Page - 15 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

Playing with Words, Worlds, and Images | 15www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 15–30 Amruta Patil Playing with Words, Worlds, and Images An Interview with the Indian Graphic Novelist Amruta Patil, by Philippe Bornet, Stefanie Knauss, and Alexander D. Ornella Abstract In this interview conducted by issue editors Philippe Bornet, Stefanie Knauss and Alexan der D. Ornella in April 2021, Amruta Patil discusses how the unique possibilities of playing with images and words in the medium of the graphic novel allow for a crea- tive critique and reimagination of ancient mythologies as well as contemporary social questions. Her use of the figure of the storyteller, sensuous visual style, and continu- ous micro-subversion of traditional motifs invite viewers/readers to enter into the sto- ry and make it their own, while at the same time encouraging a capacity to see each other and to engage constructively even with people or viewpoints one might critique. Keywords Kari, Adi Parva, Sauptik, Aranyaka, Graphic Novel, Mythology, Queer, India Biography Writer-painter Amruta Patil is India’s first female graphic novelist. She is the author of Kari (2008), the Mahabharat-based duology Adi Parva. Churning of the Ocean (2012) and Sauptik. Blood and Flowers (2016), and, with Devdutt Pattanaik, Aranyaka. Book of the Forest (2019), which sits at the cusp of ancient Indian philosophy and ecological-fem- inist stirrings. Patil was a speaker at Jaipur Literature Festival and London Book Fair and artist-in-residence at the University of Chicago’s School of Divinity and La Maison des Auteurs (France). In 2016, she received a Nari Shakti Puraskar from the 13th Presi- dent of India for “unusual work that breaks boundaries” in art and literature. Philippe Bornet: Amruta, thank you very much for sitting down with us here on Zoom: it is great to have you. To begin, maybe you can tell our readers about your artistic development, your trajectory if you wish, starting with your graphic novel about a queer woman in Mumbai, Kari, in 2008, and then up to Aranyaka, published in 2020. Amruta Patil: It may appear like I have been creating very, very diverse books ranging from queer urban tales to something that springboards DOI: 10.25364/05.7:2021.2.2