There is growing concern in some markets that reading for leisure is declining, even as other forms of reading continue to grow. Articles and studies show that even with the rise of BookTok and online reading communities, reading for pleasure, meaning reading done for enjoyment rather than for work or school, appears to be declining in some markets. A recent US-based study found a nearly 40% decline in daily reading for leisure over the past two decades in the country. In India, the picture is less clear, with growth in some segments of publishing alongside concerns about declining leisure reading habits in others.
For decades, A H Wheeler stalls at railway stations made books and newspapers visible and affordable to millions of travelers. Founded in 1877, the chain became one of the most recognizable features of Indian railway travel. But that visibility is now shrinking. Indian Railways has begun phasing out many traditional Wheeler stalls, replacing them with multipurpose kiosks and retail formats better aligned with current commuter habits.
But, there was a time when you would find yourself at a railway station and your eyes would not have been able to miss the sight of a book stand, stacked with newspapers, and bright, often evocative covers of pulp fiction novels — some retailing as low as Rs 30, but maybe no higher than Rs 150 — that would have been snatched up by travelers of all ages and classes. These newspapers and books were not always in English; you’d mostly see titles in Hindi, or in Tamil if you’re traveling down South, or in Gujarati in the Western regions, and so forth.
Pulp fiction made reading accessible across regional languages and price points. To negate pulp fiction from the considerations of literature is to negate a sizable and often undercounted readership that never quite stopped reading for pleasure and entertainment, even in the face of technological advancement. Writers and critics of Hindi pulp have repeatedly argued that these novels created generations of habitual readers across North India, particularly in small towns where inexpensive, serialized fiction was often more accessible than literary publishing.
In Hindi pulp fiction, in particular, there are recurring themes of detective fiction and family drama. The stories are often fast-paced, sensational, or melodramatic, and the material is often racy and provocative, making for a great quick read in transit (hence the prevalence of sale at railway stations and bus stands), or for a light escape from the daily drudge. Much of this readership exists in regional languages, where pulp continues to be widely produced and consumed, even as English-language pulp has declined.
Some of the most prolific figures in Indian pulp fiction built vast readerships that continue to circulate today; case in point, Rajesh Kumar, who has written 1,500 titles in novels and short stories, including serialized fiction. One of the biggest names in the Hindi language is Surender Mohan Pathak, with 250 novels to his name. Their works have been printed and re-printed for decades now, and they are even paid handsomely enough for them to have quit their day jobs to write full-time. They are invited to literary panels. Some of their works have been adapted for the screen, like Ved Prakash Sharma’s adaptations, including projects based on Dahej Mein Revolver and Qatil Ho To Aisa. Earlier generations of Hindi pulp also fed directly into mainstream cinema, with writers like Gulshan Nanda inspiring films such as Kati Patang and Daag.
In the face of these facts, it is hard not to see a class bias in what is considered literature, and which languages receive greater legitimacy. In India, pulp fiction often serves as accessible reading material for commuters and working-class readers. When reading material is made accessible financially and physically, it is likely to allow for greater adoption. Price remains one of the biggest reasons publishers continue investing in pulp fiction, and readers continue returning to it. Reportedly, the profit margins for a pulp fiction novel once stood at 100%, since they would fly off the shelves. With the advent of television and soap operas, the sales for pulp fiction fell by 80% and so did profit margins, down to roughly 15% in comparison. Yet, loyal readers continue to gravitate towards the novels, and casual readers don’t mind making the investment since the opportunity cost is relatively low. So despite a taxation of 5% on pulp, the cost factor has not shifted so as not to alienate the readers, helping sustain the market year after year.
It might be interesting, then, to see the impact of price on the adoption of other literature, and see how it may have impacted readership, if at all. For one thing, fast fiction like the kind penned by Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Dutta, and Nikita Singh, among others, also retails at a low price between Rs 150 and Rs 300, which makes these English language novels with mass-market titles accessible to those who may be first-time readers, or who have shied away from picking up reading for pleasure, making it more similar to pulp than not, but in a more contemporary and aspirational English-language form.
Interestingly, despite the widespread readership, figures for the distribution and sale of pulp fiction are sparse. With some books, the authors might know the number of copies that were sold, or the reprints. Pathak’s 65 Lakh Ki Dakaiti (the 65 Lakh Robbery) reportedly sold 50,000 copies on its first run, and has cumulatively sold 2.5 million copies since its first print. However, many pulp fiction novels are published through small regional presses with limited distribution tracking. Like many inexpensive mass-market books, they also circulate informally between readers, particularly during long train and bus journeys, making their actual readership harder to measure through sales figures alone.
In the last decade or so, there have been moves that have brought some additional legitimacy to where pulp stands in literary terms in India. Audible India launched Thriller Factory in 2019, a ten-episode show that dramatized the works of Ved Prakash Sharma for an audio format. The Blaft Anthology for Tamil and Gujarati pulp fiction also brought Tamil and Gujarati pulp fiction into translation to make them available to readers who don’t read in scripts other than English in 2008.
At a moment when anxieties about readership continue to grow, pulp fiction remains a reminder that accessibility and habit may matter just as much as literary prestige in sustaining reading cultures.
Leave a Reply