But the wooing period with the readers gets into an overdrive as his 900-page novel gets ready to reach new readers through at least 15 language translations lined up. “It’s nice to see its lead characters like inspector Sartaj Singh and don Gaitonde, who in spite of springing from a particular socio-cultural context can still evoke sympathy in readers from far-off places,” says Chandra, pausing to add that the more specific a character is to a time and place, paradoxically the more universal it becomes. “Some of Dickens’ characters for instance have nothing to do with a reader like me and yet when I read his books, that person becomes entirely alive to me. That’s the beauty of epics, which even after centuries find a human voice speaking to us here.”

Chandra is quite keen on the book’s Hindi and Marathi versions. Perhaps those could get a reaction from the bhais whose world he has so colourfully portrayed in his book. “While one of the most interesting reactions was from a police inspector from another part of the country who emailed me that he could see the truth in my work of fiction, nobody from the underworld has called yet,” he chuckles, “I don’t imagine they are big novel readers, so unless it is translated into their language or somebody from the press brings their attention…”

Maybe they would get to know if it’s turned into a film. “My brother-in-law (Vidhu Vinod Chopra) keeps teasing me that you only write for an audience in thousands while my films are watched by millions,” says Chandra. The book’s first two readers, Chandra’s wife Melanie and his agent, had reacted saying that “it was great movie material”, he had never been quite sold to the idea for the sheer volume and characters in his book. “But watching Atul Kulkarni as Gaitonde at the enactment of excerpts from the book at the Crossword Book Awards was great fun. Atul too could make a lively Gaitonde.” The “too” is because Chandra’s first choice for the role is Aamir Khan “and that’s as far as I have gone with the casting”, he says. “And though a lot of talk is happening, but as it happens in the film world, you cannot be sure of anything till the first shot is canned.”

... contd.