Career  

Anand Neelakantan is an alumnus of Government Engineering College, Trichurin Kerala. He is working in Indian Oil Corporation for the past 14 years, though writing, cartooning and oil painting remain his passions. Before the publishing of Asura, he had published many cartoons in leading Malayalam magazines.[3]
Asura, tale of the vanquished was published on 14 May 2012 and went on to become a runaway best seller. Anand Neelakantan’s second book Ajaya, roll of the dice, the epic of Kauravas published on 1 December 2013 stayed in the best seller charts in number 1 position for 16 continuous weeks.
Ajaya is one of the meanings of Duryodhana. Another meaning interprets it as ‘one who is difficult to conquer’. Ajaya is the story of Duryodhana, hero of the losing side, from his perspective, seen Mahabharata from his eyes.
Anand Neelakantan was rated as one of the most promising writer by Indian Express, as one of the six most remarkable writers of 2012 by DNA, the second most read writer of 2012 by financial express, and best seller number 1 by CNN IBN