He knows how to connect with his audience and it’s his friendly demeanor that makes him the bestselling author who is loved by millions in India. On a 16-city tour for his latest release The Belated Bachelor Party, Ravinder Singh, author of the bestselling novels like I Too Had a Love Story, Can Love Happen Twice? and more interacted with 100 odd young fans at Starmark in South City Mall. Later after the engrossing interaction, book signing and selfie sessions with his fans, the Punjabi writer spoke to Indulge about writing on a new genre, why the story is a crossbreed of ZNMD and Hangover and more. Excerpts:
You have been an out an out romantic writer and fans connect with you on that emotion the most. What made you switch to a genre of adventure and friendship?
As a creative person I had to challenge myself to write something new and different. There is an age to do something new and I would call it a self-check to see if Ravinder Singh can sell a book in a different genre. It’s just a self-challenge and it all started when my friend and HarperCollins CEO Ananth Padmanabhan egged me to write the story I had narrated to him once.
What were the real challenges?
The fact that an established author of one genre is venturing into another is a risk in itself. Again, deviating from emotions to make people laugh was a challenge. I would rewrite my drafts and read it afresh in the morning to see if that would tickle people’s funny bone or if it had that punch to make people laugh. I enjoyed it. In fact, I was also laughing while recalling all the funny things. All my previous stories have an emotional ending to it but here I was enjoying the non-emotional phase of writing.
Your friend’s haven’t read the book in full. How do you think they will react to the contents of the book?
I would love to see their reaction though they are broadly aware of the story and the extent to which I have gone because it’s a bachelor’s party. Also some of them are married too so there might be repercussion to it, but let’s see how they and their spouses react.
Some of the characters like Happy and MP are from the previous books. Do you think there was more to tell about them to the readers?
With this book readers will get to know more about their characters. Also, it gives an insight into men’s way of thinking. The four men talk about male gaze when they go to a strip club in Europe and discuss how women are perceived differently in India and in Europe. So it will be insightful for my readers, majority of who happens to be female.
Does the storyline have any similarity with the film Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara?
In real life the book took place because of the reunion that we had and not because of ZNMD or Dil Chahta Hai or anything of that sort. I would have written the story even if the films had not existed. However, I think it’s a crossbreed of ZNMD and Hangover.