BASIL SYLVESTER PINTO
Popular Indian author in the genre of young adult romance, Sudeep Nagarkar was down in Goa recently as a part of a 15-city tour for the launch of his tenth novel, She Friend-Zoned My Love. Through the launch spanning an hour at a book-store in Panaji, the prolific author had an interactive session with his fans, apart from signing copies of his books and taking memorable pictures with his ardent readers.
TG Life caught up with the author for an exclusive interview.
TGLIFE: With an engineering background, what made you to switch to writing as a career?
Like I always say,I never wanted to pursue engineering. Somewhere when I was into it, I had break-ups; I had a couple of year drops. At that time I was a little depressed. Writing helped me come out of my frustration. At that time, I decided that I should write because it gave me happiness. It was very difficult to publish my first book as no one was ready. So I decided that probably I will publish it with a local publisher who publishes only in Mumbai. But then Srishti accepted it and the first book came out with them in 2011.
TG: How do you realize the storyline behind your novels? Where do the ideas germinate from?
All the books are inspired from real-life incidents. Some are inspired from my story, some are a friend’s story or somewhere I feel I should write on a particular subject then I go ahead. When I wrote about LGBT issues, I met a few people who belonged to that community I got the inspiration from there. I sat with them. I came to know about their stories, their day-to-day struggle. So that is what inspires me to write more. There is a bit of fiction, a bit of masala in it. But the basic idea is inspired.
Q: Are your books – a work of fiction or inspired?
Alll books are inspired. There is 20-25 per cent fiction because in our real lives though there is drama, it does not unfold on every page of your life. But then in the book, you need to have that kind of twists or turns so that the readers are engaged in the story. When I started writing for the screen, I realized how important it is to end each chapter on a high note so that it can keep the readers engaged. That does not happen in real life. But while writing about it, I have to manipulate it.
TG: Your newest book, ‘She Friend-Zoned My Love,’ how different is it from the earlier books you authored?
It is quite different in terms of how relationships are placed. In my previous books, all friendships are unconditional; they are like best buddies, hanging out together. Though there are problems, there are no ego clashes. But in this book, there are best buddies who have severe ego clashes; end their friendship and then how difficult it becomes for them. The relationship of friendship I have shown is different as I’ve never attempted friend-zoning before. One-sided love is not something I have written about. It is very different and was quite challenging to pen down the emotions of a particular person whose love is rejected.
Q: Talking further on your current novel, how can one relate to it?
There will be many people out there who will be friend-zoned. When I released the title of this particular book, I understood that people will relate to it. When I released ‘She Friend-Zoned My Love,’ I got so many messages from girls why she and not he. Even girls get friend-zoned. You should write ‘He Friend-Zoned My Love’ also. But then at the same time there was this pressure as to whether it will stand up to the expectations. When it comes to friend-zoning, everyone has a perception. If I am reading about friend-zoning, I am expecting the story to be like this, like that. All the relationships, all the characters will make you feel that you are living in that world.
TG: What are the messages you try to convey through your various books?
Quite a few. Probably, I started this trend from ‘You’re The Password To My Life.’ My initial four books were pure work of romance. But then I realized something else should be included. ‘You’re The Password To My Life’ has shown that a guy and girl can be good friends also. It does not need to end on a Karan Johar note each and every time. They can be good friends for a lifetime with no feelings or a kind of attraction. Then it came down to ‘She Swiped Right Into My Heart’ where I have expressed that LGBT should be accepted in the current society and it is quite natural. Probably it is the politicians and other people out there who have addressed it as a forced thing. They are not like sex-hungry people, running on the roads for same-gender sex. They are quite normal human beings and they should be accepted. Then it came down to ‘All Rights Reserved For You.’ It was about accepting the North East community in India along with long-distance relationship that I portrayed in that book. Again, ‘Our Story Needs No Filter,’ deals with the current political issues in the country like how students are manipulated in big universities such as Jadavpur University (JU), IIT Madras and how relationships are affected because of the caste and how humanity should be bonded. ‘She Friend-Zoned My Love,’ is about body-shaming.
TG: Can you cite instances whereby your books have changed the lives of your readers?
Again I will come back to ‘She Swiped Right Into My Heart.’ I was hesitant and quite confident that this book will not work because I had written about such a bold thing and that too in a commercial zone. But when the book released, I got so many messages from people who belonged to the LGBT community. It is like meeting my readers who I had no clue about. They are lesbians, and they are gays. But they were quite open about all these things. They messaged me and told me these are the challenges we are facing. Your book has helped us to at least be proud of ourselves and not be ashamed. That is why including such positive messages has helped.
