The canvas of her books is very much like a celluloid spread. Handsome hunks, damsels in distress, noisy aunties, nosy neighbours, family shenanigans, machinations, politics, Bollywood, cricket... Anuja Chauhan’s books are a potpourri of our intrinsic, ethnic sensibilities. In fact, they are reminiscent of the entertainers directed by Basu Chatterjee and the late Hrishikesh Mukherjee. No wonder her books are viewed as templates by filmmakers for romcoms.
Under Anuja Chauhan’s plume have come four bestsellers – The Zoya Factor based on the cricket and the advertising worlds; Battle For Bittora based on the 2013 elections and Those Pricey Thakur Girls on the upper middle-class Thakur family, our own version of Pride and Prejudice. Her fourth, The House That BJ Built, a continuation of the previous novel is a romance set against a family property dispute on New Delhi’s plush Hailey Road. Interestingly, Battle For Bittora is going to be made into a film, directed by Shashanka Ghosh with Sonam Kapoor as the female lead. Buzz is that The Zoya Factor will also reincarnate as a film.
As creative director for 17 years in a renowned advertising agency, Anuja generated some of the most catchy advertising campaigns – like for Pepsi (Yeh dil maange more), Mountain Dew (Darr ke aage jeet hai), Kurkure (Tedha hai par mera hai), Lays (Be a little dillogical) and Kit Kat (Kit Kat break banta hai). But the need to write more than the prescribed one page made her quit advertising and pursue a full-time literary career in 2010. Since then, there’s been no looking back.
Today the title ‘Queen of romcoms’ sits proudly on her. She traces her love for stories to her life in army cantonments (her father was an army officer), where there was easy access to libraries. Young Anuja enjoyed movies too. “Madhumati, Padosan, Baaton Baaton Mein, Amar Akbar Anthony are my favourite Hindi films,” she smiles. “I was mesmerised by the romance between Dilip Kumar and the gorgeous Vyjayanthimala in Madhumati. The song Dil tadap tadap ke keh raha hai aa bhi ji is a classic just as Humko tumse ho gaya hai pyaar, kya karein from Amar Akbar Anthony is a song for all seasons.” She adds, “In the newer lot of films I love the new-age love as shown in Namastey London, Jab We Met and Band Baaja Baaraat. Aaj din chadheya from Love Aaj Kal is a song for soulful moments. I don’t mind thumkas and item numbers like Kajra re (Bunty Aur Babli) and Desi girl (Dostana) either.”
While macho men in bell bottoms and wide side locks in Hindi movies swayed the writer off her feet as a teen, she also loved characters with grey shades, “I loved the bit-villains, the thug-molesters, the dacoits, evil aunts and vamps. So much fun!” Among the dashing ones, she lists Shashi Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor as her favourites. “I’d dump everything and would be glued to the television when their films were aired. Oh! they were just too charming,” she blushes as she recalls her first crushes. Another actor who captures her imagination is Khiladi Akshay Kumar. And surprisingly, she loves him for his hitherto untapped romantic potential. “That intense, shy boy-grown up man thing is brought out well by him. He should do more romances like Dhadkan and Namastey London.”
As a writer, her female characters are spunky, feisty and speak out their mind. Her male characters too are knights-in-shining armours albeit with a pinch of naughtiness. Her male and female characters share an equal equation, something rare in Hindi films. “Either the woman comes across as too strong or the man poses as menacing. In recent films, Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do showed both the sexes in equal light. Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra, as brother and sister, shared the weight of the film ably.” The mention of Ranveer Singh brings a smile on her face. “I love Ranveer. He can be funny and intense, best-buddy and lover... all at once. He radiates so much energy.”
Anuja insists that it’s high time certain things in our films be dumped in the backyard. “Like what I call the curse of the second half. Many of our films start off well but then they flounder. That’s sad. Maybe, that’s where writing becomes important. The second thing, as clichéd as it may sound, is the tendency to regard women as commodities. Last but not the least is the low-hanging fruit type of jokes. Like disrespectful jokes about LGBT folk and even on people with a squint, those who limp and stammer are shown in poor light. Come on, you can’t have humour at their cost. It’s shameful!”
Though her books are viewed as having the potential to turn into big screen narratives, she says she never writes with that intention. “For me, books are the most complete form of storytelling. When I sit down to write, I don’t write a screenplay in disguise or a movie-blueprint. I don’t write with directors or producers or actors in mind. I keep the process as pure as possible. Once the book is written, and people want the rights, it’s fine,” she smiles. “Films have a much wider audience than books in India. Films made on your books is a great way to reach out to more readers. The Hindi film industry showing interest in your work makes people believe you’re successful, which is great! Also, it pays well and we writers need the money,” she states candidly.
Though she’s not writing the screenplay for the movies, which are based on her books, she’s delved into writing screenplays for Anil Kapoor Productions and UTV Disney. The creative process, she insists, differs from that of writing novels, “It’s more collaborative therefore less fun,” says the writer who views writing as an individual exercise. After covering the world of cricket, politics and showbiz, her next book is about the Indian Air Force during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Love in the time of war… well, bestsellers are made of these.
Anuja Chauhan names the actors who’d match the characters in her book Those Pricey Thakur Girls
Anjini - Kareena Kapoor Khan
Binodini - Vidya Balan
Chandu - Sonakshi Sinha
Debjani - Deepika Padukone
Eshwari - Anushka Sharma
Dylan Singh Shekawat - Ranveer Singh
Loading Next Article...
SHOW COMMENTS