''Serious Men'' is a 2010 drama fiction novel written by journalist

Manu Joseph Manu Joseph (born 22 July 1974) is an Indian journalist and writer. He is the former editor of ''Open'' magazine. Life and career Manu was born in Kottayam, Kerala, and grew up in Chennai. His father Joseph Madapally is a film maker who directe ...

. The story follows Ayyan Mani, a middle-aged Dalit working as an assistant to a Brahmin astronomer at the Institute of Theory and Research in Mumbai. He lives in a slum with his wife and a son. Furious at his situation in life, Ayyan develops an outrageous story that his 10-year-old son is a mathematical genius – a lie which later gets out of control. It won the inaugural

The Hindu Literary Prize ''The Hindu'' Literary Prize or ''The Hindu'' Best Fiction Award, established in 2010, is an Indian literary award sponsored by ''The Hindu Literary Review'' which is part of the newspaper ''The Hindu''. It recognizes Indian works in English and ...

and the 2011

PEN Open Book Award PEN/Open Book (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing i ...

. It was also shortlisted for

Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to writer ...

and

Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize is the United Kingdom's first literary award for comic literature. Established in 2000 and named in honour of P. G. Wodehouse, past winners include Paul Torday in 2007 with ''Salmon Fishing in the Yemen'' an ...

Development

Joseph said that Indian English writers "usually take a very sympathetic and compassionate view of the poor, and I find that fake and condescending." He felt that the poor in India are "increasingly very empowered, and the time has come when the novel can portray them in a more realistic way."

Reception

Tobin Hershaw of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called the novel "smart and funny". Peter Carty of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' felt that the novel "elegantly describes collisions with an unyielding status quo, ably counterpointing the frustrations of the powerless with the unfulfilling realities of power." Bhavana Sharma of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote: "Manu Joseph's novel hammers in the hopelessness, boredom and desperate ambitions of suburban Dalit community in Bombay, and he weaves an interesting and funny satire on the academia of science, love and revenge." Nick Rennison of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' called it a "bitter, comic novel". Further saying that the novel "skewers a society where new ambitions and older class divisions co-exist."

Adaptions

''Serious Men'' has been adapted into a play by Nikhila Kesavan in Chennai. In September 2017, it was announced that

Sudhir Mishra Sudhir Mishra (born 22 January 1959) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for directing the films ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'', ''Dharavi (film), Dharavi'' and ''Chameli (film), Chameli''. Mishra has had a 30-year career, with his ...

will be adapting the novel into a feature film with Bhavesh Mandalia writing the screenplay. In 2018,

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

announced that it will be backing the screen adaptation by Mishra. The eponymous film directed by Mishra and starring

Nawazuddin Siddiqui Nawazuddin Siddiqui (; born 19 May 1974) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Siddiqui's feature film debut was alongside director Prashant Bhargava in ''Patang'' (2012). He ga ...

, playing the role of Ayyan Mani opposite actress

Indira Tiwari Indira Tiwari is an Indian actress. She appeared in the Hindi-language films '' Aarakshan'' (2011), ''Nazarband'' (2020), ''Serious Men'' (2020), and ''Gangubai Kathiawadi'' (2022). Career Tiwari began her acting career by portraying a student ...

was produced by Bombay Fables and Cineraas Entertainment. It premiered on Netflix on 2 October, 2020.

References

{{reflist

External links

Serious Men
at

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2010 Indian novels Indian fiction Indian English-language novels Satirical novels Indian novels adapted into films Indian novels adapted into plays 2010 debut novels