4 - Vikas Swarup: Writing India in Global Time

Summary

Vikas Swarup is an extraordinarily successful writer. His first book, Q & A (2005), received a number of awards, including the Boeke Prize in South Africa (2006) and the Prix Grand Public at the Paris Book Fair (2007), sold well in the popular market across the world and has so far been translated into 34 languages (though it has sold translation rights in 42 languages). It was distinguished by being nominated for ‘Most Influential Book of the Year’ in 2008 by Kingstone Bookstore, the biggest chain in Taiwan. Its success skyrocketed when it was made into a British film by Danny Boyle with the title Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which was widely acclaimed by critics, received eight Oscars in the US, was hugely successful across the globe (except in India, until the Oscars) and assured Swarup's marketability. Following the triumph of the film, Q & A was reissued as Slumdog Millionaire, though the title – created by Simon Beaufoy for his award-winning screenplay – was much reviled in India and is significantly different from the book. Under this title, the book won the Heathrow Travel Product Award in 2009. Swarup's second book, Six Suspects (2008) was immediately picked up for film rights and is being produced by Paul Raphael's Starfield Productions under BBC Films and being scripted by John Hodge, who wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave (1994) and Trainspotting (1996).