Planning, backstories and trusting narrative instincts

He wrote the definitive history of Indian wrestling. His longform reportage has taken him into strange territories. He embedded himself with the Delhi police and has now come out with his first crime novel. Rudraneil Sengupta joins Amit Varma in episode 429 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about he throws himself into both his life and his work. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rudraneil Sengupta on Instagram, Twitter, Mint and Amazon. 2. The Beast Within -- Rudraneil Sengupta. 3. Enter the Dangal -- Rudraneil Sengupta. 4. The Girl From Haryana -- Amit Varma's feature story on Sakshi Malik (2016). 5. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 6. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. Kind of Blue -- Miles Davis. 9. Wall-E -- Andrew Stanton. 10. The Complete Adventures of Feluda (Volume 1) (Volume 2) -- Satyajit Ray. 11. The Adventures Of Kakababu -- Sunil Gangopadhyay. 12. More Adventures Of Kakababu -- Sunil Gangopadhyay. 13. Sandesh. 14. Paar -- Goutam Ghose. 15. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? -- Philip K Dick. 16. Philip K Dick and Ursula K Le Guin on Amazon. 17. Sandman -- Neil Gaimon. 18. Persepolis -- Marjane Satrapi. 19. The Buddha -- Osamu Tezuka. 20. The Solitary Writer Meets the Impossible Man -- Episode 428 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu). 21. A Man For All Seasons: The Life Of KM Panikkar — Narayani Basu. 22. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 23. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 24. Frank Zappa, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters and Django Reinhardt on Spotify. 25. Satyaki Banerjee and Paban Das Baul on Spotify. 26. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 27. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Stage.in. 29. Tom Waits, Mark Strand and Mary Oliver. 30. The Golden Age of Murder -- Martin Edwards. 31. Roseanna -- Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. 32. Ian Rankin (of Inspector Rebus fame) on Amazon. 33. Six Four -- Hideo Yokoyama. 34. Raag Darbari -- Shrilal Shukla (translated by Gillian Wright). 35. Saans -- Neena Gupta. 36. Anne Tyler on Amazon. 37. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas -- Hunter S Thompson. 38. The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved -- Hunter S Thompson. 39. The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das -- Episode 425 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Meet Suyash Dixit, the man who would be king -- Rudraneil Sengupta. 41. The Autopsy Report -- Rudraneil Sengupta. 42. Court -- Chaitanya Tamhane. 43. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind -- Gustave Le Bon. 44. Invisible Man -- Ralph Ellison. 45. The Is-Ought Problem and the Naturalistic Fallacy. 46. V for Vendetta -- Alan Moore and David Lloyd. 47. Murder in Mahim -- Jerry Pinto. 48. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. Hayao Miyazaki, Satyajit Ray and Martin Beck. 50. Disgrace -- JM Coetzee. 51. Moby Dick -- Herman Melville. 52. Julian Lage and Bill Frisell on Spotify. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit’s newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Also check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Delhi’ by Simahina.