I stand on the shoulders of giants of Indian literature: Anand Neelakanthan

New Delhi, Oct 26 Author, columnist, screenwriter, TV personality and motivational speaker Anand Neelakanthan is perhaps the only Indian writer to present the Ramayana and the Mahabharata from the viewpoint of the vanquished. He has authored seven works of fiction in English and one in Malayalam and two prequels of the hugely successful "Bahubali" movies, with a third one on the way, and has now ventured into the genre of children's books. Through all this, he remains firmly rooted to the ground.

"I may be the only writer to do so in English, but Indian languages have a tradition going on for centuries to write from alternate points of view. India is a land of rebellion, counter thoughts, and non-willingness to accept any form of dogma. Questioning is a part of Indian culture, or it had been until recently.

"The earliest Jain and Buddhist Ramayanas, the works of Bhasa almost two thousand three hundred years ago and folk versions of our epic, all are an example of this diversity of thoughts. I stand on the shoulders of giants of Indian literature and only one among hundreds in this long tradition spanning many centuries," Neelakanthan told in an interview.

"We have printed not even 10 per cent of Indian folk stories and versions of epics. There are countless stories out there, a product of six thousand years of storytelling, and one needs to only develop an ear and an eye for them we breathe stories in India. I do not base my research just on books and the internet. It is from performing arts, folk and classic, temple sculptures, poetry, and localised mythologies," he explained.

Thus, in this scheme of things, it is but natural that has latest book is titled: "The Very Extremely, Most Naughty Asura Tales for Kids"

( With inputs from IANS )