It’s 1969 and agent 007, James Bond, is about to go solo on a mission motivated by revenge. And what better way to launch this new book titled Solo on world’s favourite secret agent than to do it in Bond’s own style. The opening scene from the book authored by William Boyd was recreated recently and this set things in motion as seven different cities in different parts of the world received a glass brief-case each. The consignment, that reached the capital on a warm September morning, contained what every Bond fan was waiting for — a signed copy of the book that left London in Bond’s favourite car, flown in Bond’s favourite airline before arriving here on a “top-secret mission”. James Bond movies have a huge fan following. But there is not much awareness about novels, from which the movies have been made.“There are millions of people who love James Bond movies and I think a large proportion of them don’t even realise that it’s drawn from the books. With this launch, we’re trying to make people aware that a whole wealth of James Bond novels exists, that they can read and enjoy. So with the new book, we have re-released the whole Ian Fleming’s backlist with modern covers to attract the new age readers,” shares Caroline Newbury, vice-president marketing and publicity at Random House India. Bidarshi Chakraborty, a blogger, and an avid Bond follower is looking forward to the new book. Asked how he feels about a new Bond novel coming up he says, “Excited. Period. No exceptions here. As a reader, in Solo I am expecting a vivid, visual and engaging thriller in which the Bond legacy will continue to survive. While I do not expect any drastic change in the character of James Bond, I am ready to accommodate some changes in his outlook towards life and living. After all time can modify a man.” Shrehya Taneja, a DU student and a passionate James Bond fan feels that irrespective of the medium, the new book has to live upto the larger than life character of James Bond. “For me, he’s a roguish character who comes with a certain sophistication, intelligence and elitism that they need to retain and be consistent. But I’ve noticed a dumbing down of Bond books over time and an attempt to make it simplistic to cater to a larger audience, which is spoiling it for hardcore fans like me. Earlier he was a symbol of what we aspire for; and when we used to read about him or watch him on screen, we used to feel that’s how a person should be like. But that doesn’t happen anymore. He has instead become an icon for the masses. But without his original elitism and suaveness, he’s not the same man,” she says. After the death of Ian Fleming, who created the original James Bond character, a few other authors have tried their hand at continuing the Bond legacy that include John Gardner and Raymond Benson who wrote a series of Bond novels. William Boyd is the latest addition to the list, but this will be a one-off novel that will reveal his take on Bond’s character, according to Caroline. Udayan Majumdar, author of The Labyrinth, feels that even if a writer is writing about a character created by someone else, there is a lot of room to explore new aspects of his personality. “Not everyone reads about a character and feels the same way for it. For example, most people empathise with Devdas and think of him as a quintessential romantic man, a symbol of love. But there are others who feel differently and believe that he was weak, maybe not even a man. Now if a person writes a book on the unknown aspects of his life, it’ll depend on whether he looks at him as a romantic person or as a failure. So even if the character is created by someone else, the writers assessment of him will take over the character and the plot. The writing style is also quite important,” he puts forth.
