Anuja Chauhan interview: ‘I like to write about places that I have access to’

Chauhan spoke about the upcoming adaptation in an exclusive breakfast chat at Hotel Kenilworth in Kolkata on the sidelines of the recent Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2024. With an oil-free gobhi parantha, a bowl of curd, and a cup of Darjeeling tea to brighten up her morning, she was at her spirited best answering all questions with her characteristic humour. Excerpts:

A lot of authors are really unhappy when they see adaptations of their books on screen. What was your reaction like when you saw the trailer of Murder Mubarak?

Actually, I saw the whole movie in October. There were a lot of caveats. They said it was a work in progress, that the background music wasn’t fully done, and a few other things were to be finalized. But my overwhelming sense was one of relief when I watched it because I was honestly a bit scared about what they might do with my novel. Well, they sent me the screenplay three times during the process, and I also chatted with the screenwriters. Suprotim (Sengupta), who has worked on the screenplay, is someone I have known. We worked together when he was with UTV. The adaptation wasn’t a complete surprise. I knew that certain calls needed to be taken when the book was being adapted into a movie. For example, one particular character is a General in my book, but a prince in the movie. They had some concerns about not getting too political, so they steered clear of things that were not essential.

I really liked the way they have done the club. We had spoken a lot about where they could set the film when they were doing recces in the pre-production phase. They spoke to the Tollygunge Club, the Bangalore Club, all the big clubs, imperial hotels and palaces. The location that they finally got worked out well. They shot at the Oberoi Maidens hotel in Delhi. The way they have dressed it up, the textures…it looks perfect! The casting, which was a concern for me, has fallen into place so beautifully. Pankaj Tripathi is excellent as ACP Bhavani. Sara Ali Khan playing a South Delhi princess — the hottest thing in the city — is so right, so authentic! Karisma Kapoor plays a rich older woman contesting elections to be the president of the club. She is spot on! Dimple Kapadia and Vijay Varma are insanely good.

At the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, you said that Pankaj Tripathi is so good that you cannot help thinking of him when you think of ACP Bhavani Singh. The same character appears in your latest novel, The Fast and the Dead (2023). How does Homi Adajania’s ACP Bhavani affect your conception of ACP Bhavani? Have you planned any other books where ACP Bhavani will show up to solve a murder mystery?

My point was that the casting is so damn good. I am okay with Homi’s ACP Bhavani in my head because Pankaj Tripathi is just excellent in that role. If he had cast Saif Ali Khan instead, I wouldn’t have had the same response. He is just too suave for that role. I haven’t planned any more books with ACP Bhavani. I am waiting for this movie to release, and see what the response is like. If Maddock Films decides to make the sequel, we’ll see. I have written seven books, so I am thinking: Shaayad ho gaya mera! Kitni likhoongi? (Perhaps I’m done with this! I have reached a point where I don’t have to write anymore.) But I might wait for a really good idea.

You wrote Club You to Death during the COVID-19 pandemic. What made you jump into writing a murder mystery when the news cycle was filled with stories and images of people dying because of the virus or a shortage of oxygen cylinders, and even starvation because of a nationwide lockdown that took away their livelihood?

I wrote this book during the first wave of the pandemic between February and July 2020. At that time, we weren’t seeing so many reports of people dying in India. It was the time when kids studying abroad were coming back from the US and the UK, when we were banging utensils and making Dalgona coffee here. That bartan peetna (clanking utensils) time, you remember, no? Everyone was washing their own groceries, and doing their own jhadu pochha (sweeping and mopping).

Writing was a form of escape for me because everybody was at home. I had been happily working from home for 10 years. It was just me and my dog. He is an indie. We have named him Chhabbis because he was adopted on January 26. So, during the pandemic, all my children — one, two, three — and my husband showed up. The house felt so crowded, so I went to the basement and just wrote for as long as I could. Opening my laptop was like opening a manhole cover and pushing myself into a tunnel to get away from my life and surroundings.

I used to imagine myself in the Delhi Gymkhana Club, drinking lemonade in the winter sunshine. My reality was entirely different. I was sitting in Bangalore and writing.

Which clubs have you spent most of your time at, or enjoyed the most?

The Delhi Gymkhana Club, for sure! When I just got married (to television producer Niret Alva), we used to live right opposite the club. You could just walk across to the club, play, do what you like, get a drink, and walk back. No breathalyser, nothing! You were just walking back. Everybody else was talking about reversing their cars and being caught by the police, and we were just rolling back home very drunk. It was very exciting at that time.

In my childhood, I went to the Army Club in Dhaula Kuan at the Delhi Cantonment. My dad was in the Army, and I used to love it. My mum used to say, “You can wear shorts in the club.” It was like a different world altogether. You could wear shorts. You could talk to boys. They could approach you. You could dance with them. There were men from the club itself, so it was considered okay. Of course, it was a very caste-class kind of thing. I used to love swimming there, eating all the food there. It was just a safe space. My parents would go to the bar. I used to like going to the library and reading, or watching movies. The club was the first place where I got to eat hot dogs. It was a big thing in the 1980s when I was a kid.

Now I like going to the Bangalore Club with my husband. It’s just the two of us. It is a nice vibe. Of course, our kids are members of the club but they are older and they have their own friends, so they like to do their own thing. Actually, I have now reached a point in my life where I look at people with young children and go like, “Bichaare! Haaye haaye! Inki lagi padi hai.” (Poor things! Aww! They are screwed). I feel really sad for them, yaar. (laughs) I am not saying that people should not have kids. I am just happy that I am done and dusted.

Why did you decide to set Club You to Death in Lutyens’ Delhi?

I like to write about places that I have access to, and can write about with authority. I like to set books in places that I know. I know advertising, clubs, election campaigns, cantonment life, and that part of Delhi really well because we have lived there for more years than I can count. I know the bungalows, the quarters, and the gardens, and the life inside all those spaces. There is a lot of that in my earlier books too — Battle for Bittora (2010) and Those Pricey Thakur Girls (2013) as well. Lutyens’ Delhi is safe and comfy, and for me, so why not?

Let’s talk about the economics of adaptation and the logistics involved in selling the movie rights? Do you have an agent, or do you handle everything yourself?

I worked in advertising for 17 years, so I have a lot of contacts. People know me. They have my number. I have a working relationship with a lot of studios. I don’t have an agent. What I do have and pay for as a smart investment is a good lawyer. With my first two books, the contracts were not very well drawn out. I have no access to The Zoya Factor (2008) or The Battle for Bittora now because of those contracts. With Those Pricey Thakur Girls, my third book, I decided to get myself a really nice lawyer. And now I am in a good position because of the way she has drawn up all the contracts. Yashraj Films had the movie rights to my novel Baaz (2017). I got them back, and I have just sold them to Dharma Productions.

Since most writers in India are underpaid for their work, would you say that selling movie rights is emerging as a lucrative option for those who write fiction?

Living off the advances that authors get for their books is not easy at all. Most people need to have a day job. When I wrote my first two books, I had a full-time job in advertising and three children under 13. You have to be like a hero balancing on two motorcycles.

You remind me of Ajay Devgn in the film Phool Aur Kaante!

Yes, exactly! You have to do that kind of balancing act — ek pair advertising mein, doosra fiction mein — hoping that you’ll jump to one side and get paid enough to stick to it.

In the past, you have talked about moving from advertising to writing fiction because you wanted more creative control. When your novels are adapted for the screen, what kind of creative control do you get to have? Don’t you have to let go?

But, man, I am getting paid for it, na? Also, my books continue to be there. People can read them and watch the movie. They don’t have to pick one or the other. I am very proud of The Zoya Factor, for instance. It came out way back in 2008, and it is still selling steadily. I am a realist. There are so many factors involved in making a movie. There is a studio. There is a budget. There is a director. There are 50 thousand moving pieces. Arre, director ka khud ka creative control nahin hota hai movie pe, mera kya hoga? I get all my creative control when I write my books. It’s just me and my laptop. Nobody can screw around. My editors have been really good. They don’t say anything. Ever. I have never had an issue with editors. Only with The Zoya Factor, they said that the book was too fat. It’s true. I should have listened to them. We cut down 20 thousand words but even now, when I look at the book, I think it is completely bloated. I kept writing because I didn’t know what to do. (laughs)