About Bharath Shenoy:
Bharath Shenoy is an avid reader and a passionate storyteller. On weekdays, he is an analyst and tells stories on the technology market, primarily around computing devices. On weekends, he likes to jam with his wife, write fiction stories, direct short films and click photographs. He feels stories can be told in multiple ways be it through music, photographs, videos, or a fiction book. His wife, Divya has been his strength as they share similar interests and often like working together on any creative work.
LiFT: Tell us about your book, the journey of writing it and its content.
Bharath: “Story Behind the Notes” is a music fiction book that tries to touch base upon the reality of “reality shows”. It tries to convey that the glam world isn’t as flashy and rosy as it looks from outside. However, it also gives a message to keep one’s hopes alive and work towards your goal; you will have your day.
The story revolves around 2 friends Deepak and Maddy, final year engineering students who want to pursue their careers in something else and not engineering. While Deepak wants to be a singer, Maddy wants to get into cinematography. One day they bump into a video of Sripathy, an ex-reality show contestant. Maddy also finds out that Sripathy trains young singers in his free time. That’s when they decide to find him and request him to train Deepak. They try to track him and in the process get to hear the stories of his struggles, heartbreaks, and drive towards music.
As a passionate singer myself, with many friends in the entertainment industry, I wanted to write something on the topic. Most of the channels today have one or the other form of reality shows and once the season ends, the contestants’ struggle as a new set of contestants come and get all the limelight. I have been writing short stories for short films but when we had a pandemic in 2020 and India went into lockdown, I decided I will try writing a full-fledged fiction book. It took over 8 months and I had my share of mental blocks. And as I mentioned earlier, my wife was an immense support in helping me out in those tricky situations.
LiFT: Why you chose this title?
Bharath: The book is all about the musical journey of a singer. It highlights the hurdles faced by a reality show singer after getting evicted from the show which isn’t discussed much. Hence the title “Story Behind the Notes” where “Notes” stand for musical notes.
LiFT: When did you realize that you want to be a writer and what’s your inspiration behind it?
Bharath: As a kid, I used to write small stories so writing isn’t entirely new to me. However, in 2017-2018, I and my wife started writing short stories hoping to get them converted to short films someday. We have shot 2 short films while we have at least 6-8 stories ready with us. Shooting a short film gets expensive and the dependency on other people is high. In 2020 when we had total lockdown, I thought why not utilize the time and write something for myself and become an author. That’s when I started writing the book. Always wanted to see my photo on Amazon and today, I do have an author profile!
LiFT: Where do you see yourself ten years down the line in the world of literature?
Bharath: Ten years down the line, I would like to have atleast 6-7 published books with a minimum of 3-4 bestsellers. I would also like to get some of them converted to movies or web series.
LiFT: How much do you think marketing or quality of a book is necessary to promote a particular book and increase its readers?
Bharath: For any book, reaching the right audience is extremely important and to reach the right target group, marketing plays a major role. Marketing can get the author his target audience but only the quality of his story and the way of his storytelling can help him get the next level of promotion i.e. positive word of mouth which is as important as good marketing.
LiFT: What is the message you want to spread among folks with your writings?
Bharath: I know negativity sells and hence we see a lot of negative stories in media. But we have had enough of it now and we are badly in need of some positive stories which can spread hope and bring smiles on the faces of people. Through my books, I would love to spread positivity and try to sell hope because hope sells almost as much as negativity but unfortunately isn’t explored enough.
LiFT: What do you do apart from writing?
Bharath: I work in the market research & consulting domain for a US-based MNC. Other than writing, I also like singing, photography, and traveling.
LiFT: What are the activities you resort to when you face a writer’s block?
Bharath: Listen to music or jam with my wife.
LiFT: What if your story will be adopted as a movie? Whom would you want to work as a director or actors in it?
Bharath: That would be awesome, a dream come true! I would love to have this story being directed by Farhan Akhtar/Zoya Akhtar. I am a big fan of Rock On! and they can bring the magic out of the plot. The main characters in the story include 2 final-year engineering students and a mature singer. I would love to see Ayushmann Khurrana play the role of the mature singer; Ritwik Bhowmik and Siddhant Chaturvedi can be the 2 final-year engineering guys.
LiFT: Are you working on your next book? If yes, please tell us something about it.
Bharath: Yes, I am currently working on my second book. The story revolves around a Goa misadventure. It is in its initial stage and hence can’t open up much on it.
LiFT: What are your suggestions to the budding writers/poets so that they could improve their writing skills?
Bharath: Be as simple as possible with your writing. The focus should be more on the story.
Click here to order Bharath’s Book – Story Behind the Notes
