Author Interview : Sourabh Mukherjee

Author Interview : Sourabh Mukherjee

Hello everyone,
Today I am going to introduce you to the author of 'The Colors Of Passion'

Let's start!

1) Tell me something about yourself. 

I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I have never really written for a purpose – it is just something I love to do. In my early childhood, I would spend hours writing, as well as making illustrations for my own stories. A number of my poems were published in children’s magazines back in the day. I continued to write through my teenage and later in college.

I kept writing in office magazines for a couple of years, but the demands of my career as an Information Technology professional and my travels across the world soon left me with very little time and creative energy to write fiction.

However, as I travelled across the world, I grew as a person getting to observe people from widely varying cultural backgrounds and to study their emotions, their thoughts, their behaviour from various perspectives. And stories began to grow all over again.

I won the Golden Pen Award in the Monsoon Romance Contest 2014, conducted by Sulekha.com and judged by an eminent panel of literary luminaries. That was when I decided to take my writing more seriously.

My debut novel In the Shadows of Death was published by Srishti Publishers in the winter of 2015. This was followed by The Colours of Passion in 2017, and The Sinners in 2019. I have also written three collections of short stories - Romance Shorts (2016), Beyond 22 Yards (2018), It's All About Love (2018), and a textbook Big Data Simplified (2019)

In my day job, I work in a Senior Leadership role in a global technology firm.

2) What is 'The Colours of Passion : unravelling dark secrets behind the limelight' about? 

In "The Colours of Passion", I wanted to talk about how our society has certain pre-conceived notions about human relationships. Any relationship that does not conform to acceptable definitions is quickly dismissed as immoral, illicit, or even illegal. This has been the case with same-sex relationships in our country for a very long time. While the constitutional hurdle has now been cleared, has our mindset really changed? Is the society really open to same-sex relationships? Love, at the end of the day, is love. What we need to realize is that, love and passion come in a variety of colours - it cannot be painted in only one shade.

Secondly, the book aims to unravel the dark secrets behind the limelight. I have heard stories of betrayal, conspiracy, heartbreak from my acquaintances in the entertainment and fashion industries, and I felt that, these would be the perfect ingredients for an edge-of-the-seat thriller. 

  In that sense, "The Colours of Passion" has been truly hailed as India's first alternate sexuality thriller. It was long-listed in WordToScreen 2018, conducted by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI). It was also ranked by MyBookPick.com among top Indian thrillers in 2017, and was among Top 10 New Arrivals in Starmark outlets across India in the month of its release. It was also among Amazon bestsellers for several months post-release.  

3) What prompted you to write murder mystery? 

‘The Colours of Passion’ is a fast paced thriller set in the ‘new’ Kolkata. It provides an authentic view of the glamour industry - movies and fashion. It talks about the trials and tribulations the people we adore on screen go through in reality. And the story deals with the extremely relevant social issue of same-sex relationhips at its core.

4) Where do you get your ideas from? 

I love following the journeys of celebrities - Indian and International - from humble beginnings, often from nondescript backgrounds, to dizzying heights of fame, and observing how those journeys change them. Not only in the way they look and carry themselves, but also in their outlook, their opinions, their consciousness of social responsibilities and in some cases, their insecurities and what those insecurities often lead them to. 

The attitude of the Indian society towards same-sex relationships, and its adverse impacts, has also been a subject of keen interest for me.

5) What is your writing process like? 

I honestly don't have a well-defined writing process. When I am in the process of writing, I actually let the sights and the sounds in my mind take over. It, therefore, becomes extremely important for me to be in the ‘appropriate’ frame of mind to write, irrespective of the time of the day or my surroundings. I need to be in those situations myself. 

6) What do you like to do when you're not writing? 

I am a voracious reader. I also watch movies and travel a lot. 

7) What are your future plans? How soon can your readers expect your next book?

My third book "The Sinners" is already out. It unravels in a world of corporate conspiracy, illicit relationships and ruthless seduction games.

8) What advice do you have for writers and readers?

I would like to tell budding writers that, it is important to create real, identifiable characters in a story – unless of course one is writing a fantasy or a superhero story. Correct use of the language is essential. An author should ensure that a story progresses at a uniform pace – a story that slows down after an energetic start is a big letdown. Finally, it is not about the length but always about the impact of a story. I have read 1-page stories that have left me thinking for days.

As for readers, I would want them to continue reading, in spite of all the distractions and alternate channels of consuming stories that surround us today.

Thanks for reading.