New Delhi: A 2019 mythological fiction book completely reimagines Narasimha, the lion avatar of Vishnu. The story begins with the God feeling perplexed and helpless. “I have a bad feeling about today,” he says to himself, wondering if it’s the weather that’s bothering him. He was once a soldier and now is a village physician who steers clear of meat, wine and music. This reimagination of one of Vishnu’s most ferocious avatars was written by Kevin Missal, a Protestant Christian.
“I think the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the most advanced texts out there. Hindu myths have scope for teachings that people can learn more about,” Missal says.
Going to Christian schools and stumbling through churches on alternate Sundays all his life — this young man from Delhi was not familiar with these texts growing up. Ironically, his introduction to them took place within the brick walls of Delhi’s renowned St Stephen’s College. By then, Missal had already been writing for six years but it hadn’t brought him the acclaim he thought it would.
He recalls how his parents pushed him to write one more book before giving up and exploring new paths. That book was his breakout novel — Dharmayoddha Kalki: Avatar of Vishnu — released in 2017.
Missal imagines the yet-to-appear avatar of Vishnu as Kalki Hari, a farmer. The book, which was on multiple bestseller lists, follows the tale of a man who learns he has a divine mission to cleanse the world he lives in. The Kalki trilogy is Missal’s attempt at an “Indian Star Wars saga”.
Readers praise his visual writing style. “It’s almost like watching a movie,” says businessman Jay Gada. His favourite chapter from the book is when Kalki fights Kali. “While Kalki stands alone, the other avatars of Vishnu come and help him in a glorious manner,” But the book wasn’t an instant success. Missal approached Bahrisons Booksellers in Khan Market to stock his books. But Anuj Bahri, the owner, closed the door on him.
But a week later, he rang up Missal and asked him if they could collaborate and bring the book out to the public. “I said to him, ‘People are heading to my store and asking us if we have this book. So I think it’s time to put it out there’,” Bahri recalls.
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From Greek to Hindu mythology
Before Hindu mythology, Missal was fascinated by Greek and Norse mythology. His interest in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series at the age of 14, the release of the grand spectacle of a movie, Baahubali, and getting embroiled in the Star Wars and Game of Thrones sagas, as a young boy, have all influenced his writing style today.
He published his first book, Damien Black: The Battle of Lost Ages, in 2011 at age 15. Based on Greek mythology, the book was launched by then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
Missal recalls how his friends made fun of him when the book came out saying it was badly written. But he kept at it.
It was during his college years, that Kevin became enamoured by Hindu Gods and Goddesses and began to recognise the life lessons of the Hindu epics. This drew him to write more about the same.
Missal’s college batchmates suggest that he wasn’t very popular — his work was always more “backstage”. He was a part of St. Stephen’s photo society, debating society and Shakespeare society. While he was involved in films and plays, he never acted or performed. Nobody saw it coming when Missal started writing about mythological fiction.
After Kalki, Missal has written 12 more books — most of them feature Hindu mythological giants like Karna, Narasimha, Prahlada, and Yama.
At first glance, the book covers — with mighty warriors holding arrows and swords in front of red and orange-hued backgrounds — are similar to Amish Tripathi, another author in the Hindu mythology genre. But Bahri, who is also the CEO of Red Ink Literary Agency, noted that the similarities end there.
“You cannot just become a good writer by copying Amish Tripathi’s work. One has to suck the reader into the story and Kevin is good at that because his research is so strong. Not only because he wants to write, but because he loves these Gods,” he says. Like Bahri, Vineet Bajpai, author and founder-CEO of Talentrack, was also dismissive of Missal when they first met.
“I was confused, wondering who this young person is who has written something so complex without a background or any sense of context. I wasn’t too sure about him and thought this was going to be his first and last book. But today, I am utterly amazed at all the work he has done,” he says.
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Growing up Christian
Kevin’s proximity to Hinduism was far different than writers in the space such as Amish Tripathi or Anand Neelakantan.
“It doesn’t matter that Kevin is a Christian because I think he understands the Gods that he writes about, far better than the priests in our temples,” says Bahri.
But it has taken him some more effort than the others to get here.
“During an interview with Kevin after the release of his book Narasimha: The Mahaavatar Trilogy Book 1, I asked him about Holika’s death in the book. Kevin replied saying that I had given away the plot to the audience. Confused, I told him that everyone already knew that. He didn’t realise that this was common knowledge,” says Mansi Dhanraj Shetty, Missal’s marketing agent at Penguin Random House India.
While Missal considers himself agnostic, he grew up in a religious household. He says his parents support him wholeheartedly but his religious mother often questions why he doesn’t write anything about Jesus.
“It won’t sell in this country,” he blatantly tells her.
While Missal has received flak for the way his characters are shaped, he hasn’t been called out on his religious identity.
“So far, no one has called out on me for being a Christian and writing about these topics. I’ve even met members of political parties and they have been kind to me. Probably because they haven’t read my books in the first place,” Missal laughs.
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Niche characters
Missal’s strength lies in humanising the Gods that he writes about. He capitalises on this by seeking out niche characters, especially from the Puranas that are not usually written about, and exploring their stories in unique ways.
Karna: The King of Anga, follows the figure from Mahabharata. In Missal’s version of the story, Karna has been betrayed, stripped of his birthright, ostracised by society, and left by the woman he loved. The book follows his journey to re-establishing himself as a great warrior.
The cover page reflects the reimagined take. He looks dejected and tired much unlike the fierce Karna in most other visual depictions including the Mahabharata TV series.
This careful selection of characters and their treatment is something his readers appreciate.
“I think it’s better that he steers clear of the most obvious characters from the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. He brings out certain character arcs that we were not aware of,” says YouTuber and podcaster Manjula Chuahan.
She notes that his depiction of Narasimha as a negatively-shaded protagonist makes him appear more natural, which is only possible because Missal departs from the way he is stereotypically portrayed — as an all-knowing, perfect God.
Manjula’s journey into Missal’s world began in 2018. She bought two of his books after seeing them on the shelves at an airport store. She has read almost every one of his books.
“What I love about his work is that his perspective is fresh and he does not shy away from experimenting,” she says.
Missal’s newest project is a book about Krishna. Although a ‘mainstream’ God, the approach, he says is fresh. It will highlight a depressive period in Krishna’s life after the complete slaughter of his clan and the submersion of the city of Dwarka.
“As a Christian writer, this one perhaps will attract some controversy,” says Missal.
Reimagining a dying space
Mythological fiction took off dramatically after Amish released The Immortals of Meluha in 2010. Then came Ashwin Sanghi and Christopher C Doyle.
But the genre has quickly become saturated. Today, mythological fiction books need an edge to survive.
“People don’t read to entertain themselves anymore. They have OTT and Instagram Reels for that. Soon enough, that too will be replaced by Virtual Reality Goggles as they hang out in the metaverse,” says Missal.
Bahri too thinks the genre is nearing its shelf life, and has four more years to survive, at best.
But Missal’s complex storytelling continues to stand out and make a mark.
“Over time, there has been a great degree of interpretation and re-interpretation of Hindu mythology in books. But the same characters keep cropping up. What writers like Kevin and I do, is that we keep the backdrop mythological but create new worlds around it. That way, the readers get the joy of bumping into what they know but also encounter something fresh,” says Bajpai.
Missal’s Yama follows this formula. It places the Hindu God of death and justice in present-day Delhi as a “mad killer”.
The book revolves around an emotionally disturbed psychotherapist, who one day gets a call from the God of Death. Along with a CBI inspector, the two then chase him across the streets of Delhi.
Alongside his writing, Missal also runs HubHawks, a creative marketing agency for writers, which he launched two years ago. In February this year, the author also launched his own publishing company called Nu Voice Press.
His day consists of meeting authors, ideating and strategising for them in Gurgaon’s Cyber Hub, and other locations. He also keeps busy speaking at various literature festivals, colleges and schools.
Missal has also been invited on TV, he was part of a discussion on the upcoming Bollywood movie Adipurush on CNN-News 18.
“I was writing for two months a year and didn’t know what to do with the rest of my time. I was diagnosed with panic disorder because I felt unfulfilled, so I became an entrepreneur,” he says.
But writing remains his passion and his ideas are never-ending. “For a future book, I was thinking about having Agatha Christie help Ashwatthama, a Hindu God from the Mahabharata to search for a Rakshasa in the 1900s. But there are still some challenges with that plot,” he says.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)