ashokbanker.com

V is for Vertigo

Whoever said hype sells? I didn’t. In fact, I actually used to write a weekly column in a Bombay daily called ‘Cut The Hype’. In which I used to yank the dhoti off anyone who aspired to celebdom for even a minute. I still snook a finger at the media and the Page 3 culture – which, if you ask me, is spilling over into the headlines so often these days, it should be called the Page 1 culture (more about that in a future post) – and the finger I snook at those media mavens is not a thumb!

So when my 1993 novel Vertigo was re-released in January 2005, I wanted to see how it would fare sans interviews, launches, public appearances, etc. So, for the past three months, I haven’t said a word in the press about the novel, haven’t agreed to any interviews, even turned down offers to launch the book with some fanfare at a major bookstore chain.

And I went on with my life, my writing as usual. I was quite prepared to see the novel take a nosedive and vanish from existence. It should, logically, since it has absolutely nothing in common with my other bestsellers, the Ramayana series, is in fact a 13-year old novel republished, and doesn’t have any newsworthy ‘angle’ to render it worth reporting. As I expected, the media didn’t take notice of it at all, as far as they were concerned, it might as well have not existed. I liked that. Because it left serious readers free to make up their own minds.

And they did.

As of last week, Vertigo was No. 1 on the Bangalore bestseller lists. And No. 8 on the Delhi bestseller lists, ahead of even the most-promoted novel of the moment by another Indian author. And if I know anything about bestseller lists, it’s just begun its ride.

Now, I really don’t give a rat’s hair whether it sells a thousand copies or ten thousand, rides the lists for a week or six months (as it did when it was first published in 1993). Whether it gets rave reviews or pans across the board. What I’m proud about is the fact that a novel like this, with absolutely nothing to hype it up, could get noticed, bought, and liked by readers – the reviews coming in from them confirm this last beyond doubt – in an age where hype is believed to rule the roost.

So much for hype.

Hoorah for real readers, and good books.

V is for Vertigo. And for the triumph of good sense over media hype.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 14th, 2005 at 9:26 am. It is filed under Ashok. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.