• Bestselling author and screenwriter, Sumrit Shahi, releases his third novel, ‘Never Kiss Your Best Friend’
• Never Kiss Your Best Friend, a sequel of his debut novel, ‘Just Friends’ is the third novel by bestselling fiction novelist and screenwriter, Sumrit Shahi.
• Both of Sumrit’s earlier novels, “Just Friends”, “A lot like love.. a li‘l like chocolate” have been national bestsellers, having had Hindi translations also.
• At 22, Sumrit is one of the youngest scriptwriters in the Indian TV industry with having written for shows like ‘Sadda Haq’, ‘Million Dollar Girl’ on Channel V and Veera on Star Plus

NewZNew (Chandigarh) : “Can a girl and boy just be friends?” The eternally debated, often seen and fervently discussed question finds space again in this coming-of-age- story of two best friends, a girl and a guy, as they navigate their way from sixteen to twenty five, making sense of nomenclatures, fighting societal stereotypes of what their relationship is supposed to be and what they really feel, and finally juggling with the idea of growing up and realising what that really takes away from them and their friendship.

A celebration of those carefree years of one’s life where friendship is paramount with friends superseding even family, ‘Never Kiss Your Best Friend’ is an unfiltered, raw and relatable account of the YOLO generation and how they look at relationships, careers and ambition etc.

Published by Rupa Publications India, the novel ‘Never Kiss Your Best Friend’ was released today by Kavita Das, Principal of St John’s High School, Chandigarh here at the press club today. The novel is a sequel to his debut novel, ‘Just Friends’.

Twenty two- year-old Sumrit Shahi, an alumnus of St. John’s High School, is one of the youngest Bestselling authors in the country. He wrote his debut bestselling novel at seventeen. He has also written the story and screenplay for popular youth shows such as ‘Sadda Haq’ and ‘Million Dollar Girl’ on channel V, and worked on the story for popular family drama ‘Veera’ on star plus.

Sumrit got nominated for Best Story Writer (Sadda Haq) at the Indian Telly Awards in 2014, at the age of 21, making him one of the youngest nominees ever in the category.

A proud Chandigarh boy, Sumrit who currently is based out of Mumbai, has majored in Media and Film Studies from Symbiosis International University, Pune.

Owing to his myriad and dynamic achievements at such a young age, Sumrit also regularly visits schools and colleges to interact with young students and talks to them about ‘alternate career choices’ and ‘following your heart by making your passion your profession.’ He has delivered lectures at IIT Delhi, Narsee Monjee, Mumbai, ILS, Pune etc.

Talking about what made Sumrit write on this topic of girl-guy friendships all over again, Sumrit shares, “I was surprised with the kind of acceptance ‘Just Friends’ got. Considering I’m really young, I think, I was able to tap on a very relatable story, which perhaps every teenager could identify with and that worked.

Now as I grew up, finished college, started working, life changed and how. Today, weighing importance on career and ambition in this competitive world has taken away from relationships. We have Tinder and social media to connect but the bond’s missing! In such emotionally challenging times, you need to fall back upon a relationship that sustains and this book talks about one, as it questions the set boundaries of a relationship between a girl and boy, they say they are best friends, nothing more, but actually are soul mates”

There’s a lot on Sumrit’s plate right now as he is working on his next novel, due in December. He has two more TV shows happening and is in talks for script writing for his first feature film.