Fantasy fiction as a genre is one of the most unexplored in Indian writing and if good story tellers continue to pay it serious attention, there is no reason why there can't be more celeb young authors like Ashwin Sanghi and Amish. Sanghi's Chanakya Chant, published last year, has sold 1,00,000 copies so far and has opened the door for many more such out-ofthe-box views on our luxuriant history.
Sanghi, who is on a sabbatical in Goa these days writing his next book, says that it was the machinations for seats of power during the formation of UPA II in 2009 that inspired Chanakya's Chant. "The goings-on were so evocative of Chanakya the historical character that this story started brewing in my mind," he says. And if Chanakya can be a hit, then why can't Akbar or some forgotten tale of the rich court lives of the Mughals, or may be the Cholas, or even those closer to us in time than the 3rd century BC architect of the Maurya empire? One of the best books ever written in this genre is The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor, a text that extrapolated the past and the present of the Mahabharata brilliantly.
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