Browsing in The Strand Bookstall yesterday I saw Ms De’s latest staring down from the prime display location. Ms. De on the cover was at her dazzling best, but then when is she not. I was tempted to make an immediate purchase but I had half a dozen unread books lying at home so I reluctantly placed the book back onto the shelf.
I know a little bit about Ms. De from her writings. She is unashamedly proud of India’s past and unashamedly optimistic about India’s future. I cannot think of a person who epitomizes contemporary India better. Whatever Superstar India: From Incredible to Unstoppable is, it will certainly be straight from her heart.
Ms. De sprung to fame as the editor of Stardust and turned film journalism on its head. The first issue featuring Rajesh Khanna on its cover, labeled as the ‘phenomenon’ is something few will forget. Later she began writing novels. I haven’t read any only because by then I had stopped reading contemporary fiction. But I remember that the novels were recommended as supplementary reading by Oxford University (or was it Cambridge?). And I also remember one pitifully misguided comment in the press that it was perhaps to teach people how not to write. Why cannot we revel in the successes of our fellow humans? I have read quite a few of Ms, De’s newspaper columns. Her observations are sharp and her arguments sound. I remember a recent one in which she expressed admiration for Mayawati’s success in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. I do not know whether she subscribes to Mayawati’s political philosophy, but Ms. De drove home the point that admiration for the achievement is independent of admiration for the achiever. One book of Ms. De’s I have read and that is Spouses. It is an extremely imaginative concept in that it describes the joys and tribulations of marriage in general through the joys and tribulations of her marriage. The only more candid self-exposition I have read is in Shri Harivanshraiji Bachchan’s autobiography. And finally I cannot forget her on Coffee with Karan, sorry make that Koffee with Karan. One thing we have in common is a liking to see movies in cinema halls with popcorn for company.
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