Feminism, lite

Hi, congratulations on your book.

smiles

You’ve said that you spoke with 100 girls as part of research for your book

Ya

So, 100 specific

That was the target I gave myself.

Right So tell me three things you learnt about women that you didn’t know before...

One, that different women have very different ideas about what they want out of life, especially when it comes to work-life balance. Aaa there’s a very strong need in many women to have a career as well as a nice home, and to take care of that home... that need is very intrinsic in many women. Feminism doesn’t mean that they don’t want to look after the home. So that was something, because I thought feminism means that bhai, ghar ka kaam nahin karna hai, ghar pe nahin bethna hai So that was one thing I didn’t understand. Second, a lot of women said, ‘I’ll help you with the book, but hey, I’m not a feminist’. Which was quite a shocking thing for me. Unke rights ke liye movement hai, and women keh rahi hain we are not feminists. That I think is because feminism has got a bad name. It’s in the clutch of some very extreme women who hold very extreme viewpoints on feminism and the ordinary Indian girl doesn’t relate to that Feminism doesn’t mean that you are not human, or you are not being a girl. It just means you fight for your rights together — collective platform. But that is a big misunderstand about the word and what it should be. And it’s defined by the elite whereas the masses are being ignored. The average Indian girl is not asked ki aapko kya lagta hai. That’s the other thing. And third is lots of prejudices about sex, desire, wanting to like a guy. It is considered ki you are a bad girl, you are a slut. All these constructs are there in women’s heads a lot Karte wohi hai jo karna hai unhen, but it’s riddled with a lot of guilt

So, you had some misconceptions about feminism that it’s not about

Mujhe laga it’s a movement where women become very (thinking) strong. It’s about being STRONG. It’s a movement to give strength to women. But strong doesn’t mean dehumanising. Strong doesn’t mean cutting out emotion, cutting out vulnerability. You can still be like any other girl, full of self-doubt, confusion

You really thought that feminism is about

Ya... Lot of girls in India think ke feminism mein kuch alag hi ladkiyan hain. Two journalists came yesterday, journalists. One journalist, 40 year old, said ki yeh feminism na agar husband aur bachche ho ghar pe, phir na, you can’t be Another journalist, you know what she told me, yeh feminism na, if you are a lesbian then you can probably be a feminist... Just imagine! These are journalists with agency. What hope is there of an ordinary girl... But that’s how women think. So maybe you need to redefine it. Maybe we need to make it more palatable It’s just a niche. Khan Market feminism. Doesn’t mean anything. Uska karen kya hum.

Well, they are also women.

Woh bhi hai, but bahut chota set hai... It’s not Indian feminism... It’s great that you are so empowered. But those women are already empowered.

But Indian feminist movement goes back 100 years at least. If you study Indian feminist movement

But why is the average Indian girl not connecting to it, you know, that’s something to think about. Why are they connecting to Radhika They are connecting to my books. They are reading the book.

Indian women had the right to vote much before women in America.

That should go on. Abi kya hai, average Indian girl what doesn't she want. If I’m pursuing my education and career, my mother should not push me for marriage. If I get married, my saas should not give me tannas ki garam-garam phulke kyun nahin banaye. Yeh hai average Indian middle class If you tell them, bus itna hi chahte ho tum Tumhen toh aur ladna chahiye. Tum toh kisis se kam nahin ho. They are like, bus, hamein yeh miljaye, hum itne se khus hain. Abhi toh itna dila do. Bahut badi help ho jayegi. So I think that’s where the movement needs to become culturally and context specific. That’s one thing I hope this book will do – Radhika is a very real Indian girl. She’s trying to be a feminist but she’s like an ordinary girl. Even though she’s very successful, andar se, her psyche, she thinks like a normal middle class girl

Did you read any Mills & Boons during your research

I’ve read Mills & Boons before. I was very careful that I’m writing in a girl’s voice (but) the book should not be seen as chick-lit... I told my editors, don’t let it descend in that zone. Don’t even let it descend in that Bridget Jones zone — bumbling little woman going about life. It had to be a middle. It had to be a fun book, but it also needed to make a point. Because, I thought, I will get one shot. I could make the book fun fun fun, and the story ends. That’s why the book has a couple of places, two-three paragraphs where, it is explained, ki yeh hai (feminism) Mills & Boons tend to be very, you know they don’t go into the depth of character much. For example, the work she does at Goldman Sachs. A Mills & Boons will never go into the detailing there So that makes the book different, makes the character little more real. Mills & Boons will not have a character like her mother, making the shaadi.com profile. So it makes it more real than a fantasy.

And did you read 50 Shades of Grey

I’ve read. I’ve seen. But, you know, it (One Indian Girl) has some sex scenes, but they are also

Actually I wasn’t asking because of that.

Haan. I’ve read. I read big bestsellers anyway. To see ki isme kya hai. I considered writing something like that but it’s not my

Huh

No. You know, it’s okay. I don’t have a view on it. I mean, I like to write on things that I have a view on.

Why, you just said na, women have misconceptions about sex

Woh dal-diya usmein... There is a lot of It is my boldest book in terms of sex scenes. I don’t think any of my books have such elaborate sex scenes.

The book spans four years.

Ya. Three-four years.

Two sex scenes

Usi mein dekho Twitter pe hungama mach gaya. What really gets people’s attention is that I show middle class girls having sex. It’s very disturbing to men... See, if it’s a gori girl, if it’s a 50 Shades, toh phir S&M bhi chalega wahan. Yeh West Delhi ki ladki, jo apni shaadi ke, matlab pakode ban rahe hain, and then she has sex — that’s very close to home. That could be a girl they know. That could a girl around them. It’s unsettling for men, that a woman could be like this. She may demand, she may choose, she may go from one man to the other, it’s not something men are prepared for, so even these two (sex scenes) are Page 57 is now trending on Twitter. (speaks in a rushed, excited voice of a reader) Page 57 pe sex scene hai, yeh sex scene aa gaya, sex scene aa gaya sex scene aa gaya Because it’s a desi girl... Baki toh, porn is there everywhere. 50 Shades kya hai. Kuch bhi nahin... See it, why read it.

I asked because of Radhika’s inner voice — Mini Me. That’s like in 50 shades, where she has Inner Goddess.

And I was careful not to make it that. But, you know, I needed a Mini Me, because what girls think and the kind of Mini Me is that cultural, you can even call it the mother voice. The mother never leaves you. I found girls talking to me, and they are talking talking talking talking and, suddenly, they’ll totally contradict themselves in their chain of thought. “Haan, I like this guy you know, I want to take things ahead Mera bhi man tha, main karoon. But it’s wrong na, to do something, sleep with him ” It was almost like a parallel track.

Schizophrenia

It’s not schizophrenic it’s conflict, confusion in their head So there’s dialogue with Radhika, Radhika’s thoughts and Mini Me — three different tracks... So she could be saying something to Brijesh. “Hi, nice to see you.” Then she’s thinking ki “Hai, my boyfriend messaged.” And Mini Me is says, “What the fuck are you doing ” ...It was actually a hard book to write. Once you read it, pata nahin lagta hai. But it took me a long time — ki karoon kaise. To capture ki yeh book aadmi ne nahin likhi, ladki ne likhi hai. Girls think on multiple tracks. Men don’t. Men, one track.

Men don’t have a voice in their head, father’s voice

Itna nahin hota hai. Not so much ya. Not on a daily basis. Women are just told too much. Just think about it. Women are told to take care of their looks all the times. Men don’t have that pressure Women have a different They are constantly told, aise baitho, legs fold karo. I don’t even know how they are able to think clearly because they are constantly made aware of their surroundings, their appearance, how they are coming across.

So they internalise it

Ya, there’s a lots more internal chatter. Of course, everybody is different. Some people are They don’t think much. It’s fine. But generally, in women, there is more neurosis.

You didn’t feel, as a writer, to take an idea that was so popular, from such a popular book

I didn’t know. I read 50 Shades after I had written Mini Me, okay. And then one of my editors said ki aise Inner Goddess hai. Then I asked 10-15 other readers. Did you feel that. They had also read 50 Shades. They said now that you say, but Inner Goddess is a little different. It’s an admonishing voice. Mini Me is a critic. And Inner Goddess is not the only, many books have had that See, ultimately it’s a book about a woman, so Bridget Jones, Devil Wears Prada, 50 Shades, you are gonna have those references. But it’s an original story which talks about feminism, which is where it differs from those books. And that’s the strength of the book. Baki, device, ya, but it’s not come from 50 Shades.

Okay. Men you said don’t have that voice in their head. Is that simply because they are not told, or

They are not judged that much. When you are judged too much For example, to me, if I’m judged too much on Twitter, or press, I will have those thoughts in my head: Did I say the right thing, theek bolon, kya bolon That inner critic is at its most alert. Men can be themselves a lot more in this world. Men have designed this world, men can be themselves. Jaise woh sochte hain, waise chalte hain. Haati chalta hai apni mast chal. Vaise hain. Women have to navigate more. So when you are navigating more, you are thinking more. And, therefore, maybe, you are a little more stressed as well.

There are several things that you get right in the book — how women learn to love themselves via other things and people — boyfriend, big job, big salary, compliments constant reaffirmation of their identity from the outside world, huge difficulty in decision making, karoon, nahin karoon, kya kar rahi hoon

Because, you know, women I think have been told, that you can become what you like. Jaise she says, ki mom, why did Dad tell me you, can become anything in life. But once they become very successful, they don’t fit in. A very successful woman finds it difficult to fit into our society. Iska kya karein Kiski bahu banegi Kaise Ma banegi So they are on their own. And they have to take decisions — kis aadmi ke saath jaaon, na jaoon. Naukri karoon They are being forced to make choices they don’t want to make. It’s simply because they are women. If this story If Radhika were a man, same story, things would have been very different. He’d be in New York, be with a girlfriend who works in an ad agency, makes three times the money, has a home in New York. First class zindagi chalti. No conflict only. So that’s what I wanted to bring out. Simply because of her gender, it’s a totally different story.

Is that why, in the book you write that women hide their success. Is that

That came from research. Lot of my female friends said jab unki mummy matrimonial bana rahi thi, ya khud bhi, ki jyada mat likho hi-fi, phir ladke respond nahin karte Yesterday only someone said, “Ya so true. My mom is exactly like that.” This journalist from Quartz. She said I’m 29, I’m Punjabi. Mummy says, “Jyada mat like apna journalism. Writer likh.” Journalism nahin likhne deti. Writer likh. Journalist se shaadi nahin karna chahte log. Can you believe it (he asks me) We both laugh The funny thing is, she has agreed to that. I said, “You are attacking me, that you have been too mild in your feminism, and office mein baith ke badi feminism ki baaten karte ho. Par tumhari Mummy ne kaha, aur tum maan gaye na. Tum kyun mane ” Kehti, “Main kya karoon. Too much pressure to get married, and my mom is saying aise hi hogi.” Batao. Exact same thing is in the book.

So why do you think women can’t take compliments

There is a lot of self doubt in women. See, what are girls growing up with. Little girls are growing up seeing these images in magazine of these girls You know what an average make-up person in Bollywood costs, just to do make-up of one heroine before she steps out for an event Rs 40,000. Hair is another 40,000. Stylist will take another 30-40,000. Ek lakh toh unko drawing room se bahar nikalne ka hai. Phir photo khichti hai And those photos are all over. And the little girl grows up and says, “I don’t look like this. I’m not good enough.” Little girls are not growing up looking at scientists, lawyers, doctors. They are not seeing their pictures. They are seeing that. So they are full of doubt. They are full of, ki “I’m not attractive enough, I’m not good enough.” They need validation more than We all need validation. Men also need validation. But women have a bigger – ek toh, maybe, biologically they are a little bit inclined, I don’t know. But definitely, environmentally, we make then feel inadequate from a very early age. And therefore they are Like when she (Radhika) sees Kusum, the wife (of her boss and boyfriend), in that furniture store. And she’s like, but my boobs are bigger than hers. And then she scold herself: Main kya keh rahi hoon, I’m the vice-president, why am I comparing But that’s what women do. It’s a reflex. They do it. It’s funny, but they do that. And then she says, what am I — the mistress. And then she says, “Why am I calling myself mistress ” Neel’s not thinking that. No. He’s not thinking ki “Main kitna kamina hoon.” He doesn’t have that moral burden.

So are you a better husband, a better

I hope so. I understand women better now. I mean, to write a whole book, to meet a 100 women. I still remain a man and I still will never fully get them. But I’m more sensitive, ki theek hai they go through this

Aah! You also mention “those days”

Haan. But that’s Neel. That’s what men are. Not only that. Before that, when she (Radhika) says, I also wants kids, I also want messy And he says, no, you are just, you know, you met my wife and you are getting competitive about me. Usko kag raha hai ki main Rajkumar hoon. Ladkon ko aise bada kiya jata hai – Mera Raja Beta. This is something as a man I would have not understood before I wrote the book. As a man I may have done things like that. Looked at things from my point of view only. And then he says, “Arre kya baat hai, tera mood kyun kharab hai Are you gonna to get ” It’s just a typical insensitive thing men say. And sometimes it may be true also. And the funny thing is she does have (her period). And ya, it does put them in that mood. But that’s not the only reason na.

YA. Yes. Please

We both giggle

So in the two sex scenes in your book, both the time she has an orgasm, which is great

Which I wanted to show to women

And both times it’s courtesy oral sex. Is this something that your research threw up

Well it’s one very overlooked thing in India. The moment you show sex, it’s not But oral sex is very clearly pleasuring woman. And I think it’s important that women find out that it exists, frankly, in a country like India, and that they deserve it. And it’s a way they can have orgasm. Describing how you can have an orgasm via intercourse would need a very, very explicit, G-spot kinda scene which I didn’t want to do In the second sex scene, she has orgasm twice. Second time is through intercourse. Both are not

Ya, one is.

Neel is amazing na. Neel toh kaise bhi kara-dega. We both laugh Hahahahaha But it’s deliberate. The oral sex references were deliberate because I felt that it’s something that gives a woman more to ask for. And it’ll make a difference. Millions of women are reading the book. At least they’ll discuss with their boyfriend, “Yeh kya hota hai ” Which is good. Ek seva toh kari.

haahaaaa

So are you saying women don’t

Women are confused. Or they will never ask. And men won’t do. So phir, kaise You know. So now, I have

So now they can open page 57

hahaha and follow the instructions If that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes.

You said as part of your research you read, modern feminist voices, so what according to you is feminism

Just an equal chance for a woman to pursue her happiness, as much as a man. Now what that happiness is, is not for anyone to judge. It could be to stay at home and make rotis. It could be to become a CEO. It could be to do both, howsoever impractical, difficult it is. But equal chance. Jitna ek aadmi ko milta hai, usko bhi milna chahiye. That’s all it is. It’s totally fine to still be a sucker for love. It’s totally fine to want a man who calls you twice everyday. It’s fine. That’s not for me an issue. It’s not about being stronger than a man, to show a man I don’t need you. That’s artificial. Women need men and men need women...

That’s anyway not feminism

But woh ho gaya hai. Ho gaya hai. Log sochte hain feminism, matlab It doesn’t mean aadmi bure hai You may love your mom, but sometimes you get annoyed with her. You feel she needs to change. But that doesn’t mean you become a mom-hater and then only you are truly standing for change. It’s just the degree. The intensity and the anger doesn’t need to be there. It doesn’t need to be an angry movement. Thoda angry birds ho raha hai

But this is also a cliché, a stereotype about feminists

Well, maybe it’s a cliché, but the cliché exists, it’s the image in an average person’s head. You ask an average Indian girl what’s a feminist, she will not say it’s someone who helps me get what I want. She’ll say haan, woh hoti hain ladkiyan jo India Gate jaati hain, protest karti hain. They need to fix it then. Yes, it is a cliche. And I think it’s the wrong cliche. But it exists. So this should be fixed.

You’ve called your book a feminist book. How is it a feminist book

It’s a feminist book because it shows a character who, by the end, stands up for herself. Is no longer as needy, is no longer looking for validation from a man and understands her own womanhood better and understands what she wants in life better and is not willing to compromise for it. So in that way it’s a feminist book. And it talks about a ton of feminist issues throughout the book — whether it’s the boy’s side versus girl’s side, whether it’s little scenes like, she’s in a plane and airhostess puts a kambal over her and she says, “Yeh hai, Debu ki wife na. This is what he wants in a wife.” And then she says, “I also want a wife.” For me it’s a very powerful moment. Ya, hamein bhi chahiye bhai. Humein bhi do wife phir. Lao unke liye bhi kahin se wife. So it’s feminist in that way.

I actually saw that scene, that line as slightly problematic. Ki phir aap wohi

But it’s sarcasm. It’s a way to tell the men, ki what you are asking for is someone who worships you and is your slave.

She’s a stewardess. It’s her job to do that.

Correct. And you are saying ki wife aisi honi chahiye. Toh mujhe bhi do phir. It’s a way to tell men, you are asking for something impractical. You are asking for a person to be devoted to you, then how is it equal.

Hmmm Radhika’s inner voice and she herself often calls herself a slut and super-slut, like when she’s thinking of kissing, or she’s asking for oral sex. You don’t find these words, when you use them in a book you call feminist

You have to see the context, no... It’s her upbringing. The moment she feels desire, arre Mummy won’t approve, she’ll say, “Tu gandi ladki hai.” That’s how girls are brought up. “Yeh galat hai.” Toh man mein thought toh aa sakta hai na. She does what she has to do, but ek thought toh aata hai man mein. And that makes the character more real. If she’s like, no I’m a feminist, I’m going to do this, nobody will relate to that character in India because that’s not what girls feel. Maybe Khan Market girls feel that way, but they are at a different level of evolution. That’s not the target for the book. Average ladki ke liye, jiske man mein aata hai

Ye kya matlab hua! Aap hamesha yehi bolte ho — yeh target hai, yeh target nahin hai.

Kya karoon, hamare desh mein itna bada divide hai, itna elitist divide hai, ki koi samajhne ki koshish hi nahin karta hai. Ki kahan pe Bulandsheher bhi ek jagah hai, na. Jaunpur mein bhi ladkiyan rehti hain na. Wahan bhi toh Chetan Bhagat ki book padhte hain. Unko lagta hai ki, haan, unke dimag mein aapko lagta hai ki, haan-haan, theek hai, I can go sleep with any guy. The moment the thought comes, “By god, mein kaise so sakti hoon ” I need to slowly wean them off that thought process. I need to show that Radhika is like them, yet she’s doing things different from them. So it’s a way. It’s a narrative device. You cannot just pick a word and say tum-ne “slut” word kaise use kar liya. Of course slut word hai hamari duniya ki parlance mein.

So in the office, there’s a meeting and there are three of them from Goldmans Sachs, the meeting is over and her two male colleagues go downstairs for drinks with the client and she’s asked to write the term sheet, and there isn’t even an acknowledgement or a moment of protest in that scene where she even registers what has just happened. That there were four people in the room

I actually didn’t mean it in that way

But that scene is very typical. And if you didn’t notice it, I think that is even more interesting

Because, actually it’s her deal. I didn’t mean it like ke the deal is hers. And the other people sit in as people who the boss will take the clients out. She has to, somebody has to work See, I didn’t bring sexism in the workplace in this book. But there is sexism. Even this... A little bit. But it just would have become a very big book.

But this was such an obvious scene.

Ya , but in a place like Goldman Sachs there isn’t much sexism.

Or it’s not acknowledged

It’s not there. I mean, I wanted to show an organisation, ki, she’s in an environment jisme itna nahin hai. Ya, she may have done the term sheet but it could just have been a coincidence. I mean it was not at other times she’s also told to take the lead in meetings, she’s driving a lot of the So, woh hai. She’s doing the term sheet term sheet is not a secretarial job.

No, no. I’m not saying that. I’m just saying there was work to be done and there were drinks to be had, and

Ya, ya, but senior guy will go with the client. She’s a flunk na, a junior So even if boss was a female and she was she only gets credit for the deal na, finally.

Okay. I was just wondering why there wasn’t a moment when she

I deliberately showed a global organisation like Goldman Sachs where of course every organisation has little bit, but idhar itna woh nahin tha. A person like Neel toh gives up on a deal because someone shows sexism.

In fact, that’s my other question. She never reacts, even in that situation, she’s like theek-hai, koi baat nahin hai

Nahin hai woh utni feminist. She wants her own do-chaar cheezein. Most ladkiyan aisi hoti hain. Unko har waqt nahin ladna hai

Ya, that’s my point. All her feminist rage, ire is reserved only for her mother.

Ya, aise hi hota hai na. Aadmi ko jo chahiya It’s not important to her. Those Japanese people, what they say, what they don’t say, is not defining her. What matters is her boyfriend. Har aadmi ki life mein aise hoto ha. It doesn’t matter. Puri duniya ka she’s not an activist. But ya, maybe she disappointed you in that way.

Well, no. You did.

Ya, maybe. I wanted to show a real character.

And yet there are these two situations, when I though that

Interesting. But you are the first person who has brought it out like that. I will think about it. But nobody else has ever noticed that. What Kangana (Ranaut) said was ki “You have shown that she keeps rising, but you’ve not shown too much work conflict. Yeh kaise matlab. People don’t like her.” Kangana’s reaction, one of the things was, ki people don’t like a woman when she’s doing so well. They’ll get jealous. Fair enough. But the focus of the book is the shaadi and the men. It’s just sometimes

So, in the book, there is that dialogue between Radhika and Brijesh, when she asks him, “Are you a feminist ”

Goa mein, haan.

And he says, “feminist is the wrong term, it should be humanist.” So are you

There is that school of thought. Even Hillary Clinton’s video you see, gender rights are human rights, that’s what she says

But Hillary Clinton is not writing the book. Brijesh is not writing the book. You are. So why would you say

The dialogue goes, “Feminist is the wrong term. It should be humanist.” And Radhika says, “That’s true”. But people have liked it. You know I asked people their favourite line from the book — it’s there, on my FB page. And that’s one of the most liked lines. People like it. It’s easy to understand. What is wrong in it Some people say that you need the term feminist because their rights have been repressed so long that you need it. But, in essence, baat galat toh nahin keh raha na. He’s trying to say it’s not like ki koi alag hi species hai, koi alag hi cause hai. It’s like, jaise aap rang ka bhed-bhav nahi karke, dharam ka nahin karte, gender ka bhi mat karo. Ek tarah se he’s just trying to say that.

But not looking at it in this, you know, very simplistic terms, jo aap keh rahe ho if you don’t look at it in a completely dumbed down kind of

It’s not dumbed down. It may be an oversimplification. But to call it dumbed-down is being judgmental. A lot of people think that way. This view is not an isolated view.

But isn’t the very first thing If there’s a rights movement, in this case for women, and they want to call it feminism, isn’t the first step of acknowledging the movement, the issue to accept the word

I’m not Brijesh. I’ve written a full book on it (feminism). If I didn’t think it was important, I won’t have written a book on it. And talking about the word, I could have avoided the discussion only. I could have chopped off the discussion

But that’s what I’m saying. You are saying humanism is the entry point. I’m saying shouldn’t the entry point be: Okay, woman have a movement for equal rights and they call it feminism, let’s begin by accepting that.

Ya, he’s open minded. It’s his way of putting it. There are different ways of looking at it.

I want to know what’s your way of looking at it.

My way is that it has to come democratically, and, ideally for me, women in India should decide. They should all get involved, in a mainstream way, and they should define what this is. It’s not an answer I can give, it’s not an answer some experts can give. The movement has not even touched the average Indian woman. So first step is let it touch them, let them define it, let’s not be elitist about it.

This is a straight dialogue. There’s no conflict. They are just talking, so that’s why I was puzzled, why be a feminist denier in a book that you

No, no. She’s with a guy she’s having an arranged marriage with. She can’t have an argument na. She’s listening. She just says, are you a feminist Brijesh. Because it’s important to her. The fact that she asks him the question is because it’s important to her. Ki tu kya hai, tu batade mujhe. Ki tu sambhal payega mujhe ki nahin sambhal payega. He may not have given the perfect answer, because that’s who Brijesh is.

But she agrees with him

She’s like, it’s a nice way to put it. There’s nothing to disagree on that. Ya, she doesn’t go on to say, but the feminists mean But she’s Radhika, and she’s getting married, and she’s doing dope in Goa

But... that, that feminists do a lot of dope.

She’s not that kind of feminist.

Okay.

She may have disappointed (you), but uska hone wala pati hai.

But my

Achcha, anyway. Let’s go on.

Ok, last question. There is no much product placement in the book.

There’s no payment made. Brands are pop culture icons today, whether we like it or not. Brands help me define a character Facebook is a brand. WhatsApp is a brand. Google is a company. They are all publicly listed companies.

So artistically, in your writing

It helps me to put people in context. That they went to Starbucks brings a certain authenticity to the character for me because that’s the consumerists society, that’s the world we line in now, and especially this girl, who works at Goldman Sachs. I hate giving fake names. I hate it. Like, if I have to call it Silverman Sachs. I hate it. It evokes something na: She works in Goldman Sachs. Or whether it’s the Marriott in Goa. Prestige Hotel in Goa doesn’t look nice (laughs) — so there’s a disclaimer in the book. Real names, places have been used, but in a fictional just to aid story telling. Suspension of disbelief is a very big aspect of fiction. People should really feel yeh ho raha hai. So the brands have to come in, and that’s why I put them. Liberally I put them. But there’s no like, tie up, with some brand

I was thinking that maybe because your writing is so much like a screenplay, that’s why

You see, some writers describe a room. Woh room aisa tha, chair aisi thi I just say, they went to Starbucks. Boom. Ho gaya. The reader knows. I save a whole page of description because they are sitting in Starbucks. People can imagine it. Because they are sitting in Starbucks and discussing, you can imagine it. Because I write about real life, I can use that very well. She went to Banana Republic. If I’m writing historical fiction, I have to describe raja ka darbar, which I don’t have to do. So that’s a big, big advantage I have. And I use it.

Clearly you see this as a film.

Maybe, one day... Typical solo hero-heroine is a better casting. It’s harder to put a project together (with a woman in the lead and three men). If people like the story, and if somebody with money believes it’ll be a good film I’ll not put the money. Somebody else will have to come and say and I think there’s interest. Kangana wants to do it. I think it’ll make a fantastic film. It’s got all the fun elements — it’s got shaadi-vaadi

It’s a little Tanu weds Manu and a little Queen

And yet it’ll make a point. Mother and daughter’s scenes, it’ll hit home. I don’t know what we’ll do with the explicit scenes though. We’ll have to tone them down. Otherwise Nihalaniji won’t like it.

Nihalani is directing the film

Noooooo