Surinder Mohan Pathak looks every bit the kindly grandfather as he whips out family photographs and declares that anytime now, his grandson will order him to turn on the Power Rangers for him on TV. It’s only the books on the bookshelves behind him at his house in Delhi’s Krishna Nagar that give away his identity as the king of Hindi pulp fiction, with over 275 books to his credit. He rues, “Earlier, housewives spent their afternoons reading ‘jasoosi’ novels. Today, they watch serials. My wife sleeps at 1 am after watching all her television serials.”Having retired over 13 years ago from government service, Pathak continues to write four months in a year, working nearly nine hours a day, churning out about three novels a year. “It’s the first 100 pages that take time, the rest of the story just flows.. it’s all about the resolution of the crime.” His book The 65 Lakh Heist (or Painsath Lakh ki Dacoity in Hindi, featuring popular detective Vimal) has been mentioned in the Time magazine among the all-time bestsellers and once, notoriously, a bank robber took tips from one of his crime novels.
His readership remains steadfast, but Pathak admits, “There are not too many new readers.” There are issues with publishing houses, who are not honest about returns, he says. Besides reading his favourite Jack Higgins and other detective fiction, he enjoys watching old Hindi movies. As for new ones, he says, “Sometimes, my son drags me to the multiplex. But, in between, I wish I had a torch so I could read a book.” Interestingly, he gives away all the books he has read and only keeps the ones that he hasn’t.
Having published his first book at the age of 23, while still holding a government job, he still enjoys penning the adventures of Sunil, a debonair and upright investigative journalist. “When I write about him, I feel it’s me I’m writing about. And sometimes, when I read my earlier works, I’m amazed at what I have written!”
New age filmmaker Anurag Kashyap grew up wanting to be either Amitabh Bachchan or Surender Mohan Pathak. Actress Gul Panag even invited her favourite novelist to the premiere of her film Rann. Recent English translations of his book, such as The 65 Lakh Heist and Daylight Robbery, have won him fresh fans. However, archiving is poor in the pocket book industry. Pathak admits, “You won’t even find 50 of my 275 novels.”
He’s open to Bollywood, but has never been keen on pursuing the life. He would rather they meet him on his terms, which he says may be happening soon… Let’s wait and watch!
He remarks, “Today’s English publishing houses can’t boast of a single bestseller, except Chetan Bhagat — it’s garden variety fiction but the lingo clicked.”
And, what is pulp fiction ultimately? He chuckles, “If literature is the wife, pulp fiction is the wh***!”
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-30/news-interviews/29721355_1_novels-book-fiction
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