Author Durjoy Datta who is known for churning out some of the best-selling romantic novels in the country has recently come-up with another. But this time around, he is offering plenty of drama. His latest novel, The Boy Who Loved, is a mix of family drama, death and despair, marriage and religion.
The Boy Who Loved is a heartwrenching story that follows the lives of a family torn apart when the elder son of a devout Brahmin family falls in love with a Muslim girl. Though unlike his other books, this one narrates the slightly ominous happenings around Raghu, who’s suicidal, through his journal entries. Talking about his inspiration, Durjoy states, “I wanted to write a love story spanning over a really long period of time — over 10-20 years. That was what the trigger behind this story. So, for the story, I went back to the year from where I have actual memory of my life. The book starts from 1990 and it has references of real incidences that happened during that time, like you will read about the Kargil war and different view points that people had during the time of the war and more.”
According to the author, this is one of his most ambitious books, which he plans to bring out in a series format. “The initial idea was to bring out one book dedicated to one year in the diary entry-format. So, in the end, I would have 17 books for each year starting from 1990. But, obviously my editor told me to first focus on the two books to begin with and then to plan about the rest later,” shares Durjoy.
The Boy Who Loved by Durjoy Datta Penguin Random House India pp.280, Rs 199
He never knew that romance was a genre existed before his first book got published. Sharing his thoughts about being tagged as a ‘romantic’ novelist, he says, “I knew young-adult was a big genre abroad and I have also read Mills and Boon but never actually knew that romance as a genre existed.”
He continues, “When I wrote my first book, it was heavily influenced from what was happening around me (teen life) and it was tagged as romance. Now, even when a book is not purely a love story, it is sold and marketed in that form because people associate my name with that genre.”
Writing happened to him by chance without any planning. “Writing happened to me in 2007, when I started blogging, but becoming a writer was never on the horizon,” shares Durjoy and adds, “When I was blogging, there was no one around me who was earning a living writing novels. So, it was unimaginable to pick it as a career. Thanks to the faith my blogger friends expressed in me, I wrote a novel just to satisfy my creative instincts. In hindsight, I think that I got lucky in being able to get a publisher early and rather easily.”
Currently, he is busy finishing the sequel to The Boy Who Loved and looking forward to the upcoming web series based on his book. “I am right now, focused on finishing the sequel as fast as possible because I know my readers will want to know want happens next in Raghu’s life. Also, I am excited that my novel World’s Best Boyfriend is being adapted into a web series,” concludes the author.
