Hindi bestsellers list includes Modi's book among 40 others

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Exam Warriors" and author Amish Tripathi's "Sita", among others, have made it to the translated bestsellers' category of the quarterly-updated "Dainik Jagran Nielsen Bookscan Bestseller" list.

Containing Hindi bestsellers in "fiction", "non-fiction", "translation" and newly-added "poetry" category, the updated list was released by Rajya Sabha MP and classical danseuse Sonal Mansingh and Dainik Jagran's Senior Vice President Basant Rathore at the Vivanta hotel here.

Tagged as the first of its kind Hindi bestsellers list, it factors in 125 book retailers in 55 cities, with 18 new cities added in the April-June quarter.

Other titles under the "translation" category include "Lakshmi Prasad Ki Amar Dastan" by actor-writer Twinkle Khanna, "Rajesh Khanna: Ek Tanha Sitara" by author Chintamani Gautam and "Narendra Modi: Ek Rajneetik Katha" by journalist Kingshuk Nag.

Two more books -- "Vayuputron Ki Shapath" and " Nagaon Ke Rahasya" by Amish Tripathi find space in the translated bestsellers' category, along with those by Ashok Banker, Devdutt Pattanaik, and Novoneel Chakraborty.

In the "poetry" category -- added for the first time as a separate category -- noted lyricists Gulzar's "Pluto" and Javed Akhtar's "Laava" bagged the top two spots.

Actor-scriptwriter Piyush Mishra's "Kuchh Ishq Kiya Kuchh Kaam Kiya" and lyricist Swanand Kirkire's "Aapkamai" also featured in the top 10 bestselling poetry books, along with titles by Vimlesh Tripathi, Gautam Rajrishi, Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, Geet Chaturvedi, Astha Arora, and Rahat Indori.

A biography of bachelors who leave their homes for cities like Delhi, "Bakar Puran", by Ajeet Bharti tops the "non-fiction" list, with other bestselling authors in the same category being Yatindra Mishra, Anuradha Beniwal, Pradeep Choubey, Ravikanth, Mukesh Bhardwaj, Narendra Kohli, Vivek Agarwal, Ajay Sodani and Vedpratap Vaidik.

In the "fiction" category, Satya Vyas's "Dilli Darbar" -- a tale of love and struggle in Delhi -- has been listed as the top bestseller. Another title "Banaras Talkies" by Vyas was listed fifth.

Hindi books by authors Kshama Sharma, Anmol Bhagwan, Surender Mohan Pathak, Kshitiz Roy, Gaurav Solanki, Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, Sahitya Sagar Pandey and Pankaj Dubey also made it to the "fiction" bestselling list.

"I hope Hindi flourishes exponentially. A lot more needs to be done to promote Hindi in southern states and the northeast. We must continue the good work of taking Hindi to every corner of India," Mansingh said at the release.

The list includes those books whose first version was published on and after January 1, 2012, a statement by the organisers said.

--IANS

sj/vd