Author and filmmaker Pankaj Dubey launched his second novel, ‘Ishqiyapa’,
at Career Point Institute and Maharishi Arvind College, Kota. He also held
interactive sessions with the students of these institutes. Ishqiyapa is a love
story based on the changing conduct of youngsters during the period from the
post-globalization era to today’s digital age. It was launched in Mumbai
earlier this month.

When asked why he chose Kota for a launch, Dubey stated that Kota is a centre
where students from across the country arrive to study for their engineering
& medical entrance exams. This made it an important location for reaching
out to readers. ‘Even though my readers are not confined to Kota, students are
key readers for me as they refresh themselves from their tiring study schedules
through reading such books,’ he said. Pramod Maheshwari, Chairman and Executive
Officer of Career Point Group said that young authors like Dubey are idols for
the coaching city of Kota while Director of Maharishi Arvind Group, Sanjay
Parashar, said that book reading can develop student’s intellect and lead to their
brain development.

Originally from Jharkhand, 37 year old Dubey has also made two short
films, and also has worked as a screenplay supervisor for Hindi films ‘Ghanchakkar’
& ‘Chauranga’. Dubey told PaGaLGuY that his debut novel, ‘What a Loser’
(English) / ‘Loser Kahin Ka’ (Hindi) was a bestseller, published by Penguin
Publishers, who have published his current novel too. A story of an identity
crisis of a youngster coming from a small town to a metro to fulfil his father’s
dream, Dubey also plans to make a film based on his first novel. ‘I would
probably be the first filmmaker in the history of Indian cinema to make a film
based on his own novel, as usually filmmakers make films based on novels of other
authors’, he claimed. ‘I want to reach out to not only the literate who read my
books, but also to those who have a right to get entertained through the medium
of cinema,’ he said.