This author and filmmaker has to his credit 3 crime novels, 1 short story collection, 12 Management Training films and 25 workshops on creative writing and filmmaking. He is none other than Salil Desai and he is here in a candid conversation with bookGeeks.
| bookGeeks: | Tell us something about Salil as a person |
| Salil: | As a writer, I see myself as a product of all the books I have read right from my childhood to my middle age. Writing is probably the one thing I know or care to do well – whether it’s books, articles, letters, scripts or anything else. As a person, my redeeming traits are a partly whacky and partly subtle sense of humour that helps me survive, a disturbing capacity for introspection, strong likes and dislikes and an inability to suffer fools or suck up to anybody. One secret is that some bit of ‘me’ finds its way into almost every major character I have created in my books so far. |
| bookGeeks: | Tell us something about your experience as a filmmaker |
| Salil: | Well I specialise in making dramatised management training videos. I am perhaps the only filmmaker in India who makes such films through my firm Re-Living (www.relivingindia.com) which I set up in 2001. I then did my TV Direction course from FTII in 2005-06 and have also made a few documentaries and shorts. Hopefully, I will make a feature film one day and the first step towards it is that I completed my first full-length feature film script earlier this year. |
| bookGeeks: | Till date what has been your most cherished achievement as an author? |
| Salil: | My most cherished achievement is that the Inspector Saralkar Mystery Series has created a niche for itself because of the originality of characters, the intriguing themes I deal with, the authentic police procedural aspect and the dark, biting humour. |
| bookGeeks: | Who is your favourite murder mystery author and why? |
| Salil: | Can’t name just one since I love just too many of them, because of different styles of story-telling and the sub-genres they write in. However, if I must pick one then it has to be Arthur Conan Doyle. |
| bookGeeks: | Who is your best critic and why? |
| Salil: | The editors of each of my books have been my best critics. |
| bookGeeks: | What are your other interests outside of writing? |
| Salil: | I like travelling and watching movies. I love making my wife and sons laugh. I am hooked to reading fiction and non-fiction. I am very interested in social and political realities and trends. |
| bookGeeks: | Our readers wish to know about your upcoming books. |
| Salil: | Currently I am working on my 3rd book in the Inspector Saralkar Mystery Series. Again it’s got a bizarre plot with twists and turns. Saralkar and Motkar will once again enthral, entertain and do what they do best – investigate. It is scheduled for publication early next year. |
| bookGeeks: | Any tips you would like to offer to newbie authors who want to attempt murder mysteries? |
| Salil: | Aspiring authors, you must ask yourself whether you have the flair and craft for penning murder mysteries. If you do, then first thing is to choose a sub-genre which suits your writing style and painstakingly work on creating an original plot and characters. Most importantly do your homework and research. |
| bookGeeks: | A few words for your fans |
| Salil: | I am immensely thankful to my fans because when I get emails or reviews from them it makes my day. It makes me feel that writing my books has been worth every minute. I simply thrive on their appreciation and it eggs me on to write my next book. I also confess I am always worried that I might disappoint my fans every time I write a new book. |
| bookGeeks: | A few words for bookGeeks.in |
| Salil: | Delighted that bookGeeks celebrates writing and writers across genres. What’s great is that the reviews are well written and thought out. I am also happy to see the blog section, which is well updated. All the best! |
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