The Bard of Blood

The Bard of Blood
First edition
AuthorBilal Siddiqi
LanguageEnglish
GenreSpy thriller
PublisherPenguin Books and Blue Salt
Publication date
2015
Publication placeIndia
Media typePrint (paperback, hardback)
Pages312
ISBN9780143423966

The Bard of Blood is a 2015 Indian fictional espionage thriller novel written by debutant author, Bilal Siddiqi.[1] He wrote the novel at the age of 20 during his college days in Mumbai. It was published by Penguin Books.[2]

Plot

Kabir Anand is a former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent and is now a professor of Shakespeare in Mumbai. He was forced to leave RAW after a disastrous mission in Balochistan. He is called by the agency to return after Sadiq Sheikh, his ex-boss is killed. Meanwhile, Mullah Omar and the ISI are also after him.

Development

Siddiqi said that he got a "sudden growing interest in the covert world of espionage" at the age of 17 and "the entire talk of jihad and Islamic extremism that plagued every newspaper."[3] He started writing it at the age of 19 and later met Chiki Sarkar, the then Chief Editor of Penguin Books, through Hussain Zaidi whom he had been assisting for a few years. Zaidi had recommended Siddiqui's name to Sarkar. She read the half manuscript and then decided to publish it. It took him "roughly a year" to write the novel.[3]

Adaptation

Main article: Bard of Blood

In November 2017, it was announced that a Netflix original seven-episode series will be made based on the novel, co-produced by Shah Rukh Khan. The screenplay is written by Siddiqui.[4][5] The cast includes Emraan Hashmi, Vineet Kumar Singh, Kirti Kulhari, Sobhita Dhulipala, Jaideep Ahlawat, Danish Husain, Rajit Kapur and Shishir Sharma .[6]

References

  1. ^ "Shah Rukh Khan and Netflix bring Bard of Blood to your screens". Hindustan Times. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  2. ^ "The Bard of Blood". Goodreads. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  3. ^ a b Siddiqui, Bilal (4 April 2015). "How I wrote a novel at 19 and was published at 20". Scroll.in. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  4. ^ Lazarus, Susanna Myrtle (24 November 2017). "From book to screen: on Bilal Siddiqi". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  5. ^ Iyengar, Aarti (19 December 2017). "Shah Rukh Khan is producing a Netflix series based on this 23-year-old's book". GQ India. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  6. ^ Rao, Soumya (15 October 2018). "Here is a primer on Netflix's 'Bard of the Blood', based on Bilal Siddiqi's novel". Scroll.in. Retrieved 19 October 2018.