This edited volume by two extremely committed academics is a very timely and desired intervention in debates surrounding Indian Popular Fiction, an area that hasn't got adequate attention from academics. The anthology, covering a wide range of debates to do with readership, neo-liberalism, changing habitus of the popular, popular mythology, Indian reworkings of detective stories, popular genres and their articulation in Indian languages, among several others, raises very important questions and sets the right tone for debates and discussion for readers and academics alike, who wish to engage with Indian popular fiction. Thoroughly incisive and engaging. It makes for a delightful and informative read. - Simi Malhotra, Professor, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

So good to see the writers who capture the imagination of young India and sell at railway station book-stands and red light crossigs finally getting their due! Popular writing portrays the zeitgeist of a nation and a time like no other format can - it records angst, ethos, changing mores and popular culture faithfully - but is often dismissed as mere 'entertainment, entertainment and entertainment.' The writers of this anthology delve deep into the glittering, bauble-filled treasure chest that is Indian Commercial fiction and come up with findings that are both insightful and informative. - Anuja Chauhan, Popular author, advertiser and screenwriter.



This anthology attempts to explore and validate the nuances of Indian popular fiction which has hitherto been hounded by its ubiquitous 'commerical' success by literary pundits. It seeks to uncover its gratifying impulses as well as literary merit, to engage with it both synchronically and diachronically and to contextualise the popular in its socio-political and cultural contexts. Furthermore, it investigates the vitality embedded in theory and praxis of popular forms and their insurrections in mutants and new age oeuvres and looks to examine the symbiotic bonds between the reader and the author, as the latter articulates and perpetuates the needs of the former whose demands need continual fulfilment. This constant metamorphosis of the popular fueled by neoliberalism and postmodernity along with the shifts in the publishing industry to more democratic 'reader' driven genres is taken up here along with the millenial's fetish for romance, humanized mythical retellings and the evergreen whodunnits. As its natural soulmates, the anthology delves into the interstices of Indian Popular with desi traditions, folk lore, community consciousness and nation building.