page_title: Ashok Banker
section_title: Crime fiction
hierarchical_section_title: Ashok Banker / Career / Crime fiction
caption_attribution_description: English: L to R: Vrinda Nabar, Ashwin Sanghi, Bishaka Datta, Ashok Banker
context_page_description: Ashok Kumar Banker is an author and screenwriter. His writing spans crime thrillers, essays, literary criticism, fiction and mythological retellings. The author of several well-received novels including a trilogy billed as "India's first crime novels in English", he became widely known for his retellings of Indian mythological epics, starting with the internationally acclaimed and best-selling eight-volume Ramayana Series, which has been credited with the resurgence of mythology in Indian publishing. The New York Times credited him with making mythology the most successful category in Indian publishing, describing his work as being "better written than many books in the genre that have followed – introduced the Ramayana to a new generation of readers." His books have sold over 2 million copies and have been published in 16 languages in 58 countries. His Epic India Library is an attempt to retell all the myths, legends and itihasa of the Indian sub-continent in one massive story cycle comprising over 70 volumes, "an epic library of India". He is frequently nominated and shortlisted as one of India's top thinkers and celebrities.
context_section_description: Banker has published in several genres, ranging from contemporary fiction about urban life in India to multi-volume mythological epics, as well as cross-genre works. Three of his early novels to be published were crime thrillers, claimed to be the first written by an Indian novelist in English. They gained him widespread attention and still continue to be regarded with critical approval. Most recently, literary critic Zac O'Yeah wrote: "Slimmer and much more hard-boiled are three striking crime novels written by Ashok Banker many years ago. I still remember reading The Iron Bra, a blood-soaked story of a female investigator, Sheila Ray, whose finger rests lightly on the trigger as she defends her family’s reputation and takes on gangsters in a particularly unforgettable shootout. The growing city’s construction sites were a crucial component in the tight plot. Tragically, my own copy is long lost and second-hand copies cost $129 (approx. Rs6,000) plus shipping on an online bookshop, so it looks like it’s high time to have this gem of a crime novel reissued in an omnibus edition along with Banker’s Ten Dead Admen and Murder & Champagne (all three originally published in 1993)." His Kali Rising is a contemporary radical feminist thriller series featuring only women protagonists. The first book, Blood Red Sari, was launched at the Tata Literature Live! literary festival in Mumbai in November 2012.
caption: Banker (far right) at a panel discussion in November 2012
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 3GS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.6.4", "Image DateTime": "2012:11:01 08:44:22", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.4.9", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "244", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "720", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4851", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/15", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:10:31 17:29:38", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:10:31 17:29:38", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "3711/949", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4281/1441", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Average", "EXIF Flash": "No flash function", "EXIF FocalLength": "77/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1023, 767, 614, 614]", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft"}