How long or arduous has your journey from Jamshedpur been till now?

Studying at Loyola School, Jamshedpur, which is among the best in the eastern region, imbibes in you a natural feeling that you are very best. That instills in you a certain confidence to face the world more audaciously. As Jamshedpur did not have good colleges for higher studies, I moved to Delhi to complete my graduation and followed it up with a post graduate course in Communications. After that, I worked for a year as an advertising executive with a television channel. But then I always wanted to do something more in life and my ambition to make it as an actor brought me to Mumbai.

You came here to be an actor. How did writing happen then?

In hindsight, I regret not having gone through formal training as an actor. What I was getting to do as actor wasn’t satisfying enough; at the same time, I’ve always had a flair for writing. In my early struggle days I freelanced as a writer for a leading entertainment portal and my work brought me in touch with lots of people from the entertainment industry. People were impressed by my writing skills. One of the celebrities I met convinced me to be a script writer. That initiated my journey into writing.

How did you end up writing books?

I realized in some time that television writing can be limiting, while film writing tends to be speculative till everything falls in place and the movie gets a proper release. Around the same time, Indian publishing industry was opening up for commercial fiction, for which a new market was emerging. I decided to convert one of the stories I had in mind for a film, into a book. That’s how “that thing called LOVE” happened.

What keeps you busy these days?

My third book, “Of Love and Politics” is being edited; I am currently working on 3 other books simultaneously. Other than that, I write guest columns for newspapers and magazines. I keep doing film and television scripts as and when time permits. Ironically I have also been getting some acting and modeling assignments of late. But now, if that has to happen, it will be entirely on my terms.

How has your family reacted to your success?

I am lucky to have got extremely supportive parents, who despite having a conventional mindset, have stood by me through all my maverick aspirations. My younger brother is my most bitter critic.

(As told to Ramyani Dasgupta)