Durjoy Datta, ‘‘The writer in our ears” 

As a writer, Durjoy Datta wants to tell stories in whatever medium they may be. Datta’s new audiobook The Opposite of Love that released on November 24, breaks away from the oeuvre of romance and slices into the realm of suspense. The audiobook is about the abrasions of trauma and redemption tinged with a sense of revenge.  

Datta was still in college when his first novel Of Course I Love You! was published. Today an author of 22 books, each time the author enters a room he is stormed by his devoted readers. Also a screenwriter for television shows, Datta has a candor that is refreshing, and finds resonance in his ardent audience.  

In a recent interview with MetroPlus, the author took us through his new audiobook The Opposite of Love. Speaking about the title of the book, Datta elaborates, “ The Opposite of Love is about Dheeman and Amal who have nothing in common except a single traumatic incident in the past. What explains the title is that they are poles apart from each other, you don’t expect them to be in love.”  

Dheeman is a travel influencer who has travelled so much that travel has lost all meaning for him. On the other hand, Amal is a college student who has just about enough money to go on her first international trip. Both of them meet at an airport.

Unlike his previous novels, love is not a feeling which reigns supreme but one that plays a small part in a plot where the main characters try to straighten out the past which culminates into a story of suspense.  

Speaking about the intersection of love and technology, the author believes that “The rules of romance still remain the same. Technology has exposed different facets to us that existed before but we had not explored it. The old romance did not have enough challenges.”

The novel is Datta’s third book with Audible. Regarding the fairly new medium, he remarks, “It is a slightly more immersive experience than books because the writer is in your ear and he is telling you the story. It takes a lot of pressure away from a writer to transport a reader to a certain scene.”  

When asked if there were any autobiographical elements lurking behind characters with similar sounding names like Dhiren, Dheeman and Deep (across his other novels), the author chuckled and acknowledged that if characters were given a certain name, the book would usually be a success. “It’s irrational but I can live with that irrationality” he added.

The idea behind the book dawned on him while having a conversation with a friend. “My friend told me that I was very lucky I could travel to all these cities, and that I was very ungrateful about whatever I was getting. That’s when the germ started, that’s when I created the characters and the drama around it. “  

As the conversation came to a close the author said that his identity is linked to his writing. Apologising for speaking in third person, he added, “I cant imagine a Durjoy who is not a writer.“ Although he does wish to be a cricketer or a cricket commentator in an alternate reality.