The entry begins:Readers say that my thriller, The Caretaker would make a great movie.Learn more about the book and author at A.X. Ahmad's website and Facebook page.
It is the first mainstream thriller set in America with an Indian protagonist. It moves between a gray, snowy winter in Martha’s Vineyard, and a backstory set in vibrant India. It features both a love story and an explosive political plot. If you like multicultural, brainy thrillers, with real characters, then this would be the movie for you.
But when my literary agent approached some movie folks, they balked.
“How can there an Indian action hero?” they said. “Indians can be computer programmers or doctors. Even terrorists. But not the star of a thriller.”
Since I’m already doomed, imagining my book as a movie is a purely academic exercise. But what the hell, an Indian can dream, can’t he?
The director of course would be Mira Nair (The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Monsoon Wedding).
Ranjit Singh, the protagonist of my book, was once an elite soldier, but in America he is now essentially a servant. To play this proud, broken man, I’d choose...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: The Caretaker.
Writers Read: A.X. Ahmad.
My Book, The Movie: The Caretaker.
--Marshal Zeringue
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