Every artist undresses his subject, whether human or still life. It is his business to find essences in surfaces, and what more attractive and challenging surface than the skin around a soul?

Every artist undresses his subject, whether human or still life. It is his business to find essences in surfaces, and what more attractive and challenging surface than the skin around a soul?

'Divergent,' directed by Neil Burger, displayed an admirable seriousness and some grim verve in laying out the boundaries of novelist Veronica Roth's dystopia - six segregated but ostensibly harmonious regions defined by their inhabitants' skills.

'Divergent,' directed by Neil Burger, displayed an admirable seriousness and some grim verve in laying out the boundaries of novelist Veronica Roth's dystopia - six segregated but ostensibly harmonious regions defined by their inhabitants' skills.

It's nice that established and emerging stars agree to appear in ambitious low-budget films. Such pro-bono work gives the movie a higher profile and the actors a potentially more distinguished resume.

It's nice that established and emerging stars agree to appear in ambitious low-budget films. Such pro-bono work gives the movie a higher profile and the actors a potentially more distinguished resume.

In fiction, if people like one of your books, they tend to pick up your other books as well.

When you write, you put your thoughts in the public space. You get both positive and negative feedback.

A thriller needs to hold the interest of the reader from the very beginning. It needs to engage with them, hold them in rapt attention, and prevent them from putting down the book.

I firmly believe that there is no better thriller writer than Harlan Coben.

The first draft is usually junk. You have to work on it seven to eight times.

I enjoy writing and promoting my books. I enjoy the feedback. But all this is because I don't depend on it commercially. I don't need that money. I have a career.

I'm probably one of the few authors in this country who could very comfortably live off my writing.

To make time for writing, one has to take time out from somewhere. Obviously, a fair amount of time that you spend with the family gets compromised. But my family has been very understanding and supportive.

One can become drab, dull, and boring doing the same thing every day. Writing helps break the monotony.

I find writing to be a great stress-buster.

In Indian companies, people aren't too worried about the pace of growth as long as you're setting up a business which will survive for years.

I've always wanted to write, but coming from a small-town background - I was born and brought up in Ludhiana - you think you're not the kind of literary person who will write books that will sell. There was always a kind of defensiveness in me.

It is almost impossible to win back a reader's loyalty once it's gone.

I had, at a point in time, decided not to write on the corporate world. But if people expect me to set stories in a work environment, then why go away from it?

Books should be both enlightening and entertaining.

If I did not have a de-stresser such as writing novels, I would lose focus at work.

In India, we don't read thrillers; we read authors.

If evil wins in a Bollywood film, it is bound to flop. A lot of people here want to change society, so they like to read about it being changed. And that means good usually triumphs.