Author-academician Mahul Brahma wins Sahityakosh Samman Award

Brahma is Dean of School of Media and Communication at Adamas University in Kolkata and has been recently appointed as a Visiting Research Fellow at UK’s Bath Spa University.

The TEDx speaker and former editor said, “Luxury is inclusive, it is for everyone. Luxury should not be defined in a myopic way in terms of price tags and affordability.”

The Mythic Value of Luxury is an academic research looking into luxury from anthropological and sociological perspectives. The objective of this search, he says, was to unearth a secret -- how some luxury brands can stand the test of time and survive for centuries while others fail to sustain that luxe or dazzle. In his search he started studying myths and how myths survive.

Brahma says: “The word luxury comes from the word luxe, which means dazzle. What creates that dazzle? The core element of that dazzle is a concept called mythic value. Myths are future-proof, small wonder that they are able to live for ages. What makes myths live through ages is that they embody contradictions.”

Brahma’s six books are -- The Mythic Value of Luxury, How to Communicate Strategically in Corporate World, Quarantined: Love in the time of Corona, and The Luxe Trilogy comprising Decoding Luxe, Dark Luxe and Luxe Inferno.

He has won the Author of Year Award in 2021 for his book Quarantined: Love in the time of Corona. It was written and published during the first lockdown in 2020, while in quarantine. It is a collection of dark love stories, all set in the background of quarantine. 

Brahma is a D.Litt in luxury and communication, and PhD in Economics. He is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta. MICA, St Xavier's College, and University of Cambridge Judge Business School.

His first short film was screened at Cannes Film Festival. He has also acted in Bengali feature films such as Barunbabur Bandhu, Hoyto Manush Noi and a soon-to-be-released Aparajito. He loves to paint and is an avid golfer with a handicap of 11.