20.1.09

There's hunger to know India



Diplomat-author Vikas Swarup is more than a millionaire now. But all the global adulation and limelight that has stalked Slumdog Millionaire, the movie version of his acclaimed novel Q & A, hasn't touched him. "What it shows is that stories from India are finding increasing resonance in the world. There is a huge hunger about to know about India," says Swarup, who is currently India's deputy high commissioner to South Africa. "The novel strikes a chord with ordinary people because it's about endless possibilities of life - anything is possible. The themes the novel explores like love, friendship and fate, are universal," he says. Being a diplomat, Swarup has an inbred talent for projecting India's soft power. It's Hollywood time for India, he says.
"Hopefully, the success of the book will encourage Hollywood to look more closely at stories of India and locations in India," he says. Swarup can expect a champagne treatment from his colleagues in the external affairs ministry, who are excited about the success of one of their tribe, when he comes to India later this week. "Many people want a piece of me. My mailbox has been flooded with congratulatory messages. I have been deluged with interview calls," he says while faintly complaining about the toll the spectacular success of Slumdog Millionaire has taken on his private life. "But I know it fully well deep down success is ephemeral and transient," he said with a touch of philosophical gravitas.
Swarup, who served as director in then external affairs minister K Natwar Singh's office before he went to South Africa, is excited about the prospects of a wider readership for his book after its tryst with Hollywood. "It's been huge. It's still sinking in. Let's not forget the ultimate mass medium in India is movies. The book will now reach more people," he says.
Riding on the movie's success in these celebrity-stricken times, Swarup said publishers have already renamed the book as Slumdog Millionaire. "That's because that's a trade practice. After the movie's success, it helps readers to locate the book in bookshops. But that's only for the duration of the movie," he adds. "The film's shelf life is nothing compared to that of the book's. The book will live long after the movie buzz dies down," he says.
The story of Slumdog goes back to Swarup's holiday breaks in his hometown Allahabad many years ago. An avid quizzer since his college days, the hugely popular quiz show presented by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan fired his literary imagination. He, however, finally managed to write the novel Q & A only in the evenings in London over five years ago when he was posted there as counsellor at the Indian high commission.

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