An Exclusive Interview with Ananya Mukherjee; Acclaimed Author & Award-Winning Corporate Communications Leader

Ananya Mukherjee, a former Business Journalist is an acclaimed writer with more than 1000 publications to her credit. Before moving to Singapore as the Editor of HRM Asia, she had amassed years of experience in the Indian Print and Television media. Her journalistic acumen covers a whole gamut of subjects including politics, lifestyle, and business. Ananya is a theatre actor, scriptwriter, and an active member of Open Stage, a group theatre based in Singapore. Over the last decade and a half, she has been a flagbearer of the Tagore Society Singapore. Ananya is a university topper and holds a Master’s Degree in Mass Communication, specializing in Television journalism. Ananya is currently pursuing an advanced leadership management program at the Graduate Business School, Stanford University. She is an Award-Winning Corporate Communications Leader and wears a senior corporate leadership hat and currently leads communications in Asia & Europe for a US-based multinational company.

In an exclusive interview with Nitish Raj; Editor-in-Chief, The Literary Mirror the acclaimed author & award-winning corporate communications leader talks about her latest masterpiece; An Unborn Desire and various other art forms added with elements of writing.  

1. How do you navigate between different languages while creating a literary piece and in which of those languages do you find your voice?

Ananya: Much as it sounds strange, I often hear voices in my mind. These inner voices speak to me in multiple languages. Primarily in English. Also, Bangla and Hindi sometimes. It’s both magical and spontaneous and I do not have an honest explanation to substantiate my choice. I also don’t think I deliberately choose a prompt. I am fortunate to be able to ideate in all three languages and I let the language choose my thoughts and expressions instead of making a conscious effort of transliteration. However, over the years, I see a pattern emerging with how my mind navigates through different languages. I write prose in English and poetry in all three languages.

2. A multifaceted person donning hats as a theatre actor, scriptwriter, business journalist, show anchor, Corporate communications  leader, storyteller, dancer, and acclaimed writer; which of these roles do you like the most and why?

Ananya: As an artist, I love the freedom to express myself in various formats, and literary arts and performance arts are two manifestations of that artistic bend of mind or the dominance of the right brain. On the other hand, my professional life sits at the tip of the same scale, and as a corporate leader in an extremely demanding role, I see the more analytical and methodical thinker in me leaning heavily and leveraging on my left brain. So, it’s really difficult to pick one of the many things I do and say, “This is what I love most amongst these” because I wasn’t pushed by destiny or external forces to do any of these. These are my own choices and each is a stimulus for a pathway for introspection and self- development. In short, there are no favorites. I love doing each one of my roles and I put my 100% into it.

3. “A fascinating and poignant vignette of human emotions”, your short story collection ‘An Unborn Desire’ recently won you the prestigious Sahityakosh Samman. How did these stories happen?

Ananya: A lot of these stories are based on real-life experiences – personal and loaned. Many have been influenced by my travel to different parts of the world, the people I met, the cultures I was exposed to, the stories I heard, the lessons I learned as an individual. There’s a variety of emotions, backgrounds, characters in the 15 short stories, but the common chord that acts as a glue through the book is empathy. As an author, I think it’s important to connect to every human emotion. Only then can you express them appropriately in your writing. Unless your connection is authentic, you cannot do justice to the characters in your story. When I write, I keep reminding myself that it’s their story, not mine. Wearing the shoes of my characters is an exhausting mental exercise with lots of shoe bites but to be fair, I have to do it. The negativity can make me uncomfortable, even restless but that’s what they are designed to do—incite the same raw feeling. So, I let myself bleed and burn. Then out of those gaping wounds and ashes, words emerge like a Phoenix.

4. As a flagbearer of the Tagore Society Singapore, do your art forms and creative shows convey any message to the people and society?

Ananya: Yes, of course! The whole idea of scripting, directing, and presenting Tagore through his music, songs, poetry is to advocate his philosophy anchored on the universal message of peace and harmony, often pegged on a spiritual journey towards empathy, love, compassion, tolerance, and kindness. My show titled Bhubonjora Ashonkhani, the first-ever online global Rabindra Jayanti in 2019 broke conventional performance barriers and brought together 28 artists from different parts of the world amid the COVID 19 pandemic. The show was dedicated to all healthcare workers, security personnel, migrant workers, and all frontline workers across the world. My recent production, Jononi Bashundhora was deeply embedded with the need to find harmony and balance between nature and man and therefore, the responsibility of our generation and the next to protect and preserve the planet, as an extension of self-preservation.

Related Articles

An Exclusive Interview with Zehra Naqvi; the Noted Author & Independent Journalist

An Exclusive Interview with Saba Karim Khan, the Noted Author & Award-Winning Filmmaker

An Exclusive Interview with Kulpreet Yadav; the Award-Winning Author & Filmmaker

5. Amassing years of experience in Indian print and television media, and having extensive exposure to various art forms in Singapore, what similarities and differences do you find in the cultural and literary circles of Singapore and India?

Ananya: The cultural and literary arts in each country stem from their respective heritage and evolve with context. So much of this evolution is influenced by its history, economy, geography, demographics, and what’s relevant then to that particular space that it is unfair to draw a parallel. Both countries have their uniqueness, and I can only say that like India, there’s a lot of appreciation for good work in the literary and cultural space in Singapore.

6. ‘Ardh-Satya is a collection of fragile moments that intervenes into your roller coaster corporate life and questions some of life’s senses and sensibilities’. How has the book changed your perspective towards life?

Ananya: Ardh- Satya was my first book and in this collection of 20 short stories, I felt I had invested from every shade of my emotional reservoir. The book had an interesting element that was common across all the stories. Something was true in each of the stories. Either the experience or the characters, some of which were very complicated. Writing the book taught me two things: empathy and acceptance. The biggest reward came from a reader who was struggling with his own identity and after having read the title story, mustered the courage and the confidence to come out of the closet.

7. What are the most important elements of good writing according to you?

Ananya: As I have said before, any author must be able to connect with the reader and take him/her along on a journey as a co-pilgrims, discovering the various facets of emotions, not in isolation but together. Whether it’s a vivid description where the reader feels transported into the world the author has created or building characters that resonate with others, or an engrossing theme, that connection is the most important element of good writing. I have never managed to read a book or remember it when I haven’t found that resonance.