Dan Brown: What's wrong if Jesus was human?

We are five minutes early for the interview So is Dan Brown Looking dapper in a day blazer therersquos no trace of fatigue post his engaging session at the Penguin Annual Lecture 2014 in Mumbai the previous nightDan Brown wowed the audience giving insight into his works and mind at the Penguin Annual Lecture 2014 in Mumbai on Wednesday night PicSayed Sameer AbedildquoLast night was a blastrdquo he replies cheerily ldquoThe levels of passion and enthusiasm are immense among your readers Itrsquos my first interaction with readers here in India however I bump into Indian readers wherever I go mdash Boston New York or LondonrdquoDan Brownrsquos bestseller The Da Vinci Code had suggested that the Mona Lisa contained hidden clues about the Holy Grail PicGetty imagesCode decodeOutside the November haze plays truant with the Mumbai skyline Inside at our table we are keen to get a clear picture of the time when Brownrsquos alltime bestseller stirred a hornetrsquos nest ldquoInitially it came as quite a shockrdquo his eyes are fixed at the ceiling perhaps recalling the bouquets and brickbats for a book that questioned the foundations of the Catholic church ldquoIt happened so fast but eventually I got used to it The controversy wasnrsquot confined to your part of the world even the USsaw protestsrdquoThe book that rocked the church when it was released in 2003Brownrsquos enquiring streak that led to the core of this book was a result of his growingup years when his parents always encouraged him to question ldquoI felt it didnrsquot make sense mdash about Adam and Eve or the sevenday evolution theory I was in boarding school where I was exposed to people from different faiths They were openminded so when these negative reactions emerged it surprised merdquo he shares ldquoLater I realised that the people who march on the streets are weak in faith After all itrsquos just a novel Who am I to tell you what is right or wrong Itrsquos a thought and Irsquove put it out thererdquo he elaboratesA Thai youth waits to watch a movie preview in front of an advertisement for the movie The Da Vinci Code outside a movie theatre in Bangkok in May 2006 The controversial film narrowly escaped a 10minute cut by Thailandrsquos censors and officials decided only to place a disclaimer before the movie PicAFPldquoThere have been other ideas in the past that question belief and religion The problem here was that The Da Vinci Code was so well received readers latched on to it worldwide they felt it made more sense than the Bible and so suddenly people were asking questions like lsquoSo what if Jesus was mortalrsquo Some religious leaders tend to be politicallyminded for their gainsrdquo Just then he drops one of his prized quotes ldquoThe best possible thing you can do for your faith is to question itrdquoFaith forwardUsing it as bait we ask if the church ever approached him particularly post the controversy ldquoI have no influence over the Vatican Yes at the time I was condemned immediately There was no dialogue They made it tough for us to shoot the film in Italyrdquo he reveals Having said that hersquos optimistic of the current head Pope Francisrsquos vision Brown had written about a proscience Pope in Angels and Demons Now that the current Pope has spoken in favour of evolution and the Big Bang Theory isnrsquot art imitating life Smiling wryly he says ldquoTo survive the Church must enter the 21st century Beliefs cannot be stuck in the 16th century if you want modern smart followers My belief is that there is nothing in science that can actually undermine religionrdquoCaught in the moment we slip in a sneaky one mdash what would you tell Pope Francis if you met him After a pause and a halfgrin he says ldquoIrsquod ask him about women priests the role of women in the church and urge him to treat them equally Then again the chances of me learning to fly in my lifetime seems more likely to happenrdquo adding ldquoThe churchrsquos pace is glacialrdquoHinduism and IndiaFrom glacial to the present we ask if hersquos thought of basing a plot in India ldquoHonestly Irsquove been tempted Though Irsquom still trying to get my head around Ganesha Irsquoll need years to travel and read about Hinduism which I believe is the mother of many religions Still all things are possible I have a soft spot for such philosophies because of its openmindedness and belief in serving others Christianity is similar but at times I feel it tends to get rigid and monetisedhellipdonrsquot you think so toordquo Caught a bit off guard we share about the bad apples that are part of every religionWe notice how Brown on his maiden visit to the country mentions Indiarsquos people sights and sounds often ldquoItrsquos difficult for a Westerner to come here and not notice the juxtaposition of the haves and the havenots Itrsquos prevalent in the US too but here the numbers make it more visiblerdquo he ruesHe continues ldquoHaving just written Inferno which spoke of overpopulation I told myself lsquothis is what I was trying to conveyrsquo The overpopulation has hit me the hardest of what Irsquove seen in India until nowrdquo Our timersquos up not before he leaves us with one of his mantras that makes him a bestselling author ldquoIn Delhi I visited a gurudwara where I saw this community meal langar take place Thatrsquos what I call action yoursquore lsquowalking the talkrsquo literallyrdquo