Thriller as a genre still evolving in India: authors

Thrillers in India remain an underexploited genre of fiction with readers preferring to read books written by familiar authors rather than a new crime fiction, according to Ravi Subramanium, who has penned seven thrillers so far.
"I observed that here people don't want themselves to be called as thriller writers. Thriller is a very small market in a country like ours. It sells less than romance or action novels," Subramanium said.
"Also, in India we don't read thrillers we read authors," said the banker-turned-author who was here to participate in the TimesLit Fest.
He was in conversation with fellow thriller writers Ashwin Sanghi and Mahendra Jakhar.

Sanghi pointed out that crime writing was still in its evolutionary stage in the country.
"Thriller as a genre has been around for a very long time. It's just that we never classified it" said the 'Rozabel Line' author.

According to Jakhar whose debut crime thriller was titled 'Butcher of Benares' the genre is still not considered a form of literature globally.
"Crime writing is not considered a form of literature world over. No crime writer has ever received a Man Booker prize. So somewhere there is a gap and bias toward crime writers" he said.
The author who is penning his next murder mystery said a general perception remained about authors who wrote on crime did so to mainly entertain their readers.

For Sanghi whose books are based on historical,
theological and mythological themes, writing a thriller is more of a craft.
"Writing in general is an art, but thriller writing is a craft. British thriller writer Lee Child said the way to write a thriller is to ask a question at the beginning and answer it by the end," the author said.
Sanghi who has also co-authored a fiction with US novelist James Patterson for his "Private" book series said there was "a new wave of thriller writers who do not write to win prizes, but to mainly excel in the genre."

Despite its seeming success thrillers did not command as much readership compared to genres such as mythology or romance
"I observed that in India, people don't want themselves to be called as thriller writers. Thriller is a very small market in a country like ours. It sells less than romance or action novels," Subramanium said.
The author who has written thrillers about banking and bankers has just brought out his new fiction "The Bestseller She Wrote."
Meanwhile Jakhar said, "Thriller writers are evolving, but the moment writers like Ashwin write books that has religious symbols, people tag them saying 'Oh! He is the new Dan Brown of India.'

"We are given labels. The author has to break through that box. The readers also need to evolve," he said.