HYDERABAD: Though Shadaab Khan, Bollywood’s favourite villain Amjad Khan’s son, is yet to make a mark as an actor, he seems to have found another calling-writing. His second novel, a detective fiction titled Murder in Bollywood, was launched this week by Amitabh Bachchan. The murder mystery was inspired by Hollywood’s Black Dahlia case-where a junior artiste in LA was slashed to death. “It still remains a cold case, though in my novel we get to the bottom of it, thanks to my sleuth, Hoshiyar Khan,’’ says Khan, a big fan of Agatha Christie’s novels
On villains
Interestingly, writing runs in the family. His father was all set to work as a journalist for The Indian Express, when Sholay happened in 1975. Khan -who has penned the screenplay for the film Lakeer and also written a novel on a serial killer, called Shanti Memorial, two years ago-says that he chose Bollywood as his “first backdrop” because he is comfortable with it. With plans to create a series if the book does well, he says, “I want Hoshiyar to solve other cases in Mumbai city later in the series.” The 41-year-old adds that Neeraj Kabi in Byomkesh Bakshi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Badlapur are his favourite villains from the current crop. Khan is also set to pen his directorial debut, and says if his book is turned into a film, he would want to cast Shah Rukh Khan or Saif Ali Khan as the detective.