|
It was a motley crowd of writers and journalists, Darryl D�Monte, Naresh Fernandes, Jerry Pinto, Kalpana Sharma and celebrities Rahul Bose, Kitu Gidwani and Sheetal Malhar, who gathered for the launch of Suketu Mehta�s book, Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found at Olive in Union Park on Sept 20.
The author, who was busy signing copies of his book that were being sold at the entrance, seemed quite elated with the response. Says Mehta, �The response has been tremendous. I was incredibly moved by the turnout.�
Others spotted in the crowd were actor Girish Karnad, photographer Farrokh Chothia and ad filmmaker and scriptwriter Anuradha Tandon.
Mumbai-born Mehta, a journalist and fiction writer, moved to New York when he was 14. In 1998, he returned to Mumbai for two years and this is his
account of the people who make up the metropolis.
Says Mehta, �It took me four years to write this book. It took time to get people to confide; I spent two-and-a-half years on research.�
Naresh Fernandes, resident of St Cyril�s Road, who was at the book launch, says, �I think Maximum City... is a landmark book; Suketu Mehta has married the gritty vividness of journalism with the pacy narrative style of a novel. I was astonished at the many worlds he discovered within our own city and the great empathy with which he portrays them.�
Says Anuradha Tandon, resident of D�Monte Road, �Though I haven�t read the book as yet, I have been in touch with Suketu as he progressed with the book. I expect the book to be phenomenal.�
Speaking about his future plans, Mehta says, �Right now I am writing a screenplay for Merchant Ivory and simultaneously working on a novel.�
When asked if the novel will focus on Mumbai, he replies, �I don�t think I will ever
be able to write anything without putting in a bit about Mumbai after this.�
More about the book
Mehta gives an insider�s view of the city, bringing to his account a rare level of insight, detail, and intimacy. In the book, he introduces the leader of a branch of the Shiv Sena, gangsters from Mumbai�s underworld, a bargirl and a struggling actor, among others.
Through it all � as each individual story unfolds � we hear Mehta�s own story.
About the author
Suketu Mehta is a fiction writer and journalist based in New York. He has won the Whiting Writers Award, the O Henry Prize, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for his fiction.
Mehta�s other work has been published in the New York Times Magazine, Granta, Harper's magazine, Time, Cond� Nast Traveler and The Village Voice. Mehta also co-wrote Mission Kashmir.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |
