The puff of shocking white hair makes him look older than his years. His boyish grin automatically puts you at ease. You can’t imagine he would ever hurt a fly with his lighthearted banter and unassuming manner. The fire in his belly still burns bright after seven books of true crime and thrillers and 10 short stories under his belt. “In Love with Bollywood is different. You will see. The book is rooted in my own lifelong love for Amitabh Bachchan and his films. Like Bejoy, the protagonist in this new book, I grew up wondering what it would be like to sit across from Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati. Like him, I have an Amitabh Bachchan dialogue and song for every situation. Bejoy is a writer and comics artist, so there are inevitably bits of me in him, even though his story is entirely his own.”
Although his day job at a global technology firm deals with AI, Mukherjee was never hooked on computer games. “I got my highs from reading books, watching movies and weaving my own stories. Studying at South Point High School, and later in the electronics and telecommunications engineering department at Jadavpur University, I excelled in academics all along. My growing-up years have instilled in me a sense of discipline, the ability to multi-task, and also a competitive spirit — all these serve as rewarding pathways at every stage in life.”
Where did it all begin?
“I have experienced this myself. I have been writing for as long as I can remember. As a child, I used to fill up the pages of diaries with poems, stories, and pictures, and dreamt of finding my books in a bookstore someday. I kept writing through high school and university, but as I started working, I had less and less time for writing. In 2014, I entered an online short story contest where the entries were shortlisted through public voting and were then judged by a panel of literary luminaries. I ended up winning the Golden Pen award, and realised I should take my writing more seriously. There are stories to be told and readers to be reached. My debut novel was published in the winter of 2015, and I never looked back.”
So, Mukherjee started his writing journey a decade ago with a psychological thriller based in Calcutta, titled In the Shadows of Death. It was also the first book in the detective Agni Mitra series that went on to become a favourite with readers across the country, winning accolades from readers and the mainstream national media, and being adapted into audiobooks in English and Hindi on premium audio platforms. The other books in the series are The Trail of Blood and The Web of Lies. His book The Sinners is a corporate thriller, which is a genre not very common in the Indian thriller landscape. The Agni Mitra series owes its popularity to the Calcutta milieu, the strong human stories at the core, and a protagonist who is human instead of being part of a larger-than-life law enforcement machinery. Mukherjee went on to win the Munshi Premchand Award for Literature in 2023, as well as other rich honours.
Is Bejoy Chowdhury Amitabh Bachchan?
“The journeys of Bejoy Chowdhury, the protagonist of my story, and his idol, Amitesh Bhardwaj, who is modelled after Amitabh Bachchan, are similar in the manner in which they both face initial rejections, dare to dream, believe in their strengths, and finally make it big against various adversities. Bejoy Dibakar Chowdhury’s life was scripted for Bollywood from the start. His mother named him after a character played by the legendary actor Amitesh Bhardwaj in one of his movies which she was watching when she went into labour. Bejoy grew up obsessed with Bollywood, particularly his idol, Amitabh Bachchan. In 2000, jobless in Calcutta after his graduation, Bejoy tutors kids, draws detective comics featuring Bhardwaj, and dodges his father’s failing printing press. His girlfriend is frustrated by his eccentricities like taking her on a date to a temple in Calcutta, dedicated to the Bollywood icon. His best friend, Mo, aims for a stable career, but Bejoy has flashier plans — winning a new game show, ‘The Big Bollywood Quiz’, hosted by Bhardwaj and taking home the three-crore jackpot. The novel is about Bejoy’s roller-coaster ride from the by-lanes of Calcutta to the hot seat of the country’s biggest game show in Mumbai, with shadows of terror looming over Bollywood, and the series of events that unfold thereafter, which take Bejoy and the reader by surprise.
“I am a devoted fan of Amitabh Bachchan myself, and this book is dedicated to him,” shared Mukherjee. The following paragraph from the book aptly sums up my reason for choosing Bachchan as a role model for Bejoy: “Amitesh Bhardwaj is my hero for all seasons. That is not just because of the way he emotes in front of the camera, takes up cudgels for the downtrodden, delivers his deep baritone dialogues that are now part of our popular culture, bashes up a dozen goons singlehandedly, romances his heroines, makes you crack up or dances in his signature style. For me, Bhardwaj, the man behind the star, symbolises the very spirit of fighting back and never giving up. Early rejections, a life-threatening accident, a short political career gone wrong with false corruption allegations, bad press, career lows, bankruptcy – you name it, and the man has faced it. But Bhardwaj has fought back every time, letting his work and his dedication to his craft do all the talking, emerging stronger and more invincible than ever.”
Another Slumdog Millionaire?
In Love with Bollywood has very strong echoes of Slumdog Millionaire. Talking about it, the author said: “I did realise that a story woven around my protagonist’s ambition of winning a jackpot in a televised quiz show would be compared with the novel on which the movie Slumdog Millionaire was based. However, that possibility did not deter me from going ahead with the story. In Love with Bollywood, at its heart, is the story of a boy’s unwavering adulation for the biggest star of Indian cinema and the realisation of his fantasy of sitting across from that man while trying his luck at prize money in a game show that could change his future. So many of us have grown up with that fantasy. Add to that the quirkiness of an average Calcutta household, mothers having the back of their children, fathers masking love and uncertainty with authority and intimidation, friends standing by through thick and thin, girlfriends entering and leaving lives — all these in the Calcutta of the early years of the millennium — and you have a story very different from Slumdog Millionaire. Where the two stories probably cross paths is in depictions of how hope can survive adversity, how chance and destiny often intersect and how life itself is an education not imparted in engineering colleges.”
In innovation lies success
For the past decade, I have largely written crime fiction — fictional crime novels, psychological thrillers, and true crime. But after ten years, I felt it was time to reinvent myself and step into uncharted territory. I believe a writer can only grow by constantly challenging himself. This novel is, at its heart, an underdog story about hope, dreams, resilience, confronting adversity, and ultimately triumphing against the odds. It is also an ode to an iconic star, while celebrating the enduring bonds of family, friendship, and romance.
“Readers will still find the twists and suspense that have been a hallmark of my writing, but this book marks a clear departure from my earlier work. I have also experimented with a new narrative style, one that creates a strong sense of the here and now, and allows the story to unfold with an immediacy that draws the reader into every moment,” adds Mukherjee.
How long did it take?
“Actually, the novel came together rather quickly. I finished the first draft in about three months. It was a story that unfolded organically, with the characters almost speaking to me and leading me along on their journeys. Along the way, I drew from snippets of lived experiences and memories of people I have met and known over the years,” said Mukherjee.
Julie Banerjee Mehta is the author of Dance of Life, and co-author of the bestselling biography Strongman: The Extraordinary Life of Hun Sen. She has a PhD in English and South Asian Studies from the University of Toronto, where she taught World Literature and Postcolonial Literature for many years. She currently lives in Calcutta and teaches Masters English at Loreto College. She curates and anchors the Rising Asia Literary Circle and is the t2 literary columnist
