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'The novel is unabashedly erotic'
Updated On: 30 October, 2020 07:43 AM IST | Mumbai | Dalreen Ramos
In her latest title that launches today, Shobhaa De paints a portrait of a Marwari woman who challenges societal norms at every step of the way.
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Shobhaa De
"The world is a savage place for women who break rules," Shobhaa Dé tells us in an email interview. And Srilaaji, the protagonist and title of her latest novel, does exactly that. But the book was never supposed to be about Srilaaji at all. In fact, the author's proposal to publisher Simon & Schuster India was a non-fiction title, until this fictional Marwari woman "smoothly hijacked" the project. Today, the novel will be launched virtually with actor Neena Gupta in conversation with Dé.
Srilaaji's story begins as a curious child at her family's palatial home in Calcutta, which also marks the start of her sexual curiosities. And although the character came to Dé as if a wand had been swished and flicked, structuring the narrative was another story. "I literally had a few minutes to think of a storyline before the publishers arrived at my home with a contract for a totally different book. I had to come up with something worthwhile to discuss. Lightning struck, and saved me the embarrassment of stammering and stuttering during the meeting. I thought of the phases first — virgin, wife, widow, and the cities fell into place subsequently — which was really fortunate," she says.
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