a print run of three lakh. The trilogy is the author's take on Indian mythology, based on a simple premise — what if Lord Shiva had once been one of us, a tribal living 4000 years ago? — and it's clear that it has struck a chord with Indian readers.
“Thanks for creating a Shiva I can identify with,” said one fan. Another thanked the author for openly opposing the Aryan invasion theory: “I'm so happy to find someone in the mainstream willing to proclaim the fact.” (Amish called it a “nonsense theory” during the event.)
The author, an IIM-Kolkata educated former banker, spent almost the entire launch interacting with his fans, wasting very little time in the beginning introducing the book or reading from it. That made sense, since the bulk of his audience had already read both books, and was bursting with specific questions about the world he'd created (down to the laws of its fictional tribes) and his larger theory on Hindu gods.
“This is, of course, my theory,” the author was careful to say more than once. “I can't claim it is the truth.”
Was he concerned that his theory would stir up controversy? “I truly believe that if you want to write a story like this, there's no better place to do it in than India,” he said. “After all, we have over a thousand versions of the Ramayana in different parts of the country. We've always had a capacity to modernise and localise our myths.”
Other questions revolved around the author's own attitude towards faith, with Amish revealing that he'd been an atheist — but with an interest in all religious philosophy — for most of his life. “I was lucky to come from a very religious but liberal family,” he said. “I always approached religion from a philosophical perspective, and my family was never offended by the questions I asked.”
Indeed, the idea for his first book grew out of a purely philosophical thesis on the definition of evil that came to him seven years ago. “I had no thought of writing as a career then; my plan was to bore people by talking about insurance endlessly, and hopefully one day get the corner office at work,” he joked. But the story for Immortals… took root, and as he wrote, turned into an adventure novel, “filled with action, drama and romance, like a Kollywood flick.”
It's Hollywood that's taken notice though — Amish revealed that he'd been signed by a major Hollywood talent agency (one of the partners read Immortals… while he was in India and liked it), and that the search was on for the right producer to recreate the story on celluloid.
Meanwhile, his fans had only one question for him: when would the third and final book of the trilogy be out?
“I'm going to start writing it by October end,” he assured them. “Westland has me busy on promotional tours to 15 different locations till then!”
