Author Amish Tripathi’s Indian epic reimagination ‘War of Lanka’ launched in UK

Prolific Indian author and diplomat Amish Tripathi's latest offering in the Ram Chandra Series, "War of Lanka", was launched here to tap into the vast Indian diaspora base and cater to a wider readership in the UK.

At a special in-conversation session as part of the Taj Hotel's Rendezvous series on Thursday evening, Tripathi was in conversation with Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor to explore the Hindu mythological themes of the novel that is a reimagination of the epic "Ramayana".

The book was introduced by Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami, who highlighted how the UK-based author's works steeped in Indian history and culture help popularise the India story around the world.

"Amish's books open up a whole new world to us due to the brilliance with which he tackles Indian history, culture, mythology – and in India these are all rolled up into one," said Doraiswami, who likened Tripathi to American bestselling author Rick Riordan.

"He's India's Rick Riordan because he has made it accessible to every generation. It's not something that you have to struggle to understand because his books are immensely readable and cracker fast… no character is black or white. The complexity of India is always that everybody is in multiple shades and not shades of grey," he said.

Tripathi, 48, who is also India's Culture Minister in the UK as the Director of the Nehru Centre in London, expressed confidence that the openness in the UK for eastern philosophies would mean that books such as "War of Lanka" could add to contemporary conversations.

"I think there are things that India can add to the conversation in the UK. In Indian philosophies, we can be traditional and liberal at the same time. We don't have to choose between one or the other," said the author, who has the distinction of being one of India's fastest selling authors with 6.5 million copies in print.

"One thing that strikes me is that there is a lot of space for liberalism in the UK but traditions have been forgotten. And, when you forget traditions, you lose a sense of community and family, and you have a lot of loneliness. Indian culture can offer that fine balance, that you can be traditional and liberal at the same time," he said.

Sonam Kapoor, the award-winning actor behind films like "Neerja" and an admirer of Tripathi's oeuvre, explored his choice of themes, efforts to make his fiction accessible to a global audience and some of the strong female characters in his books.

"What do you think is important for writers to keep in mind while portraying women in fiction," asked Kapoor.

Tripathi replied: "I think an author has to be in tune with the mood of the times… our ancient texts show women very respectfully, and men and women were treated as equal in ancient India. It changed in medieval India; one can debate the reasons behind that.

"But I think the time has come to go back to those ancient versions. It's not being westernised in showing women in respectful and powerful roles. I'm only being true to our ancient texts." The 'War of Lanka' is the fourth book in the Ram Chandra Series, following 'Ram', 'Sita' and 'Raavan', and is published by HarperCollins UK to tap into the "enormous fascination" with India worldwide.

"This series is now the second-fastest selling series in Indian publishing history, after Amish's Shiva Trilogy. We are really excited to be publishing in the UK because we believe there is a real opportunity here for his writing, to not only reach the substantial Indian community in the UK but also to break into the broader book market," said Charlie Redmayne, HarperCollins UK CEO.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)