How 100 days of love helps me write
There are two things I look forward to on Saturday mornings. One is the Hindustan Times newspaper and the second is Financial Chronicle.
Hindustan Times, because every Saturday it publishes the HT-Nielsen list. Everyone knows that Nielsen is absolutely the authentic thing when it comes to sales and market comparisons. (Nielsen is a global information company that provides data and insights into what people watch, listen and buy). The Nielsen book scan data is like the Bible in the publishing industry.
So imagine my pleasant surprise when I found this morning that my latest book It happens for a Reason had finally beaten Life is what you make it, which is always a constant on the Nielsen top ten.
(Here is the clip from today's paper. Click on it to enlarge. My book is at no.5)
Financial Chronicle because my column Sex and the city gets published every Saturday . It always gives me joy to see my words in print. And no matter how many times it has happened before, the thrill is just the same.
I watched a lovely Malayalam movie the other day which is currently running in the multiplexes . It was called 100 days of love and it starred Dulquer. I really liked the movie and enjoyed it immensely. Loved the way the movie has been treated (very Hollywoodish. Nothing like a usual Indian movie), though I thought it could have been about 45 minutes shorter in order for it to be 'perfect'. (Just cut out the silly songs and few other unnecessary fillers)
SPOILERS AHEAD--so do not read if you want to watch it.
In the movie, the protagonist Balan, played by Dulquer, is a features writer working in Times. And not once in the entire length of 154 minutes, is he shown writing an article, meeting a deadline, turning in his piece, researching for it or even reading up :) All he seems to be doing is getting drunk and either trolling his ex or making declarations to his current or quitting his job or getting fired or driving around Bangalore city! I can assure you with utmost sincerity that a writer's life isn't at all like what is portrayed in the movie. Not even if you are Dulquer Salmaan :)
One of the key things I find as a writer is my need for solitude. I need to be alone in order to be able to think. The best ideas come to you, only when you travel inside your head. How will you do it if you are constantly surrounded by external stimuli like a phone buzzing or a TV blaring or people constantly talking to you because those things direct your attention outside? I need to look inside.
I need to ruminate, ponder, wonder. I need to ask myself questions, I need to seek answers, I need to research and I need to read. And I read a lot.
And for me, movies are what I use to 'switch off' my brain. Ideas are constantly buzzing. Sometimes they fight for my attention. It's a chaos inside my head. All the time. Non-stop. Mostly it is manageable and under-control.
And sometimes Dulquer helps. :)
_______________________________________________________
Get my latest book!
Amazon: http://is.gd/
Flipkart: http://is.gd/
Hindustan Times, because every Saturday it publishes the HT-Nielsen list. Everyone knows that Nielsen is absolutely the authentic thing when it comes to sales and market comparisons. (Nielsen is a global information company that provides data and insights into what people watch, listen and buy). The Nielsen book scan data is like the Bible in the publishing industry.
So imagine my pleasant surprise when I found this morning that my latest book It happens for a Reason had finally beaten Life is what you make it, which is always a constant on the Nielsen top ten.
Financial Chronicle because my column Sex and the city gets published every Saturday . It always gives me joy to see my words in print. And no matter how many times it has happened before, the thrill is just the same.
I watched a lovely Malayalam movie the other day which is currently running in the multiplexes . It was called 100 days of love and it starred Dulquer. I really liked the movie and enjoyed it immensely. Loved the way the movie has been treated (very Hollywoodish. Nothing like a usual Indian movie), though I thought it could have been about 45 minutes shorter in order for it to be 'perfect'. (Just cut out the silly songs and few other unnecessary fillers)
SPOILERS AHEAD--so do not read if you want to watch it.
In the movie, the protagonist Balan, played by Dulquer, is a features writer working in Times. And not once in the entire length of 154 minutes, is he shown writing an article, meeting a deadline, turning in his piece, researching for it or even reading up :) All he seems to be doing is getting drunk and either trolling his ex or making declarations to his current or quitting his job or getting fired or driving around Bangalore city! I can assure you with utmost sincerity that a writer's life isn't at all like what is portrayed in the movie. Not even if you are Dulquer Salmaan :)
One of the key things I find as a writer is my need for solitude. I need to be alone in order to be able to think. The best ideas come to you, only when you travel inside your head. How will you do it if you are constantly surrounded by external stimuli like a phone buzzing or a TV blaring or people constantly talking to you because those things direct your attention outside? I need to look inside.
I need to ruminate, ponder, wonder. I need to ask myself questions, I need to seek answers, I need to research and I need to read. And I read a lot.
And for me, movies are what I use to 'switch off' my brain. Ideas are constantly buzzing. Sometimes they fight for my attention. It's a chaos inside my head. All the time. Non-stop. Mostly it is manageable and under-control.
And sometimes Dulquer helps. :)
_______________________________________________________
Get my latest book!
Amazon: http://is.gd/
Flipkart: http://is.gd/
I think there's a pretty good reason why life is what u make it was on top of the list for a very long time. It still remains my fav book of urs. Simple, Inspiring and well researched 😊 As for 100 days of love. Will be watching it this morning.. So I am all excited
ReplyDeleteThanks Salesh. But I do think 'It happens for a Reason' shows how much I have grown as a writer. It is definitely better written :) The transience of emotions is difficult to capture. As is a journey of a girl, a teen mother, who chose to raise a baby outside wedlock.
ReplyDeletePreeti I love all your writings, I didn't intentionally use loved over here, as I keep flipping through the leaves every now and then. You bring about the connectivity of each and every character's emotions in a very simple language, I almost feel flowing with them. Nice work, awaiting your next piece.
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much Meera! You have no idea just how much words like yours help my words flow :) <3
ReplyDeletePreeti, I am also an avid reader of your books...Honestly speaking I like your previous books than It happens for a reason...Please keep on continue your good work.
ReplyDeleteI guess each person likes that story which resonates most with them :)
DeleteAnd each one is right in their own way!
Personally I believe that I have definitely grown with each book that I have written.
Thank you for reading :)
Hii..u wouldn't believe it...but a year or two so when i used to stay in Bangalore ,i used to go the bookshops quite a number of times,always stumbling upon ur book but my hubby wud drag me out from there simply because he knows me too well to leave me alone in a bookshop..Lollxx i hope to read ur work real soon,dear...
ReplyDeleteCheers!!
Hi Preety Mam, just finished reading It happens for a reason.. it was not some mushy makebelieve fantasy yet nt heart racking tale of reality...it makes u sit n comtemplate dats its nt only d situtions in our life dat have a cosmic reason to have happened d way it happened but also at parallel to it run we mortal denizens who for a reason behave d way dey do..like in d case of Vee's mother in d book...u didnt needed to explain dat but by doing dat I am sure many bleeding souls will now atleast try to find reasons 4 d odd behavior of their loved one...Thanks Preety specially 4 dat part .. truly touched...
ReplyDeletethanks for writing this blog. i too write and was thinking why this all is happening to me. is it normal? reading your last two paras i felt satisfied that these are the symptoms of being a writer :)
ReplyDeleteLoove the post. HT is my favorite and moved over TOI. Your posts are always fresh and full of life:)
ReplyDeleteabsolutely!! it's too hard to concentrate with even a minute vibration.ahh! what a bliss is in solitude.i prefer writing at night for there is all silence and darkness :))
ReplyDeleteHi preeti,
ReplyDeleteI have read ly few Indian authored books. But I was bored of them plotting ly love. I was browsing and occasionally choose "life is wat you make it". Second half just stunned me. Every line I could just go through the exact emotions as Ankita and felt I lived her life. Till now I have done nothing useful in life and nor my job fits me in. But this book has given me a hope. Having ur " one you cannot have" in my hand and gonna begin now. Thank u preeti.... :)
P.S. wrote it here, as I felt u r active here.