Anand Neelakantan

Anand Neelakantan is an Indian author, columnist, screenwriter, television personality and motivational speaker. He has authored eight fiction books in English and one in Malayalam. His debut work Asura, The Tale of the Vanquished is based on the Indian epics of Ramayana. His next book series, which includes "Ajaya – Roll of the Dice" and "Ajaya – Rise of Kali" are based on the epic Mahabharata and told from Kaurava perspective. Anand's books voice the suppressed party or the defeated party. His fifth book Vanara, the legend of Baali, Sugreeva and Tara also follow the same pattern of voicing the defeated side.

Anand Neelakantan
Anand Neelakantan
BornThrippunithura, Kerala, India
OccupationNovelist, Screen writer, Public speaker, Columnist, Television personality
NationalityIndian
Alma materGovernment Engineering College, Thrissur
GenreFiction
Notable worksAsura: Tale of the Vanquished
Ajaya: Roll of the Dice
Ajaya: Rise of Kali
The Rise of Sivagami
Vanara: The Legend of Baali
Sugreeva and Tara
Pennramayanam (Malayalam)

Chaturanga; Book 2 of Bahubali series

The Very Extremely Most Naughty Asura Tales For Kids
SpouseAparna Anand
ChildrenAnanya Anand, Abhinav Anand
Website
anandneelakantan.com

Anand Neelakantan also had signed with the producers of Baahubali, the blockbuster film, for a three-book series based on their film and the series will be a prequel to the film. The first book of this trilogy, Rise of Sivagami, was released in March 2017. Netflix has announced a webseries on the book. His books have been translated to different languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali , Gujarati, Assamese and Indonesian Bahasa. The second book in the series, Chaturanga was released on 6 August 2020. The third book in the Trilogy, Queen of Mahishmathi, was released on 28 December 2020.[1]

Anand's debut Children's book, The Very Extremely Most Naughty Asura tales for Kids[2][3] was published on 28 September 2020 by Puffin books.

Anand’s Asura is one of the 100 books to be read in a life time as per Amazon.[4] The book has sold more than half a million copies across the years. Three of Anand Neelakantan’s books have been shortlisted for crossword award during the respective years and he is also listed as one among the 100 top celebrities in India in 2015, 2017 by Forbes India. All his books have got critical accreditation from various people across the world.

Anand Neelakantan's fifth book Vanara,[5] the legend of Baali, Sugreeva and Tara is published by Penguin Random House and is a best seller. DAR films and KR movies have announced that they have won the film adoption rights and will be producing a multilingual film on Vanara.[6][7][8][9]

Anand's Malayalam work Pennramayanam has been published by Mathrubhumi books.[10]

Anand also writes a column for New Indian Express on current affairs and his fortnightly column is called "Acute Angle".[11]

Life and career
Mumbai, 2018

Anand Neelakantan is an alumnus of Government Engineering College, Trichur in Kerala. He has been working with Indian Oil Corporation since 1999. He draws cartoons for Malayalam magazines.[12]

His debut novel Asura: Tale of the Vanquished[13] was published by Leadstart Publishing[14] on 14 May 2012. The book became a surprise bestseller, breaking into the top seller charts within a week of its launch.[15] His second book was based on Mahabharata and was part of a two book series. Ajaya: Roll of the Dice was released in December 2014 and the sequel Ajaya: Rise of Kali was released in July 2015.[16]

Anand Neelakantan's first book in Bahubali series, The Rise of Sivagami,[17] from the Bahubali: Before the Beginning trilogy released on 7 March 2017. SS Rajamouli, the director of the film Baahubali, revealed the cover of the book at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2017. The book became a blockbuster and was shortlisted for Crossword Popular award 2018.

List of works

Mahabharata based Novel Series

Ramayana based works

Bahubali series
  • The Rise of Sivagami: Book 1 of Baahubali - Before the Beginning (Westland) (2017)
  • Chaturanga:Book 2 of Baahubali - Before the Beginning (Westland) (2020)
  • Queen of Mahishmathi (2020 novel):Book 3 of Baahubali - Before the Beginning (Westland) (2020)[19]

Children's books

The Very Extremely Most Naughty Asura tales for Kids[2] (Puffin books) (2020)

Television

Awards and accolades

References
  1. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/anand-neelakantan-announces-final-book-in-the-bahubali-trilogy/articleshow/79936786.cms
  2. "Anand Neelakantan's upcoming book is a tale of Asuras for children - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  3. "Anand Neelakantan pens debut kids' book". The Indian Express. 26 September 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  4. "Amazon.in: 100 books by Indian authors - 100 Books To Read in a Lifetime: Books". amazon.in. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  5. "Anand Neelakantan takes a 'proto-history' approach in his new book, Vanara". telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  6. "Anand Neelakantan's book to be adapted to film". outlookindia.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  7. Scroll Staff. "Film based on Anand Neelakantan's Ramayana spinoff 'Vanara' in the works". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  8. "Anand Neelakantan takes a 'proto-history' approach in his new book, Vanara". telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  9. "Anand Neelakantan's book to be adapted to film - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  10. ശിവാനന്ദ്, അഖില്‍. "സീത, മീനാക്ഷി, ശാന്ത... രാമായണത്തിലെ പെണ്‍കഥാപാത്രങ്ങളെ പുനര്‍വായിക്കുമ്പോള്‍". Mathrubhumi. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  11. "Author". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  12. "More to myth than meets the eye". The Telegraph. 24 January 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  13. "How Anand Neelakantan is giving a new spin to mythological tales - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  14. "Actor Nagarjuna and Amala unveils Ajaya 2, Rise of Kali a book by Anand Neelakantan". Ragalahari. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  15. "'Asura', a bestseller". The Hindu. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  16. "From Duryodhana's perspective". The Hindu. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  17. "The Rise of Sivagami (Bahubali Book #1)" by Anand Neelakantan, Westland Books
  18. "Leadstart Publishing Book Publisher, Distributor and Literary Agent". leadstartcorp.com. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  19. Chaturanga:Book 2 of Baahubali - Before the Beginning (Westland) (2020)
  20. Admin, India Education Diary Bureau (4 June 2017). "Kalinga International Literary Award to Anand Neelakantan, Kalinga Literary Award to Haraprasad Das, KLF2017 to start from June 10". IndiaEducationDiary.in. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  21. "The most remarkable Indian writers of 2012". DNA India. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  22. "Anand's 'Asura' in the race for Crossword prize". The Hindu. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  23. "The Rise of Sivagami | Anand Neelakantan | Book Review". bookgeeks.in. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
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