With his movie A Wednesday winning multiple awards, Neeraj Pandey showed the country about ‘the common man’ cinema with no pinch of heroism and hard-to-believe stunts. He is a man of few words and is written about to be media shy, but one wonders how he managed to pull of two hit movies and a book effortlessly. This award-winning director has now donned the role of a writer with his latest book, Ghalib Danger which is selling like hot cakes.
“I did not have that kind of anticipation about my debut film, once I put my heart and soul into something I am confident about it,” begins the charming Neeraj. Born and raised in Kolkata, he was a student of literature and was an avid reader. Reminiscing about the books, he grew up reading he says, “I read a lot and never stuck to any genre in particular. I loved the works of Ayn Rand, VS Naipaul and the likes of it so it was a mixed bag of books that I indulged in.” Probing whether he always wanted to tell stories he effuses, “I have always been into writing since my college years and it is something I would rather do than anything.” He emphasises, that his strengths had been writing and he had a broad sense of understanding the term.
His book Ghalib Danger, which is based on thriller fiction, is about an underworld Don who takes a taxi driver under his tutelage, for saving his life. Asking him about what draws him into the world of thriller fiction be it movies or books he explains, “This just happened by chance, I did not plan it this extensively. Initially, I wanted to write a collection of short stories but then a friend told me that if you want to become an author then debut with a novel. And a story just came along and it happened to be thriller and crime.” Asking how eager he was initially and did he have any pressure, now that he is an established film maker, Neeraj confidently replies, “I never had that anticipation even when I made my movie. I knew that what ever I do, I had to make it interesting and put quality work on the table. And I did that in all quarters of my life.”
