Amish Tripathi

Amish Tripathi
Amish in 2015
Born (1974-10-18) 18 October 1974
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India[1]
Occupation Novelist
Nationality Indian
Alma mater St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, IIM Calcutta
Genre Mythological-Fiction
Notable works
  • Shiva Trilogy
  • Ram Chandra Series
Website
authoramish.com

Amish Tripathi (born 18 October 1974) is an Indian author, known for his novels The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, The Oath of the Vayuputras, Scion of Ikshvaku and Sita: Warrior of Mithila. The first three books collectively comprise the Shiva Trilogy[2] and the later two are the first two books of the Ram Chandra Series which is going to be a collection of five books.[3] The Shiva Trilogy was the fastest selling book series in Indian publishing history. And the Ram Chandra Series was the second fastest selling book series in Indian publishing history. Amish recently launched his first non-fiction book called Immortal India.[4]

All 6 books have sold over 4 million copies in the Indian subcontinent since 2010, with gross retail sales of Rs. 120 crores.[5] Forbes India has ranked Amish among the top 100 celebrities in India[6] in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017.[7][8][9][10][11] Amish was also selected as an Eisenhower Fellow, an exclusive programme for outstanding leaders from around the world.[12]

Early life

Amish Tripathi was born in Mumbai and grew up near Rourkela, Odisha.[13][14] He is an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.[7][15] He worked for 14 years in the financial services industry, in companies such as Standard Chartered, DBS Bank and IDBI Federal Life Insurance, before beginning his writing career.[16]

Career

Shiva Trilogy

The Immortals of Meluha, Tripathi's first mashup novel and the first in the Shiva Trilogy, was published in February 2010.[17] The second book in the series, The Secret of the Nagas, was released on 12 August 2011, and the third and final installment, titled The Oath of the Vayuputras, was released on 27 February 2013.[18] The trilogy is a fantasy re-imagining of the Indian deity Lord Shiva's life and his adventures, and it is widely gaining popularity.

Also The Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas have been released in UK through Jo Fletcher Books (an imprint of Quercus Books) in January 2013 and November 2013 respectively.[19][20]

Ram Chandra Series

Scion of Ikshvaku was released on 22 June 2015. It is the first book in the Ram Chandra Series. Like the Shiva Trilogy this one is also a fantasy re-imagining of the Indian epic Ramayana. It follows the story of Ram and is a prequel to the Shiva Trilogy. Scion of Ikshvaku won the Crossword Book Award for Best Popular Award.

On 18 October 2016, Amish Tripathi announced that he will be releasing two new novels in 2017. One will be his first non-fiction book while the other will be the sequel to the book, Scion of Ikshvaku, from the Ramachandra series with name Sita: Warrior of Mithila[21] which was released on 29 May 2017. It opened at #1 on the national bestseller lists.[22] It was the highest selling book of 2017[23]

Amish launched his first non-fiction book, Immortal India in August 2017.[4]

Amish's next book 'Suheldev & The Battle Of Bahraich is postponed until next announcement.

Translations

Tripathi in 2012

Tripathi's novels have been translated into a number of languages, including Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Assamese, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, Estonian, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, Polish, Czech and Odia[24]

The reason the books have been translated into a number of local languages[25] is because the author believes that west-focused Indian publishing as a whole is gradually being embedded into the Indian cultural sensibilities.[26] Further explaining his thoughts, Tripathi said "I genuinely believe that five years from today, we will have a situation when other languages will account for higher sales of books than in English. That is the big change happening in publishing where readers are taking pride in their own culture. Another comparative example would be television, where regional language channels garner more TRPs.[26][27][28]

Influence

All of Tripathi's books (released and planned) are on religious topics since he is a devoted worshiper of Lord Shiva.[29][30][31] Amish had turned into an atheist[32][33][34][35] in his youth but returned to faith while writing his first book.[36] His grandfather was a Sanskrit scholar and a Pandit in Benares. Tripathi says that he gathered most of his knowledge of Hindu theology and religion from his grandfather and his very religious parents. He believes that religiosity and liberalism go hand-in-hand in India.

Sandipan Deb ( former Executive Editor of Outlook and Editor of Financial Express ) writes of the philosophical depth of Amish's books: "Through all Amish’s books flows a current of liberal progressive ideology: about gender, about caste, about discrimination of any kind. And what I believe separates him from the horde of Indian writers who have jumped on to the mythology bandwagon after Shiva’s ( Shiva Trilogy's) success, is his historical research.".[37] In an interview Amish said that the secret behind his success is by visiting Shri Mahadev Mandir situated at Rajendra Sarovar, Chhapra, Bihar. He requests his true fans to do the same.

Sandipan says that Amish's books, like Scion of Ikshvaku can either be read as "a thrilling series that will bring Ram and Sita closer to a lot of Indians, or as an honest analysis and a very intelligent man's musings on everything from Manu Smriti to Milton Friedman, all presented in the garb of a series of adventure novels. That is what makes Amish very special among the few Indian bestselling authors we have"[53]

Marketing

In the Indian market where large sales volumes of books are rare, Tripathi's books have been enormously successful. His marketing skills and strategies have been widely credited for the success of his novels.[38][39] He has stated, "It’s a fallacy to think that a good book sells itself. I can give you a long list of books that I think should have been bestsellers but nobody’s ever heard of them. My management background along with marketing experience helped me devise effective strategies for promoting my book."[38]

Weeks before The Immortals of Meluha hit the bookshops, Tripathi printed sample copies of the first chapter and persuaded bookshops and chains to give them away free to anyone who approached the cash counter, creating a buzz.[40] He also made presentations to big retail chains, visited smaller retailers, met local distributors and regularly sent email updates to various stakeholders. He targeted social media websites for promoting his debut novel, and made a trailer film with a background score reportedly by Taufiq Qureshi and uploaded it on YouTube.[39][41]

For the promotion of his second book, Tripathi created video trailers of film production quality, complete with visual effects and screened them at multiplexes before[42] movies such as the Shahrukh Khan starrer Ra.One.[38] He believed that this would work as the audience that visits theatres is the same that read his books.[43] Three other trailers were released on YouTube.[44]

In 2013, a music album called Vayuputras, an original soundtrack based on The Oath of the Vayuputras, the final book of the Shiva Trilogy, was released. The album featured songs by artists such as Sonu Nigam, Taufiq Qureshi, Palash Sen, Bickram Ghosh among others. This was the first time ever that an original soundtrack was made for a book series.[45]

The innovations in marketing continued with launch of Scion of Ikshvaku in 2015 where again a teaser trailer was launched on YouTube, followed by another book trailer, like in the case of the Shiva Trilogy. In fact, TV advertisements were released during IPL to promote Scion of Ikshvaku, perhaps a first for any book.

In 2016, the author also uploaded another film on YouTube to give readers a perspective on how all books written by him are interconnected, with clues to all futures having been placed within the Shiva Trilogy.[46][47][48]

Awards & Recognition

  • Intellectual Property - Inspirational Icon of The Year 2018
  • Kalinga International Literary Award 2018
  • Distinguished Alumnus Award 2017 (IIM - Calcutta) [49]
  • Forbes Celebrity 100 List 2017 [50]
  • Icon of the Year Award 2017 [51]
  • Raymond Crossword Popular Fiction Award for his book Scion of Ikshvaku in 2016 [58][59][60]
  • Dainik Bhaskar Readers' Choice Award in 2016.[50][51]
  • Pride of India 2014[55] and 2015.
  • India's First Literary Popstar 2015[56]
  • 50 Most Influential Young Indians 2015 [57][70]
  • Communicator of the Year Award 2014[53]
  • Society Young Achievers Award for Literature in 2013
  • Man of the Year 2013 by Radio One[54]
  • Eisenhower Fellowship

Bibliography

Fiction

Non-fiction

  • Immortal India (2017)[53]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About Amish". Author Amish. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "Lessons from PK: Beliefs may be cast in stone | columns". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "Scion Of Ikshvaku | Author Amish". www.authoramish.com. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  4. 1 2 ""Immortal India": Amish Tripathis first step into non-fiction". Press Trust of India.
  5. ↑ http://www.indianewsreel.com/Education/News/20170830110806/Amish-Tripathis-Sita--Warrior-of-Mithila--launched.aspx
  6. ↑ "Forbes India Lists : #96 Celeb 100 Rank 2014". Forbes.
  7. 1 2 Lopex, Rachel (26 April 2013). "How Amish Tripathi changed Indian publishing". Hindustan Times. HT Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 28 April 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  8. ↑ "Forbes India 2012". [Forbes India].
  9. ↑ "Forbes India 2013". [Forbes India].
  10. ↑ "Forbes India Celebrity 100 list 2014". [Forbes India]. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015.
  11. ↑ "Forbes India Celebrity List 2015". Forbes India.
  12. ↑ "Eisenhower Fellowships India Chapter Celebrations on 21st October". [The Alternative].
  13. ↑ "I watched Love Story 4 times in a day - Amish Tripathi". Filmfare.com. 12 August 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  15. ↑ Desk. "The decision to become a full time writer was a pragmatic decision-Amish Tripathi | Financial Samachar". www.financialsamachar.com. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  16. ↑ "Bestselling bosses". Business Today. 30 October 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  17. ↑ "MBA, myth and 'Meluha', a phenomenon called Amish". The Times of India. 28 July 2011.
  18. ↑ "The Oath of the Vayuputras – Book Preview". Latest Book Reviews. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  19. ↑ "The Shiva Trilogy overseas rights bought by Jo Fletcher Books". The Times of India. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  20. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  21. ↑ "Amish Tripathi announces Two New Novels releasing in 2017". Vowelor. 25 October 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  22. ↑ "HT-Nielsen Weekly Top 10 list: Amish's Sita emerges hero, young readers rediscover Tinkle". The Hindustan Times.
  23. ↑ "Amish Tripathi, Chetan Bhagat, Paulo Coelho: The books India read in 2017, according to Amazon — Quartz India". qz.com.
  24. ↑ "Language Updates" Author Amish. Retrieved 21 June 2016
  25. ↑ "Language editions". This Week Bangalore. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  26. 1 2 "English mass-market books tap Hindi speakers". Zee News. 11 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  27. ↑ Baliga, Shashi (5 February 2012). "Myths with a modern twist". The Hindu. Chennai, India.
  28. ↑ Ganguly, Arghya (9 July 2011). "Karma cola and masala mythology".
  29. ↑ Mande, Abhishek (12 January 2012). "Interview with the author of The Immortals of Meluha". Rediff.
  30. ↑ "Fame by name". Pune Mirror.
  31. ↑ Pandit, Shruti (12 June 2012). "My books are Shiva's blessings". The Times of India.
  32. ↑ "I was an atheist: Author Amish Tripathi & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". Daily News and Analysis. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  33. ↑ "Writing changed me from an atheist to a Shiva bhakt: Amish Tripathi".
  34. ↑ Rana, Preetika (16 March 2013). "Meet Amish Tripathi, Million Dollar Author - India Real Time - WSJ". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  35. ↑ "The million-dollar author". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  36. ↑ "I enjoyed reading MT, says Amish Tripathi".
  37. ↑ "Why Amish is Special". LiveMint. 30 June 2015.
  38. 1 2 3 Bhawani, Namrata (5 December 2011). "Myth and match: Talk with Amish Tripathi". The Times of India.
  39. 1 2 New, Today's (28 August 2011). "Romancing the market". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India.
  40. ↑ Sheela Reddy (18 July 2011). "The Lo-Cal Literati". Outlook. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  41. ↑ "Inspiration Behind The Success Of 'The Immortals Of Meluha'". EVENTFAQS Media. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  42. ↑ Banerjee, Poulomi (7 September 2011). "The secret of Amish". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India.
  43. ↑ Mehta, Shweta. "A film on The Immortals of Meluha?". Hindustan Times.
  44. ↑ The Secret of the Nagas, 2011, Acknowledgements, p. xii
  45. ↑ "Shiva trilogy music released". The Times of India. 16 February 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  46. ↑ Author Amish (23 January 2015), Scion of Ikshvaku by Amish, retrieved 6 December 2016
  47. ↑ Author Amish (8 May 2015), The 'Scion Of Ikshvaku' Trailer by Amish, retrieved 6 December 2016
  48. ↑ Author Amish (23 September 2016), An introduction to a mythical world, retrieved 6 December 2016
  49. ↑ https://www.telegraphindia.com/calcutta/amish-and-art-of-negotiating-186134?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=T-186134-15. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  50. ↑ ; http://www.forbesindia.com/lists/2012-celebrity-100/1395/1 http://www.forbesindia.com/article/2017-celebrity-100/liberals-have-not-read-ancient-indian-texts-amish-tripathi/48991/1 ; http://www.forbesindia.com/lists/2012-celebrity-100/1395/1 Check |url= value (help). Missing or empty |title= (help)
  51. ↑ http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/business-wire/wbr-corp-organized-mega-event-icon-of-the-year-at-mumbai/article9863532.ece. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  52. ↑ Chhetri, Priyam (9 June 2017). "Tripathi's Sita: Wonder woman from Mithila". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  53. ↑ "'Immortal India': Amish Tripathi's first step into non-fiction".
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