THE CROWD THAT SCREAMED... FOR THE BOY THEY LOVE

A crowd of nearly 300 gathered at the Starmark outlet in Mani Square on June 2, eagerly awaiting the arrival of their heart-throb, writer Durjoy Datta, to come and launch his The Boy Who Loved (Penguin Random House India, Rs 199), the first title in a two-part romance series. 

While most fangirls came with friends, many came with parents... and some even with boyfriends in tow. A loud cheer went up as the Delhi boy arrived, looking sharp in a crisp white kurta, accompanied by his very cute and very pregnant wife, Avantika Mohan. 

In between ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the crowd — which was threatening to breach the fragile barricades set up to contain them — the dapper Durjoy managed to leave teens, tweens, their parents and their boyfriends swooning.
Before the madness, t2 caught up with the 30-year-old...

Everyone is writing a series these days. Is that what prompted this two-part series?

If you remember my first few novels, they were all a progression of the stories of the same characters. The only difference in this novel is that it will leave the reader with many questions. The plan, initially, was to write a 10-12-part series but I was being too ambitious, so I started with two. If I have more stories to tell, I will change it into a three-part or four-part series. 
 
After surprising your readers with the dark The Girl of My Dreams, this new book too has been described as ‘dangerously unreal’. Is this a conscious shift?

I will always be essentially packaged as a ‘romance’ writer. But in this novel, the dark elements are present in the very first chapter, so there’s no retracting that. This is not a conscious decision as the dark theme in this novel is what the story warranted. I am not sure if the next one will be as dark. 

Tell us a little about this book...

I wanted to write something centred on religion but it got too heavy. Other people write on that better and I wouldn’t be able to sell my book. So I packaged this story as a romance. The protagonist in this novel belongs to a devout Brahmin family but his brother falls in love with a Muslim girl. Casteism is something that exists in India till today but is seemingly latent in our city lives. I understand that most of my readers are urban so I wanted this novel to be high on drama to reflect what happens in tier-II and tier-III cities.

As your writing and story plots have matured over the last 14 years, has your target audience changed in demography or mindset?

I have retained many fans who have been reading my work since my first book (Of Course I Love You..! Till I Find Someone Better). They were probably 16 then. But older people have also read my books. It is very difficult for me to keep an audience in mind when I am writing. The motive is to not be boring.
 
How does the quintessential Durjoy Datta fan view romance?

I am someone who has never presented romance in an idealistic manner. Since my first book, I have been slightly cynical and even the titles of my books bear testimony to that. I believe in ‘forever with conditions’ because even if you love someone, you will have 10 things that you dislike about them. Even Avantika believes the same (sitting beside him, Avantika bursts out laughing). My readers also feel the same way, as many have told me so.
 
You recently went on a ‘babymoon’. Tell us about this unique ‘holiday’.

I had no idea about this concept. It was all Avantika’s idea as she is the one who has lived abroad and is familiar with these gora concepts. Basically this was just a holiday. So many people took note because the idea in India is that if you are pregnant, you should stay home. We haven’t changed our lifestyle at all and Avantika still works out and swims. So we just went to Bali and relaxed.

Avantika: I am used to seeing heavily pregnant women leading very normal lives. I am seven-and-a-half months pregnant and I just flew in from Dubai. It’s perfectly normal for me.
 
Durjoy, you have released books every year since 2008. But now that you’re expecting your first child, do you plan to make changes to your writing schedule and cut back on workload?

I think I get a lot of time to myself so I can still write after devoting time to my newborn and wife. Now that I will have a kid at home, maybe I’ll write a children’s book! I have never had that kind of audience in mind but when I’ll have it at home, maybe I’ll really write something for kids.
 
What can fans look forward to in the final instalment of this series?

The best thing to look forward to is that maybe this series will not end with the second instalment!

Anannya Sarkar
Pictures: Rashbehari Das

What did you like about Durjoy’s new book, The Boy Who Loved? Tell t2@abp.in