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This books features a fictional journey inspired by author's real life
Updated On: 20 May, 2023 08:14 AM IST | Mumbai | Devanshi Doshi
Popular Indian-American actor Maulik Pancholy’s second novel for young adults, Nikhil Out Loud, features a fictional character whose story organically aligns with his own life and its conflicts
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Nikhil’s character in Pancholy’s book
Maulik Pancholy’s second novel, Nikhil Out Loud (HarperCollins India), which features a third-generation Indian-American voice actor for a famous American cartoon show, released in America and hit India’s shores last month. The storyline follows a 13-year-old voice actor, Nikhil, who in his journey explores his identity, culture, family and friendship. The author, who is known most for his voice-acting as Baljeet in the TV animation series Phineas and Ferb, introduces his readers to chunks from his life as an openly gay, third-generation Gujarati in USA through Nikhil’s story. Dedicated to his mother Gita Pancholy, this book follows yet another Indian-American protagonist following his debut novel, The Best At It, which released in 2019.
And even though Pancholy is used to being in the limelight, like Nikhil, he does not always find it easy to engage with attention. He was put to test by middle-schoolers in his hometown, Ohio. “I was on a tour to promote my debut novel. I was really nervous to present it in front of at least 700 students,” he shared with us during a video interview from New York. But when Pancholy noticed that they were genuinely excited, he calmed down. They started exchanging stories, and he even showed them a picture of himself with his husband, Ryan Corvaia. However, what seemed like a smooth event later erupted into a chain of emails from angry parents. But it was the reassuring emails of love by the same kids that helped him recover from the experience. He knew that this had to be part of his second book. “What Nikhil feels when his classmates’ parents find out about him being gay, and playing the lead in the school’s musical is much like what I felt then,” he elaborates about the storyline.
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