Frontlist News | Anand Neelakantan's new book in 'Baahubali Trilogy' to release in August

Frontlist News | Anand Neelakantan's new book in 'Baahubali Trilogy' to release in August
on Jul 30, 2020

Here's some good news for Anand Neelakantan's fans! Neelakantan wrote 'The Rise of Sivagami', the first book in the prequel to the hit movie 'Baahubali', in 2017 and now the author has penned the second book in the 'Baahubali Trilogy' which will be released in August 2020. The second book in the 'Baahubali Trilogy' is titled 'Chaturanga'. The upcoming book's cover was recently launched by Bollywood actress Sonali Bendre Behl in her digital book club followed by an interaction with the author. Unveiling the book cover, Behl posted on her book club's official social media page, Happy to be unveiling the 2nd book in the #BahubaliBookSeries by Anand Neelakantan! #Chaturanga . Sharing details about 'Chaturanga' and the book title, Neelakantan said, Chaturanga is a game which was played in ancient India. The game has two things-- skill/planning i.e. you need to think how the opponents are thinking, the second is the roll of the dice. The game reflects life and has elements of luck-- we don't know what will come next but a good Chaturanga player will move their pieces accordingly. The book is titled 'Chaturanga' because the world in which the story is set is a very tough world. 'Baahubali' was set in the medieval world, which is approximately 800-900 AD. It was tough for women to come to the top then. But unlike 'Baahubali' (the movies), the heroine of my books is Sivagami. The story has ruthlessness, elements of love, and multiple players... It is the story of the rise of an ordinary woman as the queen of Mahishmathi. Talking about his interactions with 'Baahubali' director SS Rajamouli and what made him choose to write about a woman character in the prequel books, the author revealed, When Rajamouli sir asked me which character would I pick for the prequel, I had answered that there are only two characters who can come into a novel. One was Kattappa, who killed Baahubali, and the other is Sivagami, who loved Baahubali yet ordered him to get him killed... I chose to write about Sivagami in the books since I've been fascinated by powerful women characters from history. Neelakantan shared that the third book in the 'Baahubali Trilogy' is also ready and it should be released soon. Meanwhile, the author has also finished writing two children's books. Book two in the popular 'Baahubali Trilogy', titled 'Chaturanga' by Anand Neelakantan will be published by Westland.