People don't just want a mindless flick with a superstar; they want to connect more deeply.

- Vikas Swarup

I am not into the unrealistic realm of magic realism where birds talk.

- Vikas Swarup

I am very interested in human-interest stories emerging from modern India. I get my inspiration and daily dose by reading the 'Hindustan Times.'

- Vikas Swarup

My first novel was a challenge to myself. No one had an inkling that I was working on it.

- Vikas Swarup

The first thing you have to understand is that I was not desperate to be a writer. I was never a closet writer filing away notes in a cupboard.

- Vikas Swarup

The writer's is an interior world, a world of the mind.

- Vikas Swarup

For me, the day job comes first. That's why I call myself a diplomat who writes, not a writer who masquerades as a diplomat. If the day job demands it, I won't write at all. I write in what I call 'the crevices of my day job', and that comes only on weekends.

- Vikas Swarup

I get invited to many more literary festivals than I used to because I'm associated with 'Slumdog Millionaire,' the brand. Many more doors have opened up for me as a result of the global success of the film, although I believe that I'm the same person that existed before it.

- Vikas Swarup

Global terror does not respect national boundaries.

- Vikas Swarup

Writing is a very lonely occupation. To write you need to concentrate, to concentrate you need to lock yourself away. No distractions; you want your stream of thought uninterrupted.

- Vikas Swarup

I don't look at myself as a writer; I am a storyteller.

- Vikas Swarup

I need to meet people to be able to write.

- Vikas Swarup

I'm the opposite of those writers who believe that my work is sacrosanct and cannot be touched.

- Vikas Swarup

Indian writers have appropriated English as an Indian language, and that gives a certain freshness to the way we write.

- Vikas Swarup

Sometimes street knowledge can be as important as book knowledge.

- Vikas Swarup

All I can say is that I am not one of those writers who want 100% of their book in the film. I recognize that film is a different medium and the filmmaker must have the right to bring some new elements to the table, provided the soul of the book is preserved.

- Vikas Swarup

I write fast. But it takes me a while to get going. It's very important for me to see my whole plot. I have to see the end first because I like a surprise in the end. Which is why I let characters and plot gestate in my mind.

- Vikas Swarup

It is in the genes of cities to bounce back from disasters - whether natural or man made. The denizens of suburbia have no choice but to survive and move on. But it is the manner in which different cities respond to emergencies that sets them apart.

- Vikas Swarup

I want to show that the underdog can win. I believe we're all the same: you, a slum girl, my mother.

- Vikas Swarup

I am neither a Bengali nor am I from Delhi's St Stephen's. I am an Allahabad boy.

- Vikas Swarup