Mythical hero ripe for reinvention

What made him work with mythology after working on a spy thriller? According to Shatrujeet, Vikramaditya is a character “tailor-made for storytelling”. He says, “There are innumerable legends and folktales woven around Vikramaditya. Also, because there is so little known about him, he is ripe for interpretation.”

Shatrujeet adds that while there are many stories about the legend, it is possible that the mythological figure is nothing more than a product of our imagination. He says, “Stories like Vikramaditya and Vetala and the Simhasan Battisi have further added to the aura around this hero.

Yet, he has taken a deep hold on our collective consciousness, and is readily associated with wisdom, virtue and valour. Vikramaditya is someone most Indians are familiar with and yet hardly know at all. This dichotomy excites me.”

Shatrujeet tells us that he wanted to weave a story around Vikramaditya and the nine personalities in his court. At the same time, he was exploring an idea around Halahala. What happened later, he says, is nothing short of a miracle.

“These two ideas co-existed in my mind for more than a year. Then one day, miraculously, it occurred to me to combine the two, and there it was! Vikramaditya had found his story, and the Halahala had found its context. From that point onwards, the entire story just flowed naturally,” says Shatrujeet.

With the structure and flow in place, writing didn’t prove to be a problem for Shatrujeet. He realised that some characters shaped themselves as he wrote. In fact, a character in this book takes the role of an antagonist in his next two books.

“That is one of the beauties of storytelling even the teller never quite knows when he will surprise himself,” states Shatrujeet, who is busy penning his next book which will release next year.