Blaft Radius

Of all the Indian publishing houses exhibiting in the hallowed halls of this year's London Book Fair, one of the most interesting discoveries I made was new Chennai-based publishing house, Blaft. Their versatile list includes translations of old Indian language pulp fiction and folktales, and new experimental literature. With a future-plan to branch out into graphic novels, children's books and, bizarrely, kitchen appliances, they are set to be one of India's more dynamic publishers.

The hilariously over-the-top pulp noir of The 65 Lakh Heist ('lakh' meaning 'a hundred thousand,' so in this case '65 hundred thousand' rupees) follows the adventures of Vimal, as he battles his way through the Punjab underworld in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Mayaram Bawa, an accomplished safe-cracker and chronic jailbird, wants to pull off one last heist before he calls it a day. Wanting to enlist the best talent in the business to make sure the operation goes smoothly, he hires the wanted criminal Surender Singh Sohal, better known as Vimal, hoping that now that luck is on his side. Vimal is on the run from the police and unless he helps Mayaram, his secret will be out. First published in 1977 and reprinted over fifteen times, Painsath Lakh ki Dakaiti is the fourth book in Surender Mohan Pathak's hugely popular 'Vimal' series, the book that launched a whole genre of anti-hero Hindi crime fiction. Usually, books written in Indian dialects such as Punjabi don't cross over beyond the limits of the dialects they are written in, so it's good to see this popular series given an English-language translation. Especially one so vibrant, over-the-top and funny.

Also part of Blaft's noir canon is an anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction. Again, part of their translated work, this is a fun attempt to translate an American genre into the shanty towns and mangroves of Tamil Nadu, featuring an array of impressive characters from mad scientists to hard-boiled detectives with deus ex machina acts from vengeful femme fatale goddesses interspersed into the high octane action. The translation reveals a jaunty, almost Victorian sentence structure, formal and slang-free. The stories are tongue-in-cheek and presented with colour photographs of the original book jackets, showing the source material to be pulpy nonsensical fun, with characters bigger and badder than your average Dick Tracy.

Blaft also does an impressive line in meticulous book design, like the elegant Where are you going, you monkeys? Lovingly printed with specially ribboned-off sections, uneven pages and illustrations, this contains Tamil folk tales, translated for the first time, with explanations to their meanings, themes and religious connotations. With experimental literary fiction titles like Zero Degree also in their stable, they have created a list that is both versatile and fun.

Read more about them here