Ashok Banker
Encyclopedia
Ashok Kumar Banker is a novel
ist and short story
writer
living in Mumbai
, India
. He has written professionally since his early teens, and has worked as a door-to-door surveyor for market research firms, a print journalist
, columnist
, scriptwriter
for television series
and documentaries
, and in advertising
.
, Mumbai, and cover stories for Outlook magazine
, New Delhi.
Banker is a contemporary Indian novelist often counted among the significant literary names in post-colonial
Indian literature His work is the focus of several academic studies for its cross-cultural themes and realistic portrayals of Indian urban issues. He was earlier also known as a reviewer and commentator on contemporary Indian literature
, and as a candid essayist with a particular focus on media hypocrisy in India, and the western racial bias against South Asian writers.
Banker has published in several genres, ranging from contemporary fiction
about urban life
in India to multi-volume mythological
epics
, as well as cross-genre
works. Three of his early novels to be published were crime thrillers, claimed to be the first written by an Indian novelist in English. They gained him widespread attention and still continue to be regarded with critical approval. Most recently, literary critic Zac O'Yeah wrote: "Slimmer and much more hard-boiled are three striking crime novels written by Ashok Banker many years ago. I still remember reading The Iron Bra, a blood-soaked story of a female investigator, Sheila Ray, whose finger rests lightly on the trigger as she defends her family’s reputation and takes on gangsters in a particularly unforgettable shootout. The growing city’s construction sites were a crucial component in the tight plot. Tragically, my own copy is long lost and second-hand copies cost $129 (approx. Rs6,000) plus shipping on an online bookshop, so it looks like it’s high time to have this gem of a crime novel reissued in an omnibus edition along with Banker’s Ten Dead Admen and Murder & Champagne (all three originally published in 1993)."
The stories of his "Devi" series are short works featuring Avatar
s of the Hindu
goddess Devi
, and have appeared in various science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazines.
Three of his novels contain autobiographical
elements and are closely related to one another. His first novel (though the fifth published) Vertigo is about a man struggling to make a successful career and home life in Bombay (the former name of Mumbai). Byculla Boy takes its name from the Byculla suburb of Bombay where he and his mother grew up. Beautiful Ugly and the complementary documentary
of the same title are a tribute to his mother, portraying the tragic events of her life.
He was a prolific literary critic and reviewer, known for his candour and bluntness in reviewing books by Indian authors. His views often veered from the outright derogatory to effusive praise.
He is one of few contemporary Indian authors writing in English to be included in prestigious anthologies such as The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature and The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature.
He wrote a short non-fiction
book about Bollywood
entitled Bollywood: The Pocket Essential (2001).
He is currently best known for his Ramayana Series, a freely imaginative retelling of the ancient Sanskrit epic poem. The series is ranked at No.1 on the "Internet Book List".
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist and short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
living in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He has written professionally since his early teens, and has worked as a door-to-door surveyor for market research firms, a print journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
, scriptwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
for television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
and documentaries
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, and in advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
.
Career
Ashok Banker worked as a successful freelance journalist and columnist for several years, breaking front-page news for publications such as The Times of IndiaThe Times of India
The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
, Mumbai, and cover stories for Outlook magazine
Outlook (magazine)
Outlook is one of India's four top-selling English weekly newsmagazines. Like many other Indian magazines, it is reluctant to reveal its circulation, but the 2007 National Readership Survey suggested 1.5 million copies...
, New Delhi.
Banker is a contemporary Indian novelist often counted among the significant literary names in post-colonial
History of the Republic of India
The history of the Republic of India began on 26 January 1950. The country became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth 15 August 1947. George VI was King until the Republic was proclaimed in 1950. Concurrently the Muslim-majority northwest and east of British India was separated...
Indian literature His work is the focus of several academic studies for its cross-cultural themes and realistic portrayals of Indian urban issues. He was earlier also known as a reviewer and commentator on contemporary Indian literature
Indian literature
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognized languages....
, and as a candid essayist with a particular focus on media hypocrisy in India, and the western racial bias against South Asian writers.
Banker has published in several genres, ranging from contemporary fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
about urban life
Urban culture
Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. In the United States, Urban culture may also sometimes be used as a euphemistic reference to contemporary African American culture.- African American culture :...
in India to multi-volume mythological
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
epics
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
, as well as cross-genre
Cross-genre
A cross-genre is a genre in fiction that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres.-Examples:*Action comedy *Comedy-drama or dramedy *Comedy-horror...
works. Three of his early novels to be published were crime thrillers, claimed to be the first written by an Indian novelist in English. They gained him widespread attention and still continue to be regarded with critical approval. Most recently, literary critic Zac O'Yeah wrote: "Slimmer and much more hard-boiled are three striking crime novels written by Ashok Banker many years ago. I still remember reading The Iron Bra, a blood-soaked story of a female investigator, Sheila Ray, whose finger rests lightly on the trigger as she defends her family’s reputation and takes on gangsters in a particularly unforgettable shootout. The growing city’s construction sites were a crucial component in the tight plot. Tragically, my own copy is long lost and second-hand copies cost $129 (approx. Rs6,000) plus shipping on an online bookshop, so it looks like it’s high time to have this gem of a crime novel reissued in an omnibus edition along with Banker’s Ten Dead Admen and Murder & Champagne (all three originally published in 1993)."
The stories of his "Devi" series are short works featuring Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
s of the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
goddess Devi
Devi
Devī is the Sanskrit word for Goddess, used mostly in Hinduism, its related masculine term is deva. Devi is synonymous with Shakti, the female aspect of the divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents...
, and have appeared in various science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazines.
Three of his novels contain autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
elements and are closely related to one another. His first novel (though the fifth published) Vertigo is about a man struggling to make a successful career and home life in Bombay (the former name of Mumbai). Byculla Boy takes its name from the Byculla suburb of Bombay where he and his mother grew up. Beautiful Ugly and the complementary documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
of the same title are a tribute to his mother, portraying the tragic events of her life.
He was a prolific literary critic and reviewer, known for his candour and bluntness in reviewing books by Indian authors. His views often veered from the outright derogatory to effusive praise.
He is one of few contemporary Indian authors writing in English to be included in prestigious anthologies such as The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature and The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature.
He wrote a short non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book about Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
entitled Bollywood: The Pocket Essential (2001).
He is currently best known for his Ramayana Series, a freely imaginative retelling of the ancient Sanskrit epic poem. The series is ranked at No.1 on the "Internet Book List".
The Ramayana series
- Prince of AyodhyaPrince of AyodhyaPrince of Ayodhya is the first installment of a six-part series of books written by Ashok K. Banker, which chronicles the events of the Ramayana in a modern retelling of the Indian epic...
(2003) - Siege of Mithila (2003)
- Demons of ChitrakutDemons of ChitrakutDemons of Chitrakut is the third novel in a six-part series of books written by Ashok Banker, which chronicles the events of the Ramayana in a modern retelling of the Indian epic...
(2004) - Armies of Hanuman (2005)
- Bridge of RamaBridge of RamaBridge of Rama is the fifth installment of a six-part series of novels written by Ashok Banker, which chronicles the events of the Ramayana in a modern retelling of the Indian epic...
(2005) - King of AyodhyaKing of AyodhyaKing of Ayodhya is the sixth and final installment of a six-part series of books written by Ashok Banker, which chronicles the events of the Ramayana in a modern retelling of the Indian epic...
(2006) - Vengeance of Ravana (2011)
Collected as omnibus volumes
- Prince of Dharma (2007)
- Prince in Exile (2007)
- Prince at War (2007)
Other works
- A Mouthful of SkyA Mouthful of SkyA Mouthful of Sky was the first serial in English to be produced in India. Aired on the state-owned Doordarshan TV channel and based on the script by Ashok Banker, the serial deals with the lives, loves, ideals and aspirations of the post-independence generation of Indians, people in their...
-TV Series created and written by Banker (1995–96) - Bad Karma Online serial (first published on Top Write Corner website) (1998)
- Brandwarriors Magazine series published in The Advertising Brief, now defunct ad magazine published by Mid-day Group (1999)
- Bombay Times (2000) (a.k.a. "Swing City") Revised and expanded book-length novel originally published as an online serial on Rediff.com
- Vortal (2000–01) Multimedia serial published in CD-Rom magazine "Mahazine"