Vidhu Vinod Chopra is scripting a film on Kashmir; while daughter Zuni completes her debut novel

It all began with a friend, Sneh, raving about a beautiful house in London. Even though she had never seen it, the idea of an extraordinary house wended its way into a school assignment, found its voice in her imagination, whipped up anguish over its proposed sale, was transplanted from grey, gloomy London to her father's birthplace, snow-clad Kashmir, on the advice of her mother to give the story new dimensions and now is the principal character of Zuni Chopra's debut novel, 'The House That Spoke'.The shy 15-year-old is filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra and film critic Anupama Chopra's daughter who doesn't want her work of fiction to become a political statement or for anyone to read it because of who her father is.

Sitting quietly by her side, Vinod recalls a trip to Bhutan when he'd caught five-year-old Zuni fiddling with his Iphone. He'd demanded it back and found a half-finished poem his daughter claimed she'd written. She'd completed it while he watched and he realised she had the gift of words which he didn't. "I'm educated in life but not literate. I didn't know English at 15. I was just learning my ABCs while Zuni's written a book after topping her class for two years," he beams proudly.
His daughter is quick to warn him that's unlikely to happen this year and Vinod shrugs, "There's no pressure, I've told you that you can drop a year if you wish. Formal education is not important, my mother didn't even know which class I was in, what's important is being happy and constantly striving," he asserts, a suggestion Zuni dismisses with a frown, insisting she'll slog to get the grades.
Her own special house is her cousin's Lake House in Michigan which she has been visiting every year since she was three months old. 'I know every nook and cranny, can tell immediately if the music box or blankets have moved from their place. That's where my memories are," she smiles.
Her father's memories are linked to his home in Kashmir where he grew up skimming up trees and having apples, pears and cherries for lunch. He'd visited the house when Zuni had just started writing and still goes back to the Valley every year. But the house is gone now, burnt down and rebuilt.
"In 1989, my mother came to Mumbai with a handbag for the premiere of 'Parinda' on Friday. On Saturday, my brother was attacked with swords and had to flee. Within two weeks the house was looted and eventually burnt down. When my mother went back after several years everything was gone but she forgave everyone. I'd have loved to share my home with my kids but now it exists only in my memories," Vinod says emotionally, revealing that all he has left is a picture of his father with his entire family on his wedding day which hangs in his bedroom wall and a painting of his grandfather he keeps at his pooja place.
Zuni surprises him by revealing that the word painting of the pandit in the room of her protagonist, the confident and opinionated Zoon, modelled after the kind of girl she'd want to be, was borrowed from his grandfather's painting. A lot of the book is a mix of her memories and her uncle, aunt and dad's recollections. "My uncle, Vir papa, told me about the Shankaracharya Hill while dad would reminisce about how he'd dart outside to get firewood when it snowed, which would be stuffed into the heater to warm their dinner," she informs.
"I didn't know she listened when I spoke about all this," Vinod marvels, admitting that his next film, which he is currently scripting and hoping to direct, will be dedicated to his mother and the Valley. "I still feel very connected, my heart bleeds for Kashmir. That's why I was so happy when Zuni told me she had decided to set her story there. In Harry Potter land a cloud of darkness would have just been a fantasy, in my Valley it's a reality and gives her story a different subtext. Today, I can easily make a 'PK 2' or a '4 Idiots' but instead I'm giving my life to Kashmir. We have to overcome and we shall," he asserts.
And when are 'Munnabhai 3' and 'PK 2' coming along? "I'm not in the business of making films, I make cinema I love, that's a different ballgame. Life is beautiful and I don't give a damn about my net worth. I was just so happy to read my daughter's first big achievement on the plane journey from Michigan to Mumbai last week," he smiles.
And what was his first big achievement? "Being nominated for an Oscar for my documentary, 'An Encounter With Faces', in 1979 when I was just out of film school. But there are no comparisons. I'm not good with words while she has written 232 pages of sheer delight. For me success and failure are of no consequence. I just hope Zuni remains 15 in her head for the rest of here life," he sighs, while Zuni adds, "And at his age I see myself with a lot of dogs." "A man too," her dad prods. "Noooo," she shakes her head and he laughs at her childlike innocence.