Amish Tripathy's Literary Blockbuster

Mumbai: For hours on Monday, "Jai Shri Ram" echoed at a crosswords store in Mumbai as author Amish Tripathy launched his latest work, 'The Scion of Ikshvaku'. The retelling of the Ramayana that's being pegged a literary blockbuster is the author's second series after the Shiva Trilogy.

The Shiva Trilogy sold over 20 lakh copies, and 'The Scion of Ikshvaku' is expected to be a five-book series.

The atheist-turned-believer, who has churned out mythologies with a modern twist, says it was an incident at a Literary Fest in December 2013 that prompted him to write the book.

"Someone said something very rude about Lord Ram at the lit fest. That upset me. That's when I decided I was going to write the book", Amish Tripathy told NDTV.

While the writer concedes, he has written the book as a devotee of Lord Rama, when asked if he had been critical of Rama's character, he said, readers must give his interpretation a chance.

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"Ram's life was not easy. Many people are great for society but have had challenges in their personal life", he said.

Close to 300 people were at the book launch and lined up outside the store for hours before the author arrived.

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"If you're a murder mystery kind of a person - there's that, if you're a hopeless romantic like me - there's that, if you're a sci-fi person there is that and philosophy too so there is something for everyone", said Smrutee Shedwaikar of DJ Sanghvi College.

Author and Columnist Anil Dharkar who was also present at the event said, "Amish has done the impossible. He's made religion sexy. It is religion for the 21st century, for the younger generation"

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The Author also held a Q&A session with readers, signed copies of his new book and even clicked selfies with fans.