Vishwa Maurya is an independent filmmaker by profession. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and has moved on to become a film director. He began his career in the film industry with a Star Plus show and had worked with many big names in the industry. He now runs a Delhi-based video production company under the name, ‘Mauryan Dynasty Films’, whose clients comprise many reputed brands. He loves to write, and has recently come out with his debut book Week of Silence.

I chat with him about his book Week of Silence, how the book came to be, book recommendations, and much more.

Hello! Tell us a bit about yourself!

I was born and brought up in a small town, came to the capital city for graduation, and ended up in the film industry. Coming from a family that has been in politics for more than 60 years, this was an offbeat feat. I would say, my life has been a roller coaster ride so far, and I have gained a lot of knowledge thorough personal-professional experiences, most importantly from the bad ones. And after having worked for almost a decade for many reputed film production companies and being a part of films, TV serials, ads, documentaries, music videos, and corporate films for private as well as government institutions, I now run my own film production company under the name, ‘Mauryan Dynasty Films’. I love filmmaking and writing. These two are my passions as well as my profession. Also I like spending time alone, travelling alone, and I love animals.

If you could only describe your book ‘Week of Silence’ in five words, what would they be?

Attraction (Dilkashi), Attachment (Uns), Love (Mohabbat), Trust (Akidat), Worship (Ibadat).

These are the five words out of seven words, or seven stages of love, that I have mentioned in my book. I should thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk about them, because in my book I failed to acknowledge that these seven stages of love were talked about by Naseeruddin Shah sir in the 2014 film Dedh Ishqiya. These seven stages of love are an integral part of my book.

Now tell us a little more about the book! What can readers expect?

As I have mentioned in the book, though my book is a work of fiction and completely imaginative, yet the elements, characters, forms, spaces, and incidents are all inspired by the people and stories that we come across in our day to day life. Week of Silence is about an American white boy, Norman and an Ethiopian brown girl, Jessica who meet each other in Delhi. Their short ephemeral tale starts on a Saturday and ends on the next Saturday, but in the weekdays in between, that’s where the magic, the miracle, the love, the sacrifice, and the beginning of the end happens. This story will make the readers shiver to the bone as for Norman and Jessica, a week of silence is like a century of a mélange of all kinds of feelings that a boy and a girl of this new world face every day. It’s like a silent scream that they all want each other to hear but just can’t, because they just can’t.

What was the moment when the idea of the book first came to be? What made you pursue it?

We all have gone through a bad time, and recently so did I. My worst year so far was 2017 and from that worse time, this good thing took birth. The idea for this book was, what if there are things that you want to say but you can’t, and things that you want to hear but they are not said. There are countless people around us who speak less, people who are introvert, and people who are reserved. Many of these people want to express themselves, yet they fail to do this and end up ruining what was supposed to last forever. Norman and Jessica are just like those people, who want to say a lot, want to express a lot, but they can’t, and I have used ‘maunvrat’, a fast of silence, as a tool to further the narrative. So, the idea of my book is that of a silent scream that can be heard even when no words are spoken. And what made me pursue it? I would say, why not become the voice of the voiceless.

Can you tell us your creative process behind the characterizations of the protagonists Jessica and Norman?

Well, Norman and Jessica are those two people whom we come across in the metro station, whom we see sipping tea in the cafe, crossing the road beside us, sitting in front of us in the local train. They are ordinary and normal people, but there’s a storm running inside of them. They are going through their worst, which others don’t know about, but they look calm from the outside. When readers will get to know Jessica and Norman through my book, they will see themselves in them. So, their characterizations came easily to me as I felt that I have known them all my life. But still, I had to do a lot of research, building their characteristics and personality that should sound foreign to us, as they are from America and Ethiopia, two countries I have never been to. I have friends from both these countries, and they helped me in my research. But it was tough still, because when I started penning down the characters, my natural, cultural and geographical conscience used to take over me, making them look more like natives. It was a little tough, but fun.

As a debut author, were there any authors or works which influenced your writing style?

Yes. There have been a few authors who inspired and influenced me. To name a few, I would say, Robert Newton Peck, Erich Segal and Paulo Coelho. To be honest, there would be many paragraphs, words, and phrases in the book where I am going to sound just like them. No matter how hard you try to avoid, but you end up doing things just like your heroes.

Is there a scene, element, or character you really enjoyed creating and writing?

I would say that I enjoyed the whole process of writing this book, enjoyed every bit of it, word to word, line to line, page to page. And if I have to anyhow mention it, I would say that I had a different experience when I wrote the past of Norman and Jessica. I am glad it came out beautifully.  

Lastly, are you currently reading anything and do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

Currently I am reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. I am halfway done and hurrying down to complete it as the TV series Shantaram starring Charlie Hunnam, one of my favourite actors, will premiere on October 14^th. I want to finish the novel before the series is released. So I would recommend this book to the readers.

The book ‘Week of Silence’ is available online and at your nearest bookstore.