WRITE ME A LOVE STORY
“I am the boy next door who needs to get all his emotions out in the world,” exclaimed author Ravinder Singh, who was a part of the first of many sessions held at the Chasing Love Festival by Prabha Khaitan Foundation. The online festival held over three days had Singh discuss his latest book Write Me a Love Story where he has departed from his PG-13 ways and presented a romance novel with generous doses of erotica. Set in the publishing industry with a protagonist whose career and behaviour trajectory can all vaguely be mapped to the author himself, this book became a bestseller flying off the shelves, pointed out the host for the session, journalist Rashmi Menon. He spoke about his fans wanting to know in greater details, the kisses he left to his readers’ imagination in his previous books. “People were asking me: ‘You are known as king of romance. Why are you stopping at a kiss? Why don’t you describe it?’ I realised that I had to explore it in my next. So I did,” he laughed and added.
Heavily influenced by Sylvia Day’s writing, he realised the challenge that erotic writing could be for even seasoned authors like him. He spoke about his experience since having decided to add erotic touches to Write Me a Love Story to it being declared the highest selling book in 2021 by Amazon.
WHEN IT’S MAGIC
Author K.R. Meera whose extensive work in Malayalam has been touted to be seminal to literature in vernacular languages in India, was in conversation with author Nisha Susan who wrote the explosive collection of stories The Women who Forgot to Invent Facebook and Other Stories. The topic of the evening: ‘Craving dangerous love and what it means to an individual’. Susan was quick to point out the women in Meera’s books who choose the dangerous path. “These women are not in love with chosen men. They are in love with certain ideals which are very dangerous,” said Meera. The author also spoke of writing books first in her sub-conscience and then putting it on paper. A fascinating peek into the author’s mind, this session was definitely one of the highlights of the boutique literature festival.
IN 70MM
Discussing the inevitable and strong bond between celluloid and romantic love, director and author Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, actor, director and author Jugal Hansraj, independent journalist and author Kaveree Bamzai discussed their favourite moments from the history of Indian cinema. They were in conversation with RJ Stutee and the fascinating conversation encompassed all forms of love as captured by the camera. Bamzai spoke of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and the quintessential ‘bromance’ of our times, which echoed the ethos of its predecessor Dil Chahta Hai. For Hansraj, the ultimate romance in cinema is defined more by people and less by particular films. He spoke of Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh, RD Burman, Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhonsle and how ‘these guys made romance look like a fun thing’! Having grown up watching a lot of Tamil films, Ashiwiny spoke of Shivaji Ganeshan and his films leaving an indelible mark on her mind when it came to romance. “Seeing love in every strata of society, that’s what creates curiosity for me,” she said.
LOVE IN LOCKDOWN
Prolific author Shobhaa De has written a book in the lockdown called The Lockdown Liaisons and she discussed all that went into its creation with author Kiran Manral. A fascinating collection of short stories, they arrived as a desperate response to the pandemic, the author told the viewers at this session. “Our sense of self, security and what we could take for granted was being questioned. I have always chronicled my times and it was important to record this period of time as well,” the author began. The book was published in the pandemic itself and there was a sense of urgency to it instead of looking back and reminiscing. De was wrapping up a novel, Srilaji, when she chanced upon the need to tell these stories. “Like a compulsion, I would take breaks from writing the novel and write a short story daily and at night go back to the novel again,” she said. She chose the short story format also because by introducing various other voices, she was able to expand her storytelling instead of limiting it to her personal experience. More such interesting trivia fill up her conversation with Manral, the video of which is hosted on Prabha Khaitan Foundation’s YouTube channel.
DATING SHATING
Wrapping up this boutique festival with many enthralling sessions was a panel that was equal parts humorous and intuitive. Discussing the foils and foibles of modern dating were author Anuja Chauhan, comedian and novelist Anuvab Pal, author G. Sampath, actor, author and comedian Rubi Chakravarti and author Zac O’Yeah in conversation with curator of the festival Shinie Antony. The connecting thread between all the authors was their funny bone and the humorous approach they took towards their work. Their choices stemmed from various areas –– for Anuvab it was a way to avoid being beaten up for being the ‘short, fat Bengali boy’; for Anuja and Rubi it was the only way to compete with their siblings and get noticed; for G. Sampath, it was a way of showing muted aggression and standing up for what’s right; and for Zac it was ambition that led him to the path of humour. His inability to follow through his childhood dreams of becoming a cowboy, an astronaut or a clown led him to become funny in his writing.
Deep-diving into the evolving face of romance, the conversation went back as far as the early ’70s when roses formed the language of love to now when its WhatsApp equivalent should do. Traversing this difficult world of dating, aided by these authors, this session proved to be the best ending the Chasing Love Festival could have seen!
The recordings of these live sessions are hosted on Prabha Khaitan Foundation’s social media channels for viewing at your leisure. Now that Valentines’ day is over, if romance goes missing from your life, we suggest you take some tips from those who rule our bookshelves, ‘with love’!