‘SHORT STORIES GAVE ME A LOT OF FREEDOM’

Manav Kaul, 42, never thought he would write a book. He started jotting down his thoughts on his laptop while writing, acting and directing feature films. It only made it into a book when his friends pointed out that they could be reworked into short stories. Since 2015, Kaul has published a collection of prose, poems, travelogues and reflections called Tumhare Baare Mein, and two short-story collections in Hindi. One of them, Prem Kabootar, has been translated into English as A Night in the Hills. Just don’t expect it to be about him.

Playwright, actor, director and writer. That’s a lot of avatars.

I have a lot of time.

Why short stories?

I used to write plays, which come with the burden of also having to produce and find the audience. But the moment I started writing short stories, it gave me so much freedom. I wrote a story called Sapna, about a woman who says that when she turns 35, she will fly.

What inspired you to take up writing?

My mother, a literature student, introduced me to books like Chandrakanta Santati and Chitralekha when I was growing up. In Bhopal, when I started doing theatre, I heard the names of Russian shortstory writers like Anton Chekhov. Eventually, I wrote my first play, Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane. I realised that this is what I love, what I am.

How much of yourself is reflected in your stories?

My short stories are like taking the left turn, when in real life I took the right turn.

What’s it like to hand over a story for someone to retell in translation?

Given my experience in theatre, I believe that if someone directs my play, it’s his or her interpretation of my idea. That’s why I believe the translated book is Pooja Priyamvada’s work, what she thinks the stories are.