The Bard of Blood
 First edition | |
| Author | Bilal Siddiqi |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Spy thriller |
| Publisher | Penguin Books and Blue Salt |
Publication date | 2015 |
| Publication place | India |
| Media type | Print (paperback, hardback) |
| Pages | 312 |
| ISBN | 9780143423966 |
The Bard of Blood is a 2015 Indian fictional espionage thriller novel written by debutant author, Bilal Siddiqi.[1] He wrote the novel at the age of 20 during his college days in Mumbai. It was published by Penguin Books.[2]
Plot
[edit]Kabir Anand is a former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent and is now a professor of Shakespeare in Mumbai. He was forced to leave RAW after a disastrous mission in Balochistan. He is called by the agency to return after Sadiq Sheikh, his ex-boss is killed. Meanwhile, Mullah Omar and the ISI are also after him.
Development
[edit]Siddiqi said that he got a "sudden growing interest in the covert world of espionage" at the age of 17 and "the entire talk of jihad and Islamic extremism that plagued every newspaper."[3] He started writing it at the age of 19 and later met Chiki Sarkar, the then Chief Editor of Penguin Books, through Hussain Zaidi whom he had been assisting for a few years. Zaidi had recommended Siddiqui's name to Sarkar. She read the half manuscript and then decided to publish it. It took him "roughly a year" to write the novel.[3]
Adaptation
[edit]In November 2017, it was announced that a Netflix original seven-episode series will be made based on the novel, co-produced by Shah Rukh Khan. The screenplay is written by Siddiqui.[4][5] The cast includes Emraan Hashmi, Vineet Kumar Singh, Kirti Kulhari, Sobhita Dhulipala, Jaideep Ahlawat, Danish Husain, Rajit Kapur and Shishir Sharma .[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "Shah Rukh Khan and Netflix bring Bard of Blood to your screens". Hindustan Times. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
- ^ "The Bard of Blood". Goodreads. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
- ^ a b Siddiqui, Bilal (4 April 2015). "How I wrote a novel at 19 and was published at 20". Scroll.in. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
- ^ Lazarus, Susanna Myrtle (24 November 2017). "From book to screen: on Bilal Siddiqi". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
- ^ Iyengar, Aarti (19 December 2017). "Shah Rukh Khan is producing a Netflix series based on this 23-year-old's book". GQ India. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
- ^ Rao, Soumya (15 October 2018). "Here is a primer on Netflix's 'Bard of the Blood', based on Bilal Siddiqi's novel". Scroll.in. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
