Mumbai-based young author, Yash Pawaskar’s maiden book ‘When We Clicked’ is a witty, humorous and entertaining love story. I caught up with this versatile personality and wanted to understand whether he is the same persona behind his story’s awesome protagonist ‘Akhil Parlekar’.
To begin with Yash tell me, are you Akhil Parlekar?
Yes, I am Akhil Parlekar. I am also Tamanna, Filmy and other characters in the story. In Harry Potter lingo, all these characters are my horcruxes, all the characters have a part of me in them. I got to explore a range of emotions in this story and I am glad that the readers have enjoyed reading about them as much I enjoyed writing about them. To answer your question directly, there are a lot of similarities between me and Akhil.
What made you to write this story? How much of the story was real?
The story is titled ‘When We Clicked – A twisted Love Story?”. The twist made me write the story in the first place. It gave me the confidence to start working on the entire concept and as and when I started envisioning Akhil’s 
world, I knew that this was innovative, witty and something that I would love to read.
To answer the second part of your question, I would like to again make a Harry Potter reference and quote Albus Dumbledore, “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?”
I may say that this book was kind of a ‘Hinglish’ one, as you have written lots of poems in Hindi, was it intentional?
Yes, it was intentional. The poems take the story forward and the hindi/urdu language captured those emotions beautifully. I thought these poems would lose their essence if they were translated in English. The story also features poems in English and I have kept them in English because they did justice to the emotions of the character. I have kept the poems in the language that came naturally to me at that moment.
I enjoyed sassy banters between Akhil and Tamanna. Was the character based on real person known to you?
No yaar, I am yet to find my Tamanna. The name Tamanna in English means a wish or desire and that is what Tamanna is for Akhil, his dream girl. Although her character has traits of a lot of people I know but no the character was not based on a real person.
Please tell us more about the interesting theory on Mahatma Gandhi’s principles explained in your book?
Mahatma, that’s the problem. People have distanced Gandhiji from themselves by putting him on a pedestal and naming him Mahatma, so that when the time comes to apply his principles, they have the excuse of saying that how can we apply those principles we are common people, Gandhiji followed those principles because he was a Mahatma. What they don’t understand is he became a Mahatma by following those principles.
It speaks about the hypocritical nature of the society you and I are a part of. Everyone has a maha atma in them, all they got to do is awaken it, believe in goodness, think positive and practice what they preach.
We found some new words in the book like ‘smirying’ – so now tell me what kind of feedbacks you have been receiving for your innovative concepts and the book.
People have welcomed these innovations. Be it new words, the stand-up comedy/bloggish sections, the poems, Akhil’s dreams, witty dialogues, philosophical conversations and the ending, the readers have loved it. I am thankful to them for accepting these new concepts.
The end was different and somehow seems to be influenced by Bollywood. Are there any plans afoot to make a film out of this book?
Hindi movies have had a huge influence on me. In fact, I would go on to say that the entire book has a Filmy tone to it and a lot of readers have told me that the story is apt for a film.
However, unlike writing a story, film making is a team effort and a lot of things have to fall in place for things to materialize. If I find a good team, then surely I would like to take this story to a wider audience in the form of a movie.
The filmy style you adapted to introduce each chapter through ‘Lights-Camera-Action’ was quite new. Where did you get this idea?
I wanted to provide absolute clarity to the readers while the story moved forward and the Lights, Camera, Action theme allowed me the freedom to do that. The book starts with an unofficial disclaimer that conveys how the audience should approach the story to enjoy it thoroughly. The idea came from setting up the story perfectly for it to unfold in an immersive manner.
Tell us a bit about yourself to our readers.
I am just a common man with uncommon traits, a traveler enjoying the twists and turns that come my way. Like the protagonist of my story, I am in my early twenties and exploring the world. I love stories, be it in the form of books, movies or TV shows.
Sachin Tendulkar is my God, J.K. Rowling is my teacher, Farhan Akhtar is my idol and I want to meet Christopher Nolan to just listen him talk about storytelling.
Does writing come naturally to you?
I would like to believe so. From my school days I was upbeat about creative writing and always looked forward to writing essays, stories during Hindi, Marathi and English exams. Later, I started writing about my trips with friends that led to writing a diary.
Now, I have my own blog, work as a creative content writer and have written a book. Although I have an MBA degree I don’t have any formal education in writing, I believe it comes to me naturally.
Please do tell us something about your future plans. What other books of fiction are in the pipeline?
Writing ‘When We Clicked’ has been a fantastic experience and I would love to be in a similar head space again. My future plans include writing more stories and I am sub consciously working on it.
Although writing itself is the product of a lone mind, still who would you like to thank for their support?
I would start of by thanking my parents for always supporting me. I used to bounce a lot of ideas off Dr. Kaushik Anadkat and ‘When We Clicked’ wouldn’t have been what it is without him. I used to seek constant feedback from my brother Ashray Pawaskar, sisters’ Priti Jain and Priyanka Bhagat, and friend Riddhish Chhaya, I would like to thank them for their valuable inputs and support. Thanks to Leadstart Publishing, my book is available online on Flipkart, Amazon, Infibeam etc. and select stores across India.
Any message to the readers…
I would like to thank all my readers for accepting me and my story. To those who haven’t read ‘When We Clicked’ yet, I would say that, go for it if you believe in love, are young at heart and want to read a fresh, innovative, humorous and a twisted love story.
Thank you Yash! It was indeed a pleasure to talk to you. I hope to continue our conversation sometime soon. I wish you all the very best for your future endeavors. You can connect with Yash on facebook at Yash Pawaskar – Writer.
Details of When We Clicked:-
| Author: | Yash Pawaskar | ||
| Publisher: | Leadstart Publishing | Year of Publication: | 2014 |
| ISBN-13: | 9789383562909 | ISBN-10: | 9383562900 |
| Cover: | Paperback | No of Page: | 225 |
| MRP: | Rs. 145 | Buy From: | Flipkart.com Infibeam.com Amazon.in  |
(Interview taken by Susmita Bose)
Tags: When we clicked Yash Pawaskar Yash Pawaskar inteview
