Karan Razdan took 11 years to write his first book Tantra and the Tantrika. He tells Karan Bhardwaj what fascinates him about karma, kundalini, chakras and sidhis
He has been in the film and TV industry for over 25 years directing and writing films. But his long desire to write a book was fulfilled only recently. Karan Razdan’s long-pending project has just seen the light of the day. His maiden book, Tantra and the Tantrika, was started 11 years ago. In 2002, he had registered the title of this composition with the Film Writers Association. Why did he chose to write a book when he could have easily weaved it into a movie scriptIJ “Sometimes, the subject chooses its medium. The topic of tantras is so huge that a book was the only choice left to me to narrate the story,” says Razdan from Mumbai.
It is a story of a prostitute (Megha), based in Varanasi, who gets enlightened through sex and becomes a guru. The other protagonist is yogi Mahendranath. He has done hath yoga, tapasya since he was 13-14 and has attained sidhis (supernatural powers). He is like a modern-day Ravana. He gets obsessed with the third character Susan who comes to India to learn the art. Eventually, he declares war against both women. The climax is based in Mahakumbh and has lots of spirits, demonic forces and goddesses. Doesn’t it all sound like a movieIJ “Yes, there is high possibility of translating it into a movie. But I won’t write the screenplay. I will take one writer from East and one from the West to write the screenplay. The movie will have a mix of Indian and foreign actors,” he discloses.
Razdan is not new to the subject. His wife is a yogini and he has been a follower of Osho for a long time. “I have been visiting Osho ashram since 1995. My wife Aarti became a sanyasi when she was 19. She led me to the ashram. I have been a reader and listener of Osho since then. Osho has a book on Vigyan Bhairav Tantra which is called Book of Secrets. I read that book 15 years ago. Tantra is a love dialogue between Shiva and the Shakti (Parvati). So, it has fascinated me for long time. Since Osho doesn’t write fiction, I wanted to weave the entire concept in form of a novel,” he says.
The writer visited four temples of tantriks. In Ujjain, he went to Kaal Bhairav Mandir and Mahakaleshwar Mandir, where till the recent time, the bhasm (ashes) of a fresh burnt body was used to conduct the aarti. He also visited Khajuraho and Eklingji temple (Udaipur) .
Next, he is looking forward to make a biopic on former actor Meena Kumari. “Writing part is over. I was always fascinated by her life. She was in search of divine love,” he says. The casting hasn’t been finalised but the director says he may approach Huma Qureshi for the role. “The movie may take some more time since it needs a lot of pre-production work to be done. We will have to look for apt locations and requisite sets,” he says. Razdan admits that he has not spoken to the family and it may create a controversy. “But with the film, I don’t mean to propagate any controversy. I am simply going to present what fascinates me about the legendary actor. It’s about characters and personalities she interacted and fell in love with,” he shares.
Razdan is also ready with his second book called Power of Blessing. It’s non-fictional and has gone for printing.