Tale of a man-turned-animal

The author of ‘From Man to Maneater’, Sumanth Madimsetty speaks about his novel, what drove him to write it and his idea of fiction

Storyteller Sumanth Madimsetty is unperturbed and composed. After the launch of his first book ‘From Man to Maneater’ on Tuesday, Sumanth is enjoying the ease after letting off the creative twinge.

The book was, of course, released earlier on internet. About his book Sumanth says, “Vishvamitra, a married and successful IT professional, working in the US, returns to India in search of love and passion -in search of that mysterious and elusive excitement-thadka! Through an extraordinary turn, he became a criminal. The book is about a man who became an animal.

I am trying to portray how a regular guy who can be one of us turns completely different and becomes a criminal. The whole book is about the transformation from ‘man to man eater’. The cover of the book is pretty much to show some kind of half man and half tiger. He is a regular man but criminality he becomes an animal.”

Sumanth believes that nowadays people want to read fiction more than any other books. He says, “People are no more interested in reading life stories unless it’s a famous person’s biography. And most important is fiction, and so it should have some sense. So, I try to put everything in one book - a little bit of suspense, action, sex, love, passion and a lot of drama.”

What made him to write a book? “One day I narrated this story to my younger brothers, they said the story was so interesting and why didn’t I write a book? It would be a good experience and you might get good responses from the readers, they said. And I came up with my book. Hope readers may like the book,” shares Sumanth.

What is more important plot or character? “The characters with no plot make no story. If you need to have a story, then character is most important. For me plot and characters both are equal. From my perspective the story is showing how the characters grow based on the experience of the book? There should be plot which drives them to new understanding and development.”

“It took almost one year to write this book. And it took me another year to edit it. Readers can go online and read first 40 pages from Amazon for free. My book is all about entertainment. I don’t want to give any message from it. I just want people to read my story. It is fun to read. It has action, drama and I am really not giving anybody any message.”

By Heena Mishra