like his movies, director Neeraj Pandey’s debut novel is a crime thriller. He tells Divya Kaushik that writing a book is a personally fulfilling experience
It comes as a surprise that a man who gave us thrillers like A Wednesday and Special 26, and who is now ready with his debut spine-chilling crime novel, is least interested in reading thrillers. Neeraj Pandey prefers “general fiction, biographies and autobiographies.” Maybe this is the reason that his writings never come across as inspired or influenced by someone else’s. It is only his experiences with people and life in general that contributes to his stories. Some credit to the way he shapes his characters goes to his upbringing, he says. Heroes of his films are one amongst the aam janta and so is his protagonist, Kamran Khan, of his debut novel Ghalib Danger (Penguin). “I never gave enough thought about how my characters always come across as one of us, very ordinary, but I think it has to do with my upbringing. I was born and brought up in a Bihari family in Kolkata,” says the director.
About Kamran Khan, the protagonist of his novel, Pandey says that he is a cocky young taxi driver trying to make it big in Mumbai. But his life transforms when he saves a don called Mirza from being killed. What seems like a good deed, however, has a cruel payback and in a single moment, Kamran loses everything dear to him. This is when Mirza, in gratitude, takes Kamran under his wing and the young man gets drawn into the mafia boss’ dangerous world of cops and rival gangsters, eventually taking over from him. Kamran also inherits Mirza’s philosophy that all of life’s problems can be solved through Ghalib’s poetry. Soon the innocent taxi driver has cops, criminals and even cabinet ministers at his beck and call. And his new name is Ghalib Danger. “Ghalib Danger is the name given to Kamran Ali Khan, the protagonist because of certain situations. The book is inspired from real life but is not based on any particular individual or incident. It’s like a collage of newspaper articles that had stayed with me for years. That and some imagination went in to the writing of the book. As far as Ghalib’s connection is concerned, he is my favourite poet and the concept fitted in beautifully in the story so I used it,” adds Pandey.
The book in an interesting way exposes the underbelly of Mumbai and Pandey informs that “the story automatically lent itself to Mumbai. The setting, the characters and their destinies needed a city like Mumbai.” After creating two popular films, Pandey is no new name to film buffs and his debut novel is already awaited by his fans. “I think it helps when people already know you. Being a brand helps in promotions but then it also whips up expectations,” he comments.
Writing a crime novel was not very difficult for the director who always wanted to come up with a book. “Writing was always on my to-do list. My wife kept nudging me too. However, writing a book is not very different from writing a screenplay, in terms of approach. In terms of actual writing one could take a few more liberties than what one would take while doing a screenplay. You have the luxury of putting your story in pause and be informative and descriptive about something while writing a novel. You can’t do that while writing a screenplay. I wanted to debut with a collection of short stories but Hussain Zaidi, who happens to be a friend, insisted that I write a novel first. I had this character in my mind for some time and soon a story got formed,” says the director, adding that this story is very different from his film scripts. “It is something that I have not attempted before. There is a lot of romance, too,” adds Pandey with a smile. In fact, it seems after thrillers, he is drawn towards creating rom-coms. His next film as a producer and screenplay writer is Total Siyappa, a romantic comedy featuring Ali Zafar and Yami Gautam.
Pandey loves the fact that while writing a book you are at liberty to create something, and that inspires him. “Unlike filmmaking which is a collaborative process, writing is personally more fulfilling,” he says. Ghalib Danger reads like an ideal movie script and Pandey would be very happy to see its movie adaptation, but he would like to make a movie himself. “If not me then I would rather let it be,” he says. After this, expect more from the author’s desk, “If there is a story worth sharing then I will definitely come up with another book soon. I would like to try a new genre.”