Rise of the Fallen-Book I, By Abhishek Krishnan: Man+Bhagwaan=Manwaan

Man is man and God is God, and never the twain shall meet! Wrong. Man and God (called Bhagwaan, usually spelt Bhagwan) fuse into one entity, in Abhishek Krishnan’s imagination, and become ManWaan, a mythological fantasy. The book was released on Sunday, 17 December, at the bookstore, creatively and punnily named Title Waves, situated within the St. Paul’s complex in Bandra, Mumbai. Famed film-maker Hansal Mehta did the honours of releasing the book, and an audience of media personalities, including actor compère Viraf Patell and writer, short film-maker, Saba Mumtaz seemed to receive the launch with great enthusiasm. Since it carries ‘BOOK-1’ in its nomenclature, one is to expect Part II, and maybe more parts. Will these parts, in themselves, be greater than the whole? Only time will tell.

Published by NU VOICE Press, distributed by Simon and Schuster, India, and priced at Rs. 299, the novel re-tells the age-old story of good v/s evil, in contemporary Mumbai. The Gateway of Hell (obviously inspired by the real-life Gateway of India, built by the British colonials in Mumbai, centuries ago, and a major tourist attraction), has been opened by Sataan (usually spelt Satan in English and Shaitaan in Hindustani) and his allies, the Underworld Clan. Asuras and Rakshasas (evil, supernatural creatures, finding place in Hindu mythology), descend on Earth, targeting Mumbai first, and their great revolt against the Hindu Gods begins. Asuras and Suras define evil and good, respectively. At the centre of it all is a Mumbai-based advertising copywriter named Rinad, who is, basically, an ordinary mortal, involved in an eternal family feud. But one fine day, he discovers that he is a manwaan, and must rise to the occasion.

Ever since Doordarshan, India’s state-owned TV channel, and the only channel in India at that time, the late 80s) commissioned Ramanand Sagar to make a serial on Ramayan, and B.R. Chopra was offered to do the Mahabharata, the two most popular Hindu narrative of the India of several thousand years ago, there has been a spate of films on stories based either directly, or indirectly, on these revered tomes. Both enjoyed record viewership and ran for years. There were re-runs and spin-offs too, with variable merit and popularity. In fact, there was a similar event at the same venue, organised the team of Ramayan, where some of the cast and crew had a reunion, and a book was launched by the Sagar family (Ramanand Sagar is no more) the cast and crew, more than three decades after the first telecast.

Abhishek Krishnan is an actor, writer, storyteller, director, and founder of Misfits Motion, Pictures and the Misfits Co. He is currently working as the creative business and growth strategist, in a big media production house.

As an actor, some of his work includes Yash Raj Films’ Prithviraj, two-time Oscar winner Claude Lelouch’s Un + Une, Netflix’s Trial by Fire and Feels like Ishq, the title role in Gandhi- the Musical among others. His last film as a writer, director titled Green Room: Thehrav, won the audience award at the Cannes short film Festival, in 2021.

Author Kevin Missal, of The Kalki series, and CEO of Hubhawks, moderated the discussion and a Q and A session that followed the discussion. A catholic, Missal is fascinated by Hindu mythological epics and writes a lot about subjects drawn from them. Abhishek used the long Covid period, when there was no media activity, to churn out Rise of the Fallen. Incidentally, Abhishek himself had contracted Covid. He is engaged to Pallak Shah. Hansal Mehta is the  man who is making Faraaz. This action thriller is based on the Holey Artisan cafe attack that shook Bangladesh, in July 2016. She was present on the occasion. Sales of the book, in paperback and containing 312 pages with a very handy character list at the end, autographed by the handsome author, Abhishek, began immediately after the event, auguring well for the prospects of its sales.

Here is an excerpt of the book.