"It is a series for young adults," says Krishnamoorthi
about ‘The Summer of Cool’, the first of the four-book Swapnalok Society series, which will be launched on January 31.
"The inspiration has been mainly that I wanted to write and wanted to write about things I know. The characters are based largely on my own growing years in a co-operative housing society in downtown Mumbai, and the language I picked up from hearing my daughter and her friends speak," Krishnamoorthi told reporters in an interview.
Refusing to call ‘The Summer of Cool’ a children's book, she says it is more for "young adults and the child that exists in every one of us".
She is a bit nervous too. "It's my first attempt so I have been quite nervous about what the response would be," she says.
Krishnamoorthi, who began her acting career with the television series ‘Chunauti’, made her mark in the role of 'Anna' in the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’.
She also acted in some other movies like ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’, ‘My Wife's Murder’ and ‘Vaade Iraade’.
Simultaneously she forayed into singing and came up with pop albums ‘Dole Dole’, ‘Dum Tara’, ‘Aha’ and ‘Zindagi’.
On her plans to venture into singing again, she says, "Yes sometime in the near future. I am a classically trained vocalist and music is a part of my blood. It's just a matter of time before it flows again."
Krishnamoorthi, who describes herself as an artist who sings, paints, writes and acts, says she will love to act again if offered some serious 'art-type' roles.
Will the next three books of "Swapnalok Society" have an interpretation of the post-26/11 scenario of Mumbai?
"Well I'm not sure of that. 26/11 is something that has wounded us all deeply but unless it fitted into a narrative or a story I wouldn't write about it as it would seem forced. Besides I want my books to be happy. But the second book in the Swapnalok Society is based on the media so who knows?"She says she has the series to complete and so "that's going to keep me occupied considerably".
The idea of writing began just over a year ago, when Krishnamoorthi says she decided to take a break after being exhausted from non-stop painting and 13 back to back solo and group art exhibitions
"The Summer of Cool" is a story of a young girl Chitrangana Varma desperately looking for her father and is set in a co-operative housing society in downtown Mumbai called Swapnalok Co-operative Housing Society.
"I found myself being plunged into this magical make believe world inside my head called Swapnalok Society. With all the chaos, the schizophrenia, the love, the eccentricities, the highs and lows of the people that lived there.
I couldn't stop. I worked into the nights sleeping an average of two to three hours. The characters started talking to me, telling me their secrets, their stories, their loves, their longings. I tapped into the rich reservoir of my own growing up years and soon the line between the real and the fiction started to blend," she says.
