A 150-strong crowd of fangirls and fanboys waited impatiently at Starmark, South City Mall, for the star of the evening. And once he walked in, the cheers rang loud enough and long enough to drown out any announcement to “please calm down!”

Durjoy Datta, the 28-year-old Bengali boy living in Delhi, was in Calcutta to launch his latest book, World’s Best Boyfriend (Penguin Random House, Rs 175) on May 23. “This is the fifth time I’ve come to the city for a launch. My fans are too kind and incredibly enthusiastic. I love it here!” was all the young author managed to say before he was swept away by the crowd for a book-signing session. Before the madness, t2 squeezed in a quick chat...

What is the USP of World’s Best Boyfriend? 

Aranya. I chose to write this book because most of my books were first-person perspectives and the protagonist used to be very good-looking.... It puts a lot of pressure, both on people who don’t ‘conventionally’ look good and also those who do. I wanted to move away from that and have a character who is not conventionally pretty but is awesome in all the other aspects. 

Is that why you made Aranya such a headstrong character?

Aranya is good in sports, is a national-level debater, is good in studies. She knows her worth. I then accentuated factors, like her family and her looks, to show that petty things like how you look should be the least of your concerns. 

Yet she chooses Dhruv!

She realises that this boy is the way he is because he’s spent the last six years trying to be the exact antithesis of what she is. If she’s bad-looking, he’s constructed himself to be the best-looking guy around, so that he can put her down. The other guy (Raghuvir) might be a better person but no one is going to spend six years of his life obsessing over her.

But Dhruv seems like the worst boyfriend, right till the end. Why would someone like Aranya choose a misogynist like him over Raghuvir, who genuinely cared for her?

There were two things I wanted to put into the book. One was that I wanted it to be a really difficult choice for the girl. Second, people never change, so if Dhruv was still in love with the girl despite hating her, Raghuvir wouldn’t, and didn’t, change after everything that happened. 

Who would you choose?

Dhruv. He might come across as a misogynist but everything he constructed was a lie. Dhruv-Aranya is a more passionate love story, whereas with Raghuvir it’s more of a compromise. If he’d be out with Aranya and his friends would mock her looks, he’d highlight her other qualities. Dhruv would’ve just punched the guy. That, for me, is more exciting. 

You only write love stories. Is it because you are most comfortable in this genre?

In my head I have brilliant stories that could be thrillers or fantasy novels. However, I can’t seem to make them believable. Like, when reading a Harry Potter, one believes that the world of Hogwarts exists... I’m waiting to reach that point where my language and storytelling are strong enough to make people believe. 
 
You always name your lead characters with D and A. What’s the story there?

When I start writing a book, I name the boy Durjoy and the girl Avantika (his friend). Then I do ‘ctrl+H’ and change all the names. Even when I’m writing for TV, I constantly refer to the characters as Avantika and Durjoy, even though they are called something else. I find it easier, and it’s also a bit of a superstition. Plus, right now they are D and A because I am lazy. Once I run out of my stock of names, the characters will probably have different initials. 
 
What makes a guy the world’s best boyfriend?

If I were to be the world’s best boyfriend, I would look at it very selfishly. I would not choose a girl because she fulfils a checklist. I should be into her wholeheartedly, be able to talk to her for hours and no matter what she does, I’d go back to her. That’s the way being selfish would make me the world’s best boyfriend.

Have you ever done something that would make you the worst boyfriend?

I think lying and cheating is bad. I’ve not done that to anyone I really love, but I’ve done that to girlfriends who I thought I loved but really didn’t. I was young and not really the best-looking guy around, so I’d date whoever came my way, and then lie or cheat. You tend to make those mistakes when you’re young. 

Moving on, what do you think makes your books bestsellers?

I think because they’re very real. I’ll give you a very small example. Most young adult books written in the West are about social exclusion or bullying. But in India, at least when I was in school, the concept of bullying didn’t exist. There was no social exclusion or the concept of ‘these guys aren’t popular, so I should not associate with them’. 

Also, you’ll rarely see somebody who is struggling with their family here, teenagers usually tend to listen to their parents, at least till they are 13-14. Changes in terms of familial relationships are a very slow process in India. I talk to a lot of people in my fan base and try to understand what their mindset is right now. Here, at their age, they are more concerned with things like crushes. They tend to connect with my books because it is their story too. 

Did you know you’d be a best-selling author one day?

I’m from a typical Bengali family full of IIT-ians and engineers and I was always a good student. It was expected that I’d be an engineer or a management grad, and that’s what I did. But then books happened, an accident that I am quite happy with. If I were to go according to the whims and fancies of my parents, they would still want me to have a stable job just so they could explain to people what it is that their son does! 
 
What’s next? 

I’m almost finished with the first draft of the next book. I’m not really sure what the central theme of the book is yet, but it’s a mix of a few things I feel strongly about. I’m also working on a pilot for a few TV shows. They should air by the end of this year.

SNAPCHAT

Your guilty pleasure? 

American Chopsuey.

If you are D, who is A? 

If Scarlett Johansson’s name started with an A, she would be it!

Three words that describe you?

I. Am. Lazy. 

Which one of your books would you like to see on screen?

If It’s Not Forever. 

The last book you read and loved?

Wonder by R.J. Palacio.

The last book you read and hated?

The first draft of my next book.

E-books or paper books?

E-books are much more convenient but if I really like reading a book, I would buy it.

Apps you can’t do without?

It used to be BBM, now it’s WhatsApp. It’s a necessary evil. 

FB, Twitter, Instagram — which do you love the most?

Right now it’s Instagram. 

Are you into gadgets? What phone do you use?

My phone. I have an iPhone 5c. 

Do you like taking selfies?

No, I don’t. But when I don’t put up enough pictures, people ask me, where are you? So I end up doing it. 

Craziest fan moment...

Somebody once got a few lines from my book tattooed and I was so scared thinking, ‘Was that line grammatically correct in the book?!’ 

I’m a Durjoy Datta fan because... Tell t2@abp.in
Pictures: Rashbehari Das