Mythological fiction
Anand Neelakantan is an Indian author, columnist, screenwriter, and public speaker. He is known for writing mythological fictions and has authored ten books in English and one in Malayalam. He follows the style of telling stories based on the perspective of the antagonists or supporting characters of a larger work. His debut work Asura: Tale of the Vanquished (2012) was based on the Indian epic Ramayana, told from the perspective of Ravana—the first book in his Ramayana series. It was followed by series of books based on characters from Mahabharata and Baahubali. His books have been translated to different languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali , Gujarati, Assamese, English and Indonesian Bahasa.
Anand's Asura is one of the 100 books to be read in a life time as per Amazon. The book has sold more than half a million copies across the years. Three of his books have been shortlisted for Crossword Book Award during the respective years. He was listed as one among the "100 top celebrities in India" in 2015 and 2017 by Forbes India. Anand also writes a column for The New Indian Express on current affairs and his fortnightly column is called "Acute Angle".@itsanandneel
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Anand Neelakantan on “Valmiki’s Women” In Conversation with Rishabh Kothari
On 27th Nov 5.00 pm - 5.40 pm
“Ramayan has many women characters which were not have been focused on very much. Previously I did Ramayana through different perspectives such as Hanuman, Sugriv, Ravan etc. Then I had thought of summarizing and bringing forward women of Valmiki’s Ramayan. Many don’t know that Rama had an older sister Shanta. Mandodari, Kaikeyi, Manthara, Urmila and many others. It should be seen as poetry than a thriller as it has a very serene atmosphere throughout the reading. These stories come from experience. For example, imagine why Manthara would have felt wrong when Ram was coroneted? Was she felt threatened that if Ram became king, will she continue her job or not? It represents a Common perspective in our day to day life. Though these things have happened in long gone past, human consciousness is still the same. This book is an attempt to throw light on it. There are around 40 prominent women characters in Ramayana, and dealing with them in a precise perceptive was a long haul. But as I was already aware of those characters, I think I managed well. Our scripture needs deep understanding to understand well. We are carrying very regressive assumptions due to Abrahamic religions impact on our thinking. Our scripture is thinking manuals that show us the path to thinking.”