After a long journey of 26 cities and 70 releases, across India, the best-seller graphic novel “Ajay to Yogi Adityanath", reached London this week.
It was grandly launched at the iconic Nehru Center of the Indian Embassy in the presence of TNC’s Director Amish Tripathi, author of the book Shantanu Gupta, Overseas Friends of BJP’s Kuldeep Shikhawat and Suresh Mangalagiri.
This book has made many records like Asia Book of Records and Amazon Bestseller.
Before this, the grand launch of “Ajay to Yogi Adityanath” was held in Delhi, Lucknow, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Noida, Greater Noida, Jewar, Jalalabad, Bahraich, Saharanpur, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Sitapur, Prayagraj, Ayodhya, Varanasi.
Noted Author, Shantanu Gupta, who has written two bestseller titles on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, launched his new graphic novel – “Ajay to Yogi Adityanath” for the young readers in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
A Story Behind The Novel
When our team contacted Shantanu, author shared the finer details about his new graphic novel. Gupta told that ‘Ajay to Yogi Adityanath’, is a journey of a young boy Ajay Singh Bisht born in the hinterlands of Uttarakhand with six other siblings.
His father Anand Singh Bisht was a junior forest officer and mother Savitri Devi was a home maker. From childhood, Ajay was fond of taking care of the family cows, listening to stories of freedom fighters and participating in the school debates.
They all lived in a one and a half room house in a remote village name Panchur, in today’s Uttarakhand. From here, Ajay rose to become Mahant of Gorakhnath Mutt, youngest member of the parliament of India and the Chief Minister of the most populated state of India, Uttar Pradesh.
Author added that ‘Ajay to Yogi Adityanath’ is a story of sheer grit, determination and hard work for every student to follow and take inspirational from.
Earlier in June, this graphic novel was launched in 51+ schools of Uttar Pradesh on 5th of June, the 51st birthday of Yogi Adityanath.
Author himself was present at ‘Seth Anandram Jaipuria School’ in Lucknow with hundreds of children along with the education minister Sandeep Singh and other guests. And simultaneously, more than 5,100 children launched the book in 51+ schools across various districts of Uttar Pradesh. This was the first time that a book is launched in multiple locations simultaneously with so many participants, that to children. The launch created an Asia book of records.
What Amish Tripathi Said
Amish Tripathi, who himself is a great writer, said that he has had the opportunity to meet Yogi Adityanath ji many times – and Yogi ji fulfills the vision of India’s Raj-Rishi, that is, a king who lives a life of renunciation.
He said that he himself comes from Kashi, and under the rule of Modi and Yogi, Kashi has seen amazing development. Kuldeep Shikhawat and Suresh Mangalagiri ji presented with figures and facts about the major positive developmental changes that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh in the last few years.
Author told that he is able to narrate this story through the inspirational accounts, he heard and documented during his conversations with various individuals who were a part of Yogi Adityanath’s growing up years.
Shantanu Narrates The Novel’s Journey
For the literature buffs, Shantanu narrated the detailed literary and artistic journey that the graphic novel has gone through in last one year.
First, the author storyboarded all the pages based on his primary research. Along with the dialogues, he suggested the possible layout to the artists. From there on the team of artists and designers Nitesh Kushwaha, Akash Jaiswal and Pallavi Saxena took on.
First the artists did the rough thumbnailing for estimation of the page layout, then they did the meticulous pencil art work – the most important part of the journey, then they inked it, did panelling, added dialogues and then the colours.
Detailed review and rigorous feedback loops were run through for each panel, each page and every dialogue between the team members. To make the book more engaging, book also has many puzzles and games on Yogi Adityanath at the end.
In the past, Shantanu Gupta has written two bestselling titles on Yogi Adityanath – The Monk Who Became Chief Minister and The Monk Who Transformed Uttar Pradesh.
The author will now take the book to the Indian diaspora in different towns of United Kingdom and Europe.