Book 1 of the BAAHUBALI Trilogy
The author of thought-provoking best-sellers, Anand Neelakantan, launched his new book THE RISE OF SIVAGAMI, a prequel to the blockbuster movie BAAHUBALI, at Starmark, Express Avenue Mall in Chennai. He also released the Tamil version of the book simultaneously.
The first book in the trilogy, The Rise of Sivagami tells the tale of the kingdom of Mahishmathi, revealing the childhood and history of Sivagami, the queen of Mahishmathi, and introduces us to the royal slave Kattappa.
Contrary to the assumptions, the book is not an adaptation to the movie but in fact, lays the foundation for the epic that Baahubali movie series is.
The Rise of Sivagami is essentially a prequel to S.S. Rajamouli’s blockbuster film BAAHUBALI: THE BEGINNING and set to create in the history of Indian publishing. Forty new characters and a self-devised vocabulary inspired from Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit find their way into Neelakantan’s historical fiction. Fans of the character Baahubali can take solace in the fact that the seeds of Kattapa’s reasons behind killing Baahubali are sown in this narrative.
Commenting on his research and writing the book, author Anand Neelakantan said, ‘Long before Baahubali, there was Sivagami. So even though the film is on Baahubali, but the backstory could not be any other hero other than Sivagami…the story is her journey that these three books will be dealing with. Another strong character is Kattapa; he gives colour to the book and is a very modern character.’
Story Synopsis
When five-year-old Sivagami witnesses her father being branded a traitor and executed by the maharaja of Mahishmathi, she vows to one day destroy the kingdom. At seventeen, she recovers a manuscript from her crumbling ancestral mansion. Written in a strange language called Paisachi, the manuscript contains a secret that may redeem her father or condemn him further. Meanwhile, Kattappa, a proud and idealistic young slave who blindly believes in his duty, finds himself in the service of a spoilt prince. Alongside, he must try and keep his brother, who resents their social position and yearns for freedom, out of trouble.
As Sivagami tries to unravel the secret of the manuscript, she finds that the empire of Mahishmathi is teeming with conspirators, palace intrigues, corrupt officials and revolutionaries. An ambitious nobleman will do anything for power and money. A secret group of warriors under the leadership of a seventy-year-old woman is determined to stop the slave trade. A forest tribe, deeply resentful of having been driven away from their holy mountain three hundred years ago, is preparing to wage war against the king. The Rise of Sivagami is released nationally, and the Hindi and Telugu translations of the book will be released in April in time with the release of the sequel film, Baahubali 2 – The Conclusion.
Having released 4 books since 2012, Anand has sold over a million copies including his regional translations, international language editions and his Malayalam books. With sales like these he finds place amongst the Top 3-fiction writers in India with a far more diversified portfolio than any of his peers. From creative consulting to television scripting to screenwriting for movies and even lecturing in the haloed halls of India’s best institutes and corporates – Anand is a multi-faceted and ebullient personality with his feet firmly planted to the ground.
