SENIOR WRITER – JOURNALIST AASHU PATEL’S BOOK ‘MADAM X’ LAUNCHED IN MUMBAI

Small Town Girl Becomes The Most Dreaded Gangster Of The Underworld – 

Madam X

Mumbai: Aashu Patel’s saga on the underworld, narrated in his latest cult thriller book was launched on April 15^th at a grand event at the city bookstore, Granth in the presence of a bevy of Bollywood

(L-R) Tigmanshu Dhulia, Aashu Patel, Sanjay Chhel, Paresh Baua,
Ananth Mahadevan

and Tellywood celebrities. Actor-Director, Anant Mahadevan and actress Ishita Sarkar read parts of the book at the launch.  The event was also attended by Sanjay Chhel and Jayantilal Gada. The book is the first one in English for the bestselling Gujarati author and was launched by Tigmanshu Dhulia. At the launch the renowned Bollywood director announced his plans to adapt the book into a Bollywood film.

Tigmanshu Dhulia

“I had met Aashu almost a decade ago and since then we have been good friends. Aashu's knowledge of underworld amazes me. The moment he narrated the plot of Madam X, I decided to make a movie based on it. It is a very gripping book and gives us an insight into the very soul of the underworld. Madam X is set in the nineties when the underworld was at its peak," says Tigmanshu Dhulia.

“Back in the nineties while I was into journalism, I extensively studied and tracked the underworld. It is during this period that I got acquainted with people from the underworld and this gave me the edge when I began writing plots around the subject. Madam X is perhaps the only female protagonist in

Aashu Patel

the otherwise male dominated underworld,” says the author. “The story is about how a small-town girl’s ambition to make it big takes her on an unexpected, roller-coaster journey to becoming the protégé of an infamous don to eventually becoming the most dreaded gangster of the underworld.”

With this sensational novel senior Gujarati writer-journalist Aashu Patel enters the English market for the first time. After starting his career as a journalist in Gujarati, he made his mark as a columnist and later a writer. He has 26 published books to his credit including a coffee table book on Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

The book is published by Shree Book Centre .It will be available at Granth and all leading book stores across India.

NOTED POET-NOVELIST C P SURENDRAN'S 'HADAL' LAUNCHED IN MUMBAI

Noted poet-novelist C P Surendran's 'Hadal' Launched in Mumbai

Mumbai: C P Surendran's third work of fiction was launched today at a grand event at the city hotel,

(L-R) Ravi Subramanian,CP Surendran,
Anurag Kashyap

Palladium in the presence of leading personalities from the field of cinema, literature and art. The launch was followed by a round of reading and play acting of a passage from the book.

A newsman, C P Surendran was the editor-in-chief of DNA and Resident Editor of Times of India. His earlier works, 'An Iron Harvest' and 'Lost and Found' were bestselling novels, while his collection of poems that included Gemini II, Posthumous Poems, Canaries on the Moon and Portraits of the Space We Occupy were considered to be path breaking and had set many precedents in modern English poetry. Surendran also marked his debut in Bollywood by scripting 'Gour Hari Dastaan' which has been winning accolades at various international festivals. Directed and jointly screen written by national award winner, Ananth Mahadevan, the theatrical release of the film is expected soon.

(L-R) Suchitra Pillai, Denzil Smith, Ravi Subramanian,
CP Surendran, Anurag Kashyap

"Inspired by a real-life incident, Hadal is an incisive critique of the rot at the heart of India and the corruption, physical and spiritual, that permeates the structure of authority," says the author. The plot revolves around Marian a young, attractive and unhappily married lady. Taking a break from her job as internal security officer at the palace of the Maldivian president, she comes to Trivandrum to write a novel. Honey Kumar is a police officer on a punishment transfer from Delhi to Trivandrum for a spectacular act of graft. When Miriam refuses to comply with Honey Kumar’s demands for sexual favours in return for extending her visa, he fabricates an espionage charge against her and arrests her. Before long, Miriam, who has secrets of her own, realizes that the tropical vacation spot she has landed in is like a hallucinogenic dream, where everybody has a tale to tell. They collectively contribute to a fable about her as a spy and a honey trap, shaking her up and shaping her struggle.

The book is published by Harper Collins.