Bishhal Paull’s debut novel, The Liar Among Us, has a cinematic quality. He presents every frame in such compelling words that you are swiftly transported to the location, feeling the breeze and the imposing darkness. He draws this quality from his experience in filmmaking and confesses that he cannot separate the filmmaker in him from the writer. With The Liar Among Us (Bloomsbury Publishing), the storyteller weaves a classic boarding-school thriller where friendships foster, love lingers, secrets fester and aspirations run high in a charming setting.

In Valorhouse International, a boarding school in Sikkim, Paul ups the high-school thrill with mystery, suspense and supernatural elements, making it a package that makes for a great holiday read. A t2 chat with Paull who shares how his city, Guwahati, shaped the novel, updates us about his web series, and more....

With The Liar Among Us, you bring the high-school drama set in the hills. What made you choose this fiction?

Honestly, I’ve always believed that quiet places hide the loudest stories. A hill school felt as if it is a little isolated, a little magical, and full of teenagers who feel everything too deeply. It gave me the right playground for secrets, friendship, and drama.

With boarding-school drama, you also meld a thriller and ghost story, a package that made any read tempting. How challenging was it to balance these elements and tell the story of friendship?

The challenge was reminding myself that the heart of the book isn’t the ghost or the twists. It’s the kids. Once I treated the supernatural bits as expressions of their fears and friendships, everything started falling into place. It felt less like juggling and more like connecting dots.

How much of a role did Guwahati, your hometown, play in the setting of the book?

Guwahati, as a city, has a different rhythm. The people, our culture, the quiet lanes. It has shaped the way I think and feel. I grew up soaking all that in. So the city naturally slipped into the book in many ways, as all North-Eastern states are different but have much in common too. So when I created a fictional city of Labak set in Sikkim, my own city acted almost like a character, shadowing the kids as they navigated the story.

Which authors and books have been your inspiration for this?

It’s a mix, really. Stephen King for how he turns childhood into something powerful and eerie, Donna Tartt for atmosphere, Ruskin Bond for simplicity and warmth, and Neil Gaiman for the way he plays with the supernatural. They’ve all influenced me in some way or the other.

In a simple story of a small-town boy making it big at a renowned institute, you also touch upon serious issues like caste in India. What made you choose this theme?

Because you can’t talk about ambition or opportunity in India without acknowledging caste. It’s not something I “added”, as it’s part of the character’s reality. Ignoring it would’ve felt untrue to his journey and our own conscience.

Your writing carries a cinematic texture. I guess that comes from your experience as a filmmaker. Do you visualise your scenes as filmic sequences while drafting, and do you see this book adapting well to screen?

Totally. I can’t separate the filmmaker in me from the writer. I’ll see a scene and think where the light is falling, how the room sounds, before I write it. And yes, the book could adapt really well to the screen because it already plays like a series in my head.

You wear multiple hats — podcaster, filmmaker, news columnist — is it a way of finding your voice or a natural extension of your crafts in the creative field?

I think it’s just me following my curiosity. Everything I do is basically storytelling in one form or another. Some ideas fit a film, some work better as an opinion piece, and some as fiction. It feels less like switching hats and more like using the same voice differently.

Talking about your screen projects, what’s the update on Raisina, your series acquired by Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal’s production house, Pushing Buttons Studios?

Raisina is moving ahead nicely. We have refined the scripts and are putting the right team together. A couple of other ideas are in the writing stage, and one is slowly inching toward casting. It’s all happening, just at the pace these things naturally do. But I’m very excited for each one of them.