Mahendra Jakhar's Blog - Posts Tagged "thriller"

Don’t worry I’m not going to teach you the art of murdering people. It’s only about writing - the art and craft of murder mystery writing.

My first Crime Novel – The Butcher of Benares has been listed as the Amazon Rising Star 2015 and was chosen as the Best Crime Debut Novel of 2014. A few reviewers wrote that my book reads like a movie now I don’t know whether I should take it as a compliment or a complaint. Yes, I am a screen-writer and have been writing scripts for TV shows and films. So it could be true. I write visually like describing a movie scene to make you feel the surroundings, smell the smells, walk through the fog, hear the various sounds and get involved into the action.

The art of murder writing is both an art and a craft. It’s like you throw various coloured beads on the floor and then you pick each one carefully, choosing the right colour for the right place and slowly and painstakingly put them into a thread to create a beautiful artwork. The thread should never break that’s the main story and the main plot while you can have sub-plots and varied characters with their own stories.

Well, our country never had a tradition of crime writing. We had a few characters like Byomkesh Bakshi which is nothing but a desi version of Sherlock Holmes. Yes, there have been a lot of Hindi novels like Colonel Ranjit series and it’s only recently that a whole lot of crime writers have emerged writing in English.

The difficulty with writing a great murder mystery is that they all have a fixed structure. I mean you have a murder or a series of murders. There is a detective or a policeman investigating the crime and finally the case is solved and the murderer is caught. The strength of the writer lies in making this into an interesting read.

So you have an interesting detective like in my book The Butcher of Benares, there is Hawa Singh, senior inspector with Delhi Crime Branch. He is not an intelligent, sharp and smart policeman or a detective. Hawa Singh is a Jat from Haryana with a heavy emotional baggage and is not afraid to die. He throws himself into deadly situations. Like the thread I spoke about, being a Jat, he picks up that thread and starts to follow it slowly and bit-by-bit step-by-step taking the reader on a journey through the investigation he reaches the end of the thread.
In this there could be several suspects, crazy characters, varied situations, action, drama and all. However I tried something new in my book. Within the very first 30 pages there are two murders which happen differently and are not connected at all however as Hawa Singh investigates, he finds and reveals how they are connected and solves the riddle.

How reminds me of the many questions that concern a murder mystery. The very first is -
What? What is the crime?
The other important questions are -
When? Where? How? Why? Who?
As a writer you go on solving these questions one by one and you have a murder mystery in hand.

The other most important aspect of a murder mystery is the setting. There are many authors who set their books in a particular city like you have Sherlock Holmes operating in London, Michael Connelly writes all his books set in LA, then there are a host of writers from Sweden and Norway with their books set in particular city. Or there are others where you have the main protagonist moving from place to place like Agatha Christie’s Poirot.
Just to talk about my book. It’s set in Benares and there are Naga Sadhus and Aghoris both are devotees of Lord Shiva but both are very different. Then there is the royal family of Benares. The various temples, the Ghats, the Doms who work at cremation ghats, the pundits, and with that I weaved in the mystery of Bhrigu Samhita, the Vedic astrology, astronomy, and the 1857 Revolt. So you have a whole lot of things working in as a killer targets white foreign tourists in Benares.

Apart from telling an interesting and entertaining story, a crime novel makes social comment. As a writer I try to question – why is crime on rise in our society? What is happening to us in spite of all the education and technology and awareness?
What makes a man kill? What makes a man rape? What is the core of all this violence?
And somewhere we try to find a solution even if we can’t. This requires a lot of sensitivity to the people, place and events.

With this a Crime Novel requires a whole lot of research in terms of the investigation techniques, the police work, forensics, guns and everything. And if the story is set in a particular place like mine in Benares then you need to go deep into the surroundings. I used the whole of Benares like the temples, the Ghats, Benares Hindu University and the characters that you find in these places. However still, research should not be so heavy that your book starts to sound like a travel guide.
The tough part of being a Crime Writer is that there are thousands and thousands of Crime writers around the world. There have been hundreds who have done great work. Every week you have hundreds of crime and mystery novels getting published. So you have to compete with all these and still come out with a great story.
There is TV. Nowadays you have so many crime shows on TV and movies so you have to be more interesting than them.

Finally, a crime novel needs to be engaging, interesting, entertaining that keeps a reader hooked and doesn’t allow the reader to put it down.
The Butcher of Benares
Now you can plan your murder.

MAHENDRA JAKHAR, AUTHOR, THE BUTCHER OF BENARES


Q. What draws you to crime fiction? Writing / reading?

Well, I have been a crime reporter and crime thrillers come naturally to me. I have also written many episodes for the TV show CID that served as a school for crime writing. Especially crime writing is an art that combines craft along with keeping the story thrilling and interesting. Also, I write crime fiction not just for thrills and entertainment it provides me a platform to try and understand what is going on in our society, what is wrong with our society that in spite of all the development, education, stringent laws and all the crime rate continues to spiral upwards. So in my own way I try to understand it, look for solutions if there are any and see where we as a society are heading.


Q. The name The Butcher of Benares makes the book sound like it is more of a historical piece and not crime fiction?

Let me tell you, I was writing a film script with the same title and approached a lot of film directors and producers but none showed any interest. There are still not many murder mysteries being made in Bollywood. So I had this title and then I started writing the book. The story changed totally from what I had in the film script. And I am a big History lover so yes somewhere I have put history into the book. The history that becomes a part of the book also is something that’s unknown to the common man. It’s not taught in schools and colleges so I turned it into a thriller with historical undertones.



Q. What are the advantages/ challenges to crime fiction writing? Especially when compared to other forms of writing?

The greatest challenge to crime writing is that so much has already been done worldwide that it’s difficult to come up with something that has not been done before. Even today, world over there are hundreds of crime writers churning out hundreds of books every week and to have a book that stands out in this crowd is itself a great challenge. And to make a crime fiction book from an Indian author shine on a global platform is a big challenge. The great advantage is that if your book is really, really, very good, the crime fiction sells like hot cakes. Then it has to be very good and with my first book The Butcher of Benares, I feel I have been successful in this regard. Being an avid reader and writer of crime fiction myself and being the author of the book, I would go and buy the book. Apart from just being a murder mystery, it combines the mysticism of Benares, the mysteries of Vedic astrology and astronomy, the varied religious sects, the history of Benares, the royal family, the many historic sites and temples and how it all connects to the 1857 Revolt. With these ingredients The Butcher of Benares stands out in the crowd. A whole lot of foreign travellers are picking up the book from airport and superb five star reviews are pouring in from all over.

Q. It’s an intriguing story where crime fiction meets religious and mythology reference. Was it a deliberate effort or something inspired you?

Yes, it was well thought of, researched and planned. We have many books on mythology and crime fiction but none that brings them together in a contemporary setting. So the very setting of Benares, the land of Gods and mysticism bring it all together. Some of the critics have compared me to Dan Brown but I take it as a compliment that I could stand up to that level in my first book.


Q. How did you go about researching the book?

I took three trips to Benares and stayed there for a week each time. I met with Sadhus, Aghoris, Naga sadhus and spent a lot of time roaming on the Ghats and talking to pundits and touts. It was there I found some interesting characters. I also met with a senior astrology scholar who enlightened me with Vedic astrology and its connection to astronomy. I had to read a lot of background on the royal family of Benares and make sure that I don’t hurt their sentiments and still can turn my book into a thriller that I aspire.


Q. So what were the tough parts of writing and then making sure it reaches the readers?

Well there were no tough parts as such. For me the most important aspect is creating interesting and well rounded characters that are believable. So once I had great characters, a plot and a setting to work on then there’s no stopping. The writing almost flows. About taking it to the readers, a book doesn’t have a huge marketing budget so we authors mostly rely on online and use social-media sites to connect with readers and visits to stores. So far the response has been phenomenal. In Bollywood terms I can say the book is a Blockbuster!


Q. Did you plan that you’ll be writing books one day?

I was an avid reader from my school days and I never thought that I too could ever write a book that will be read by thousands. Still, that desire was certainly there. So when I started writing film scripts and TV shows, I realized that there were stories that might never get made into a film but can be told through a book. So I used this as a medium to tell more stories.


Q. How would you recommend the book to the reader?

Here’s a whole new book that’s a murder mystery with Naga sadhus, Aghoris, Benares, the Ganges, the royal family of Benares and the mystery of Bhrigu-Samhita. It entertains and educates. At time its kicks you in the gut and jolts you to think about the crimes happening in the society. It grabs you and takes you on a journey through the lanes of Benares and into its dark secrets, its history and the murderer. One thing is sure, you’ll love it and won’t be able to sleep till you finish it.
Q. What next?

I already have a contract with Westland Publications for my next book and the book will soon go into editing. The book is an international intrigue, a murder mystery with religious symbols, history and loads of action and thrills.


Q. Is there a pitfall of getting trapped into formulae of crime fiction writing?

Yes, in crime fiction there are only so many things that you can do and in a sense it does become formulaic. However, as a writer one has to push oneself and keep re-inventing and coming with totally different narratives. The Japanese author of Devotion of Suspect X has broken the formula where he starts the story with telling the reader about the killer and the rest is the intricate investigation to trap him. We too ill have to keep coming up with great stories and a whole new structure.


Q. Is crime fiction accorded the respect say a work of literary fiction would get?

There are few writers who are regarded as literary masters like Truman Capote whose work In Cold Blood is a masterpiece. For that the work has to be extraordinary. Yes, there are very few crime writers who could be counted among the literary masters. I’m putting in blood and sweat to make my work different from a plain crime novel. The Butcher of Benares might not be counted among great literary works but it will raise the bar of crime writing in India. Whatever people say crime fiction is the only genre that has survived through ages. Also crime fiction is the most popular and largest selling genre.


Q. Who are some of your inspirations among crime writers globally? And your favourite character from crime fiction novels?

I enjoy the works of the great Agatha Christie. I call her the Emperor of crime fiction. She has explored each and every twist and turn that now it is difficult to come up with things that she has not done. I also love the works of Michael Connelly, Jeffrey Deaver, Ian Rankin, Minette Walters and obviously thrillers of John le Carre. The favourite characters are Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, and Harry Bosch.


Q. What would it take to have more popular Indian detectives/ crime fiction writers?

India never had a tradition of crime writing so we don’t have a great many novels. A few characters were created but they were mostly inspired by Sherlock Holmes. The need of the hour is to tell very India centric tales as the world is getting keen to hear local stories. We need to have characters who very Indian like Hawa Singh in The Butcher of Benares, is a Jat police officer who belongs to Haryana. He is the typical son of soil who draws his strengths from his experiences and battles that he had fought with criminals in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. He understands people and has an emotional side and carried a whole lot of pain inside. Along with this, he stands as a hero with qualities, values and principles that gives a certain direction to the directionless youth. We need to draw on these strengths that will come from our very own Indian-ness, and use the vast culture that our country has. The Butcher of Benares presents a whole new Indian crime fiction writing that draws from our very own characters, history, religious symbols, Gods and goddesses, spirituality, and the mystics.

In Kashmir alone thousands of army personnel have been killed in many terror attacks in past few years. In spite of various talks, discussions and special policies laid out for Kashmir there seems to be no end to violence. The attack on army personnel at Uri has come to be the worst attack on last few years where seventeen soldiers got martyred.
Every child in Kashmir today can tell you the difference from an AK-47, SLR (Self Loading Rifles), pistols, rocket launchers, sub-machine guns and hand grenades just by hearing the sounds. Those little hearts that should have been filled with dreams of the future are filled with dread and fear. Their land, Kashmir, what their ancestors called the ‘Paradise on Earth’ has become a conflict zone for both India and Pakistan. It almost seems that none of the two countries want to resolve the issue. After all it is Kashmir that gives them a sense of purpose and a sense of direction, a resolve and a promise they can make to their countrymen to fight for their most cherished and loved Kashmir. Most importantly it gives them an enemy to fight with.
In fighting with the enemy to retain the crown head of their land, any excesses in budget, or excesses in human rights violations are justifiable. The war seems to equalize everything and when you fight a big enemy, the whole nation stands up in support and claps and honours the government machinery taking decisions and the soldiers attacking the enemy.
It is of utmost importance for a country to have an enemy. It not only defines our identity but also provide us with an obstacle against which to measure our system of values and to demonstrate our own worth. Rather than a real threat highlighting the ways in which these enemies are different from us, the difference itself becomes a symbol of what we find threatening. So Pakistan is all about Muslims who have a totally different set of values, religion, traditions, and it’s so easy to identify them and stamp them as ‘Enemy’. Similar is the case for Pakistan when it comes to India. The green and saffron marks them as targets for each other.
Similar was the case between the United States and the Soviet Union. They were arch enemies but when the Soviet Union faded away, the US was in danger of losing its identity. Suddenly they had no one to fight with, compete with, to measure their worth and the whole state machinery that was used to excesses in every sense seemed paralyzed. So came in Bin Laden who saved them from the crisis of being ‘enemy-less’. With the rise of Taliban, Al-Qaeda and especially after 9/11, Bush administration found a whole new resolve to fight their newest enemy. It also worked like magic to strengthen feelings of national identity, rise in patriotic fervour as well as to boost the Bush regime. I wonder if the US never attacked Afghanistan post 9/11, the world would have been a totally different place. Peaceful.
However, it’s not always about identifying an enemy who is threatening us but also to create and demonize the enemy. There’s also the person within who behaves differently or speaks a different language and follows different customs, traditions and rituals – the foreign immigrant. This immigrant is ostracized from the society and looked upon as a threat to the whole populace till one of them retaliates or reacts. It seals the assumption – they are all enemies. The Kashmiri-Muslims all across the country will always be looked upon with distrust as if they are secret agents of the Pakistan on a recce for new attacks. These migrants turn into ideal scapegoat for a society that caught up in change, is no longer able to recognize itself.
It seems we cannot manage without an enemy. The figure of the enemy cannot be abolished from the process of civilization. The need is second nature even to a man of peace. The state creates these stereotypes to mark the enemy. They will provide all kinds of subsidies to Muslim students from Kashmir but the moment they raise their head to question something, they will be looked with suspicion and written off as ‘Gaddar’. The only solution is when we try to understand the other, it means destroying the stereotype without denying or ignoring the otherness. To prevent this, the state machinery through the years builds an image of the enemy inside the hearts of their citizens and makes sure that it remains frozen there. This is done with repeated rounds of news pouring in from faraway lands about the atrocities committed by the enemy. So you see the youth of Kashmir burning the Indian flag, stone-pelting the police and the army. The man sitting in a faraway town in Uttar Pradesh fed by the propaganda has only one thing to say, “These Kashmiris need to be flogged and shot.”
Every country understand it pretty well that a state of peace would be disastrous since only war provides the basis for the harmonious development of human societies, Its organized wastage provides a valve that regulates the effective running of society. It resolves the problem of supplies. It is a driving force. War enables a community to recognize itself as a nation, a government cannot even establish its own sphere of legitimacy without the contrasting presence of war, only war ensures the equilibrium between classes and makes it possible to locate and exploit anti-social elements. Peace produces instability and delinquency among young people, war channels all disruptive forces in the best possible way, giving them a status.
From the ecological point of view war provides a release valve for surplus lives. It’s no more about soldiers fighting and dying at the front. The current technology has made it possible with the bombardment of urban centres. Let’s not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Another is not far off.
In order to wage war, we need an enemy to fight, the inevitability of war is linked to the inevitability of identifying and creating an enemy. Once an enemy is identified then it’s easier to turn it into a monster and turn all the resources into fighting it. After all everything is justified in fighting an enemy and saving the lives, respect and honour of our country and countrymen.
Bharat Mata ki Jai!

The many natural disasters in the form of floods, earthquakes, cyclones, hurricanes and droughts have ravaged the earth like never before. These have led to massive destruction of property, and loss of human lives that’s far greater than many of the terror attacks put together.

There was a time when the seasons arrived perfectly on time. The festivals marked the on- coming of a particular season. Diwali announced the on-set of winter, Holi brought in spring with its many colours while Christmas brought in the first snowfall. However for past hundreds of years, we have continuously abused our planet to a degree that it fought back and unleashed all its fury upon us in the form of natural disasters. Imagine a scenario when a massive cyclone hits Mumbai or an earthquake upturns Delhi. It’ll cause unimaginable devastation and destruction.
Throughout the world agricultural land is shrinking, diseases are spreading, and earthquakes, famines and floods have become a part of our lives. The most severe crisis that we are about to face is food. Unfortunately food cannot be manufactured. It grows.
There’s massive deforestation going all over the world. We saw its result in the flash floods of Kedarnath and in many other parts of the world. The entire Aravalli range near Delhi is being cut down as stone quarries, and sand mining have reduced them to a rubble. Along with that many builders have bull-dozed their way into these hills building multi-storeyed towers. The hot winds blowing in from Rajasthan which were blocked by the Aravalli’s now spread their terror inside the national capital. Delhi has almost turned into a desert with extreme temperatures ranging from 48 degrees in summer to a low of 2 to 3 degrees in winters.
The biggest threat to human kind is that there is no plan-et B, C, D, or E for us. There are no options. There’s only one planet. Our Earth. It’s time that we start thinking of the whole planet and become the citizens of Earth rather than fighting for petty issues with other states and countries.
Sir Isaac Newton wrote, “The very fact that Earth is at the perfect distance from Sun, receives right amount of sunlight and has the right amount of air and water to sustain life is not a matter of chance, it seems to have been placed there.” The earth never broke our trust. For last millions of years it has been revolving and rotating at a constant speed, the gravitational force has been perfect at each and every corner of our planet and has the perfect tilt on its axis to give us night and day. It never broke out of its orbit but we have constantly faltered and broken its trust.
We are zooming off into space to find some comets and planets when we should be taking care of this Earth. Once this Earth is dead, we might travel light years into space and beyond time, but we won’t find another such place. Maybe when the Earth will run dry and there will be hardly any life left, then we’ll realize. It will be too late.
The big question everyone asks, “What can we do?” The answer is simple, “Be simple. Lead simple lives.” Delhi government’s odd-even formula might not be practical but as citizens of this earth we can reduce the use of vehicles and number of vehicles on road. There’s no need to have three cars per household. It’s high time that more and more people start using the public transport. It’s not only the government’s job to check pollution but we all need to be responsible for our environment and for this planet. So stop demanding and complaining to the government. Start doing. Now. Or it’ll be too late. Be it car-pool, a car free day, using bicycles to run errands from nearby markets or using public transport on alternate days. Do it! And teach your kids to do it.
Another big factor is the use of plastic. In spite of strict action against polythene bags, they are still in use all across the country. Most supermarkets hand them out for 2-3 rupees. There need to be a blanket ban on all such plastic and polythene bags. We can easily replace it with jute or cloth bags.
We are a billion plus country and one step is enough for us to achieve anything. Imagine each one of us planting one tree. Just one tree per person. We can turn any of our polluted cities into the greenest and most beautiful city. So find a place near your house, in the park, on the roadside, near farmlands or anywhere and plant one tree each. This movement itself will make all the change we need.
This is a unique opportunity for all of us to come together and engage to fight against the horrors of climate change. Only this time, the weapon of change is love, awareness and sustained action.

A talk with Mahendra Jakhar, Author – The Swastika Killer

1. Tell us about your latest book, The Swastika Killer.

This book is a thriller that brings together mystery, history and mythology. In fact this is the first time that a story has brought together the Hindu swastika with its connections to the Nazi swastika and the Nazi history. Right from my school days, I was fascinated with World War II, Nazi Germany, holocaust stories and mythology. This book brings alive my fascination with these subjects.

2. How did you get fascinated to write on this genre?

Well, my journey as an author has been fascinating. I have been a crime reporter and crime thrillers come naturally to me. I have also written many episodes for the TV show CID that served as a school for crime writing. Especially crime writing is an art that combines craft along with keeping the story thrilling and interesting. Also, I write crime fiction not just for thrills and entertainment it provides me a platform to try and understand what is going on in our society, what is wrong with our society that in spite of all the development, education, stringent laws and all the crime rate continues to spiral upwards. So in my own way I try to understand it, look for solutions if there are any and see where we as a society are heading.

Also, I am a big History lover so yes somewhere I have put history into the book. The history that becomes a part of the book also is something that’s unknown to the common man. It’s not taught in schools and colleges so I turned it into a thriller with historical undertones.


3. The name of the book, The Swastika Killer seems that the movie is somewhere linked to religious beliefs. What was the thought in your mind when you decided to write this book?

It has nothing do with religion and in no way it harms anyone’s religious beliefs. The Swastika as a symbol is revered in India and is a symbol of good fortune and prosperity in India. While in the West, the swastika is banned as its stands for evil and destruction. As my book brings together the Hindu swastika and the Nazi swastika that no one has ever done before, I thought that it would be interesting to turn it into a catchy title.

When I started the book, it was a story of three childhood friends born and brought up in the brothels of Old Delhi and go separate ways post Babri Masjid demolition. I started to write their story but then the idea of Swastika came to me from somewhere and even I don’t know from where. From there started the journey of a thriller set in 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany to Mumbai serial-train blasts and Pakistan-Afghanistan war with Taliban.


4. What places did the research for this book took you?

I met many fascinating people during the research huge number of police officers, officers from the CBI and IB who gave their valuable inputs. They all prefer to remain anonymous. Along with these were an array of other characters I met during the research of this book, who include pimps and prostitutes, pick-pockets and thieves, street kids and social workers, hawala-traders and smugglers, drug-dealers and gun-runners, diamond traders and scrap-dealers and many journalists slogging for years in this cesspool. I thank them all for sharing their stories with me.

5. How long did it take for you to finish the book?

Well it took almost over three years to finish the first draft with more than many months of research. Like I said, I didn’t even know what I was writing till lightening struck and I got the idea of swastika and brought together the Nazi history and Hindu mythology.


6. Tell us what happened after you finished the manuscript and before you got a call from your publisher?

I have a literary agent, Anuj Bahri of Red Ink Literary Agency. I finished my manuscript and handed it to him. Sharvani, the editor of Red Ink worked with me to further sculpt and polish the draft and Anuj took it out to various publishers and finally Westland gave us a nod.


7. When do you write? How often do you write?

For my writing is almost like exercising so I write every day and I don’t have any fixed spot or a fixed time to write. I believe a writer needs to be disciplined like any other worker who works in a full-time job. So I have a deadline to finish at least thousand words every day. I look outside and see an auto-wallah working, the labourers toiling on roads, gardener working in gardens and they all inspire me to go on and work just like them. The more work I put in, the more inspired I become.

8. How did you get into script writing and film making?

Well, I started as a journalist working with The Times of India in New Delhi. From there, I shifted to Mumbai and started working as a script-writer for TV shows. I wrote many daily family soaps like Bidaayi, Kumkum, Seeta aur Geta to many thrillers like CID, Maano ya na Maano and mythological like Dwarikadhish. They all served as a training ground and I was writing my film scripts and got to work with Mahesh Bhatt, Ketan Mehta, Tigmannshu Dhulia, Abhinav kashyap, Hansal Mehta and others.

I believe what Rumi said, “Everyone has a gift hidden inside us. This life is all about first discovering the gift and then sharing it.” If I look back, my whole life was about discovering the gift hidden inside me and then I found it – writing. So now I am out to share it with many people as I can through my books, TV shows and feature films.

I was an avid reader from my school days and I never thought that I too could ever write a book that will be read by thousands. Still, that desire was certainly there. So when I started writing film scripts and TV shows, I realized that there were stories that might never get made into a film but can be told through a book. So I used this as a medium to tell more stories.

9. Tell us about your favorite authors and books.

The most important book for me is Animal farm by George Orwell. I think it should be an essential reading for all school students. My other favourites are:

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth and Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. My favourite authors are Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankell, Hakan Nesser, Gillian Flynn, Ed Mcbain, and the legends that include Leo Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Agatha Christie and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

I also read spiritual books to understand life and I love ‘Power of Now’ and The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.

10. Best feedback you received from a reader?

A lot of my friends who have read my first book The Butcher of Benares told me after reading my second, The Swastika Killer that I have grown as a writer and there’s lot of depth is my second book and there are layers upon layers that only a seasoned writer could have accomplished. So yes, its good to hear that I have grown and matured as a writer.


11. Are you writing another book?

Yes, my next book is also a thriller that will bring back the character of Hawa Singh that I introduced in The Butcher of Benares.

12. A piece of advice for the potential/future authors?

All writing is like Yoga. It’s 99 per cent practice and only 1 per cent theory. So write and write and write. Also most important is reading. Reading for me is like a gym for the writer. Most people go to gym to get a toned body and look good in a similar way if you want to improve your writing and have a head full of ideas, reading becomes essential. Right from my school days I’m almost addicted to reading. There have been times that I have spent money on books rather than paying electricity and phone bills. Nowadays I make sure that I read at least 50-100 pages everyday and read diverse books that keep my brain cells working and brimming with stories.

13. What are the genres you love the most?

I love thrillers mainly crime fiction and historical novels. It is fiction that brings out the truth. Most non-fiction books hide the truth.

14. Tell us something about your scripts and films you have written.

I wrote Manjhi-The Mountain man directed by Ketan Mehta starring Nawazuddin Siddique. It was based on the true life story of Dashrath Manjhi who broke a mountain with a hammer and a chisel to carve a way through it. The film was critically acclaimed and did well commercially. Before this, I wrote Mahesh Bhatt’s The Killer; Tigmannshu Dhulia’s Shaagird and currently working on Chandamama Door ke starring Sushant Singh Rajput. It’s India’s first space adventure film about India’s first mission to moon. I am also developing scripts for directors like Ashwini Chaudhary and Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan.


About the Author:

Mahendra Jakhar is an ex-journalist currently working as an independent screen-writer and author based in Mumbai. He started as a journalist in Delhi where he worked for six years before moving to Mumbai to pursue his dreams of being a script-writer.

His first novel, THE BUTCHER OF BENARES, was published by Westland Publishers. It was rated as the Best Crime Fiction Debut Novel of the Year and was Amazon Rising Star. His second novel, THE SWASTIKA KILLER, has recently released published by Westland Publishers.

His latest release as a script-writer was Manjhi – The Mountain Man, directed by Ketan Mehta starring Nawazuddin Siddique.

Recently he has co-written the script for Hindi feature film CHANDAMAMA DOOR KE … to be directed by Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan starring Sushant Singh Rajput. Its India’s first epic space adventure film about India’s most daring mission to the Moon.

Earlier he has written script for Mahesh Bhatt’s THE KILLER starring Irrfan Khan and Emran Hashmi. Later he wrote Tiggmanshu Dhulia’s SHAAGIRD.

Currently he is working on TV series for Star TV based on the true life story of an Indian Army soldier who was caught behind enemy lines during 1971 war.

Apart from this he has written scripts for various TV shows – CID, Maano Ya Na Mano, Bidaayi, Betiyaan, Seeta aur Geeta and Dwarikadhish.

He also did research work and scripting for a documentary on the hijack of Indian Airlines plane from Kathmandu to Kandahar for National Geographic Channel.
His film script, Bhiwani, based on the Boxers of Haryana was selected for International Film Festival of India for the Competitive Section at Film Bazaar.

He conducts workshops on screen-writing and to help discover the hidden creativity, imagination and ideas in everyone.

Recently I have been pitching one of my film scripts based on the life of Naxals in the forests of Jharkhand to various film studios and film producers. They all seem to love the script but with certain conditions. One of the producers wanted to act as the main protagonist however in my script the protagonist was a female so he told me to turn the female character into a male. Another film studio told me to change the main plot that changes the whole story. Some liked the setting, and some were interested in the naxal life but not in their philosophy so they wanted me to change it into an Indo-Pak situation. It so happened that after months of running around and trying to bring in the big studios my film script turned into a sort of mish-mash that even I didn’t recognize.

Meanwhile,Chakra Warriors my third book, Chakra Warriors, is all ready to hit the bookstores. It’s a thriller that combines history and mystery, a subject close to my heart. After my draft, I worked directly with my editor and made some changes and fine-tuned it into the book that is getting published. As an author compared to a screenwriter, I’m not only the writer but I’m also the director, the cinematographer, the choreographer and even the actors acting out each and every role in the book. It’s the greatest high any writer can get where you are solely responsible for everything and being an author gives you that.

An author works independently cocooned in his world and creates his world of imagination with not much pressure from the publishers. However, a screenwriter writing for the movies, web-series or television works with a whole creative team who are constantly looking over his/her shoulder and giving their opinions, feedback or creative suggestions as they call it.

I have written hundreds of episodes of various television shows from CID, Maano Ya Na Maano, Seeta aur Geeta, Dwarikadhish to Betiyaan and Bidaayi. The episodic script had to be sent to the television channel to their respective creative team for approval and once it came back it was all red. It reminded me of my school notebook marked with red pen with many comments from my class teacher. Similarly, the creative team would go through each line, emotion, drama and give their feedback to be incorporated into the script. There’s no way out except to make the changes. The one good thing about television writing is that it pays well and the only source of motivation is the cheque that comes your way. Almost five years back, I was being paid over thirty thousand rupees per episode. There used to be five episodes per week. That kept me going till I broke down and realized that I didn’t come to Mumbai for this.

However, writing for television is a laborious job and I have seen many writers getting fed up with writing that they completely gave up writing. Some rose up to be producers and some have assistant writers who write for them. Still, writing for television can be a good schooling if you know when to stop.

While writing for a film, one gets a wider creative freedom compared to writing for television. However, it’s difficult to sell an original script as many Hindi films are remakes of south films or Korean and Spanish. Still, a screenwriter like me plods on month after month. In a feature film, the director is the captain of the ship after all it’s the director who turns the written word into audio-visual and a film. So one has to work in tandem with the director of the film and understand his outlook, his style of film-making and his views and shape the script accordingly.

Like working on the script of Manjhi-The Mountain Man with Ketan Mehta was an eye-opener. Here was a film director, a legend who has created films like Mirch Masala and Maya Memsaab and has worked with top stars and myself a young writer trying to make a mark into the world of movies. Ketan as a director relies heavily on visuals and not much on spoken words and once I understood this, I created scenes with visual imagery where one doesn’t have to say much. Also Ketan loves romance and sensuality so I had to tweak my scenes accordingly.

While I had a complete different experience working with Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan on the script of Chandamama Door Ke, which was supposed to be India’s first space adventure film starring Sushant Singh Rajput. Sanjay as a director loves drama and action and we turned the whole script into a space action-adventure.

As a screenwriter one might feel a bit frustrated that his/her hands are tied but a film involves a huge investment. Today a small budget film means a rupees ten crore film and the producer has to recover the cost and make some profit otherwise why would anyone invest in films. For this, certain conditions, certain marketability factors are kept in mind even while writing a script.

Most film scripts are written with a certain actor or a popular star in mind so that it can directly be pitched to him/her. The face of the actor is the most important factor is a film as he becomes the USP of the film and not the script. However, with the success of films like Andhadhun, Badhaayi Ho, Stree, DreamGirl, and others the filmmakers are waking up to the importance of a good script.

On the other hand, an author has all the freedom to write whatever stories they want to tell but then the risk factor is also less in terms of investment. The plus factor is that this freedom creates an atmosphere where new stories are told and invented. For me a book like Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings is an invention no less than the invention of the light bulb. These books showed us a world that never existed before and hence the phenomenal success. In fact, as a writer I work with the mindset of an inventor looking to invent a whole new story that people have never heard before.

Jo Nesbo, one of the highest selling crime writers in the world was lured by Hollywood to write screenplays. However, he couldn’t fit into the world of writing where someone or the other is constantly telling you what is working and what is not. Similarly, Ed McBain, another successful author wrote screenplays for Alfred Hitchcock but his first love remained with the books.

Today, J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter books is on the Forbe’s list of billionaires and that’s the power of books and stories. No screenplay writer has been able to rise up to the status of a billionaire while many authors are up close there with Rowling. Every author is trying to hit the jackpot with their book.

Hollywood has been adapting books into movies for past many years but not Bollywood. Steven Spielberg himself said that more than seventy per cent of his movies are based on books. With a ready book more than sixty per cent of your writing work is already done.

It’s the advent of web series that has opened a whole new platform for storytellers. Now everyone is running around to look for fresh content and what better way than a great book. So the OTT platforms are buying book rights to turn into web series and for the first time authors too are in high demand in this country.

The writing for web series is a mix of writing for movies and television. They want the high concept story of a film fused with the fast paced drama of television to keep the audience hooked.

I personally love writing for films, web series and television for the sole reason that you get to see your work on screen and the pay is better. However my heart lies in books. I think there can be no better profession than being an author. He’s the most independent professional who creates in his space from his/her imagination with no interference. Only if the pay was better, I would work as a full-time author. Till then I prefer to be called a story-teller who tells stories on various mediums.