I am an intuitive writer...says author Amish Tripathi

At a recent store launch at Goregaon’s Oberoi Mall,, renowned author Amish Tripathi (AT) was excited to meet a mob of readers that had much to discuss with him. Speaking his heart out, an anxious Tripathi left his fans excited for the next book in the Ram Chandra series. Here are excerpts from a conversation through which we not only got a peek into the books he’s authored but also learned a lot more about the man behind the success.

Your next book post a bestseller...tell us what is in store for the readers.

AT: The next book will be a fast-paced adventure for sure, much like The Shiva Trilogy. All the stories have a core philosophy and each one is wrapped around that philosophy. In The Shiva Trilogy, the core theory was ‘what is evil?’ while in the Ram Chandra series, it is ‘what is an ideal society?’. And the answers aren’t simple because every choice you make has a positive and a negative impact. But on the surface, I am hoping that the readers will find it engaging.

Can we expect this to be a trilogy as well?

AT: No, it is not. It is a series of (probably) five or six books. At this point, I feel it would be five books but it may end up as a set of six.

A few months ago, you launched the #WhatNextAmish contest, where you gave clues to readers for your next series. Tell us more about it.

AT: It was extremely exciting...the contest was a brainchild of my social media agency OktoBuzz’s CEO Hemal Majithia and my publisher. The idea struck them so the credit goes to them, while the creatives for the same were done by my ad agency. The clues that they came up with were simply great; it wasn’t so difficult that it was impossible, neither was it so easy that it would be boring for the readers. For instance, one of the clues said ‘You can hear the voice of the pleasant-faced king’. You have to know the root of the word ‘Rama’ to understand the meaning of ‘pleasant’ in Sanskrit.

Of all the mythological characters, why did you choose Rama?  

AT: I wasn’t really sure and although I had five–six subjects in my head, I wasn’t clear as to which character I would choose. But then, at the Mumbai Lit Fest, a guy said some rather rude things about Lord Rama. That made me very upset; it even compelled me to write an article about it the next day. That was the day I decided to write about Rama in my next series. So, when I look back, I think it is that incident, which really helped me decide.  

Since the past few years, Indian mythology is being seen in a new light as more books are being published around the subject. What do you think of this trend?

AT: I think the change that’s happening now is not just a retelling of mythology but it is also about interpretation and modernisation. The ancient tradition we had was forgotten in the last 200 years, but is now being revived. I think this is happening because we have become more confident as a country and we want to listen to our past but in our own, modern way.      

What is the most challenging part of writing the first book of a series?

AT: I am an intuitive writer, so I discover the story as and how I write. I have learnt to trust and go with the flow. This is the reason the first book in the series usually takes time as I leave clues in it for the subsequent books. For the Ram Chandra series, I already have the entire story in my mind, right till the last line of the series.

Tell us more about the film deals with Dharma Productions (Hindi language rights) and with the American producer (English language rights). How is that coming up?

AT: Karan Malhotra, the director of Agneepath, and his wife Ekta are writing the script and I am the creative consultant. The script-writing is currently in progress. The script for the English movie is still in a developmental stage and they are working around the concepts.

Do spill some beans about the new series for your readers.

AT: You can go back and read The Shiva Trilogy as I have left clues in it about the Ram Chandra series. In fact, even the books that I’ll write 25 years from now could be around Lord Manu, Lord Parshurama, Lord Rudra or Lady Mohini—they are all interconnected.

The first book titled Scion of Ikshvaku will be released on June 22.