Author Prana Natarajan meets Dance Icon Anita Ratnam
On a pleasant Sunday afternoon, budding author Prana Natarajan had his dream come true when he met Ms. Anita Ratnam at her residence in Chennai. Prana Natarajan is a Chennai-based author, who debuted with his two novels, #MeToo Brutus and Three Halves, in March this year, by Brain Bank Publishing. The books were released by Padmashri Kalaimamani Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti, also an author from the same publishing house.
Nearly six months later, Prana Natarajan managed to establish contact with Ms. Anita Ratnam and had an hour-long chat with her on what inspired him to write, not one but two books.
“Both the novels are highly women-focused. #MeToo is a contemporary women’s fiction that takes inspiration from gripping real stories to start with. It takes a detour from reality and serves justice to victims in ways far from reality. Three Halves on the other hand, is a light-hearted love drama that seemingly opens with a looming love triangle. But suddenly, the twists take the audience by surprise, and leave them in awe when the climax is delivered,” Prana Natarajan told Ms. Ratnam.
“I took great inspiration from your life and interviews for my stories. Both the books highlight the need for women to learn self-defence and how they need to be financially independent. #MeToo Brutus tells the women, ‘you have the power, you are the power’, whereas in Three Halves, the same idea is demonstrated through more than one character. I remember you had mentioned in one of your interviews that a woman is like a banyan tree that embraces and gives emotional support like how the tree gives shade, whereas men are like the peepal tree that focuses only on one-dimensional vertical growth, towards success, wealth creation and wellbeing, and that it was time for a role reversal. My characters live up to your ideas,” he added.
Ms. Anita Ratnam received the copies of the books from author Prana. She encouraged him to write more by presenting him with a notebook. The author is currently working on his third novel, titled Trinity by the Horns.
Brain Bank, the publisher of his two novels, also a T Nagar based firm, has been traditionally working on management and self-help related books. While most of the titles have been in Tamil and focused on management thoughts from different texts such as Vitura Neeti, Aathichoodi etc., the firm decided to launch two titles in contemporary fiction in English to serve a new segment of readers. Brain Bank is likely to release two more titles this November.
The novels #MeToo Brutus and Three Halves are available online on Amazon and in Chennai at Eswar books at Natesan Street, T Nagar and Odyssey in Adyar, Tiruvanmiyur and Coimbatore.
