Anand Neelakantan Wiki, Age, Family, Biography & More

Anand Neelakantan is an Indian author, columnist, screenwriter, cartoonist, and public speaker. Anand Neelakantan has written more than thirteen novels. He is famous for using the technique of narrating tales from the viewpoint of the villains or other minor characters in his work. Some of his prominent works are Vanara: The Legend of Baali, Sugreeva and Tara (2018), Pennramayanam (Malayalam) (2019), Valmiki’s Women (2021), Ajaya: Roll of the Dice (2013), Ajaya: Rise of Kali (2015), and The Rise of Sivagami (2017).

Wiki/Biography

Anand Neelakantan was born on Wednesday, 5 December 1973 (age 50 years; as of 2023) in Thripoonithura, a village on the outskirts of Cochin in Kerala, India. His zodiac sign is Sagittarius. From 1986 to 1989, Anand Neelakantan went to F. A. C. T. Township High School, Kochi, Kerala. He graduated in 1996 with a four-year BTech degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Government Engineering College in Trichur, Kerala. In 2009, he did a one-year course in Petroleum management at the Indian School of Petroleum & Energy, Dehradoon. From 1999 until 2022, he was employed with Indian Oil Corporation before resigning to pursue an active writing career.

Family

Parents & Siblings

Anand Neelakantan’s father was L. Neelakantan. In his memory, Anand Neelakantan painted his portrait himself. There is not much information about his mother and siblings.

Wife & Children

He is married to Aparna Anand and they have two children, Ananya Anand and Abhinav Anand. They have a pet dog, Jacky.

Signature/Autograph

Career

Anand Neelakantan is known for his humorous lectures and extensive understanding of Indian mythology and history. He has participated as a panel speaker in various literary fests like The Jaipur Literature Festival, the Mumbai Literature Festival, and the Bhubaneswar Literature Festival. For periodicals in Malayalam, he creates cartoons as well. He has been contributing to the New Indian Express’s column ‘Acute Angle’ current affairs section since 2017.

Novels

Anand Neelakantan is known as a prominent mythological fiction writer. He has authored twelve books in English and one in the Malayalam language. His debut novel Asura: Tale of the Vanquished ^{was published by Leadstart Publishing. The book became a bestseller within a week of its launch. His second book, Ajaya: Roll of the Dice, was based on Mahabharata and is told from the perspective of Kaurava and Ajaya: Rise of Kali is the sequel. The authorized prequel novels for the Baahubali film series were written by Anand Neelakantan.}

Ramayana Series

• Asura: Tale of the Vanquished (2012)

• Shanta: The Story of Rama’s Sister (2017)

• Ravana’s Sister: Meenakshi (2018)

• Vanara: The Legend of Baali, Sugreeva and Tara (2018)

• Pennramayanam (Malayalam) (2019)

• Valmiki’s Women (2021)

Mahabharata Series

• Ajaya: Roll of the Dice (2013)

• Ajaya: Rise of Kali (2015)

• Nala Damyanti: An Eternal Tale from the Mahabharata (2023)

Bahubali Series

• The Rise of Sivagami (2017)

• Queen of Mahishmathi (2020)

Children’s Book Series

• The Very Extremely Most Naughty Asura Tales for Kids (Puffin Books) (2020)

• The Tale of the Naughty Flying Mountains (A Puffin Chapter Book) (2023)

Audio Book Series

• Many Ramayanas, Many Lessons, Audible.com (2021)

• Nala’s Damayanti, Storytel.com (2021)

Television

Anand Neelakantan has also written screenplays for popular television series in Hindi on various GEC and OTT platforms.

• Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat (Colors TV)

• Sankatmochan Mahabali Hanuman (Sony TV)

• Sarfarosh – Battle of Saragarhi (Netflix)

• Taj: Divided By Blood (Zee 5)

Awards, Honours, Achievements

• In 2017, Anand Neelakantan was awarded the Kalinga International Literary Award at the Kalinga Literary Festival, Bhubaneswar. It was based on the theme ‘Literature for Peace and Harmony’.

• Best Fiction Award for Vanara, Gurgaon Literary Festival 2019

• His first book Asura: Tale of the Vanquished was shortlisted for the Crossword Popular Award in 2013.

• Anand Neelakantan’s second book, Ajaya: Roll of the Dice was shortlisted for the Crossword Popular Award in 2014.

• Anand Neelakantan’s book The Rise of Sivagami was shortlisted for the Crossword Popular Award in 2018. It also received accolades from top Indian book reviewers.

• Anand Neelakantan was awarded the Lit-O-Fest Literature Legend Award in 2017.

Facts/Trivia

• Anand Neelakantan has performed in two commercials and has played the antagonist Ettappa Naicker in the Doordarshan television series Swaraj.

• Languages other than English that Anand Neelakantan’s novels have been translated into include Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Indonesian, Assamese, and Kannada.

• Anand Neelakantan’s famous novel Asura: Tale of the Vanquished (2012) was featured in the list of 100 books by Indian authors to read in a lifetime by Amazon Books editors. Over the years, more than a million copies of the book have been sold. In 2015 and 2017, he was nominated as one of the ‘100 top celebrities in India’ by Forbes India.

• The Rise of Sivagami’s cover was unveiled by S. S. Rajamouli, the Bahubali series’ director, in 2017 at the Jaipur Literature Festival. A web series based on the novel The Rise of Sivagami has recently been announced by Netflix.

• A multilingual film about Vanara will be made by DAR Films and KR Movies after winning the film adoption rights.

• On March 14, 2022, Storytel released Nala’s Damayanti, Anand’s debut audio drama. Nine Indian languages have versions of the audio play.