It’s a book about friendships, about coming home and above all, it’s a story about fathers and sons,” said illustrator-turned-author Krishna Shastri Devulapalli at the launch of his second book, Jump Cut here on Friday. “We all want our lives to be like a film sometimes. That’s what this book explores,” said Devulapalli, who was in conversation with artist Parvathy Nair during the launch.
The book, which Devulapalli describes as a “serio-comic thriller” is about NRI Satyajit Ray Raman, who comes home to his sick scriptwriter father. But things don’t pan out the way he wants it to. His father dies and the mild-mannered Ray finds himself drawn into the world of movies and filmmaking, up against a man who is the reason Ray’s father died. The main theme that runs through the book is intellectual property rights. “It’s become a huge part of our lives. And it’s rampant in the film world, where we have blatant lifters and plagiarists. It has always irritated me. That’s one of the reasons I picked this topic,” said the author, who, being true to his illustrator-side, did the cover art himself.
Being a fan of films, it was natural that his book had to be about that profession. “I have a feeling that whatever book I write about, I’ll end up having a little bit about films in it,” he said. But was the timing of the Indian film industry’s 100 year significant? “Oh no, not at all. My book just happens to be about it. I didn’t set out to write a book thinking, it’s the 100th year, let me write a book,” said Devulapalli.
The author’s quirky sense of humour and simple writing comes follows through in Jump Cut, just as it did in his first book Ice Boys in Bell Bottoms. The book also has a very ‘Madras’ feel to it, with Tanglish and dialogues like “Vaaya cinema kaara” and “Summa. Thamaas.” “The simplest reason was because I wanted dialogues to ring true. If I was dealing with a driver, it wouldn’t sound true if all he spoke was English.” The author is not apologetic about using so much Tamil slang either. “Most of the time we have Hindi dialogues and slogans. No one questions that, right?” he said.
After Jump Cut, Devulapalli is busy getting for the launch of his third book Rally Days and Disco Nights, the second in the Ice Boys trilogy, to be launched in early 2014. “Ice Boys was about life in Madras in the 70s. Rally Days will follow the storyline and it will be about the 80s,” he said.