Twist in the love tale

How would you feel if you found out that your flatmates are in love with the same girl you’ve been dreaming about? Twisted, isn’t it? Bestselling author Pankaj Dubey’s latest book, Love Curry explores  exactly that — what happens when three best friends become arch-rivals because of a girl. 

Love Curry is a fun story that revolves around three male protagonists Ali, Shehzad and Rishi, who share a flat in London. Ali is a Pakistani chef with the dream of setting up his own nihari restaurant. Shehzad is a tattoo artist from Bangladesh, and Rishi is an Indian. In the course of the book, the three learn that love is as much about letting go as it is about possessing. 

Interestingly, Pankaj got the idea of the book years back, while he was in London. “The legacy of this book goes back to the time when I was pursuing my Masters in Applied Communications from Coventry, UK. Soon after that I started working with BBC.  I have tried to compile what I and my friends have experienced there, in this book,” he says, adding, “However, I wasn't prepared to pen down this story as my first novel. So, I waited and I tried to hone my craft. And after the success of my first two books, What a Loser! and Ishqiyapa: To Hell with Love, I decided to write this story.”

Love Curry By Pankaj Dubey Penguin India Publication pp.224, Rs 250

While writing a novel, many authors get inspired by people they have met. Giving an insight about the three main characters in the book, the writer says, “It is true that most of my characters are inspired by real life people, and it holds true for Ali, Shehzad and Rishi too, who are from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India respectively. However, to make a character interesting I don’t base that character solely on one person. This is because I feel that not everyone is interesting all the time. So, I take few interesting things from two or three people and club them in a single character.” 

Pankaj has been a journalist with the BBC World Service in London and was also selected for the prestigious Writers’ Residency in Seoul Art Space, Yeonhui, South Korea among three novelists from Asia in 2016. 

Asked why he decided to write, he quips, “It’s not just about writing novels. Even while working as a journalist I realised that I am basically a storyteller and I have so many ideas and stories to share with the world. And writing novels is one medium to share my stories. I feel so happy because I am loved by my readers and now I have started earning good money too. As a journalist I had to cover so many stories and people, but what made me happier is telling stories.” 

A number of people have ventured into the writing space in the past few years. Having written three bestselling books, Pankaj feels that a good hold on language and a nice storyline is all that is required to become an author. “A lot of English writers in India have mushroomed. Although I don’t think that there should be any academic qualification required to become an author, what is required is storytelling which includes a nice story and the way you present it to the readers.”