ZOON
By Selina Sen
Pages: 381
Acclaimed Bollywood director Shantanu Rai is eager to begin shooting his masterpiece, Zoon, a film on the 16th century Kashmiri queen, poet and musician, Habba Khatoon. Joya, fresh from film school, joins the production team to work alongside young Kashmiri historian Rashid. The filming progreses well and Joya and Rashid to fall in love. But this is Kashmir at the onset of a crippling insurgency.
A shocking incident of terrorism halts the shoot, and lives descend into interlocking spirals of loss and betrayal. Ten years on, Joya returns to Kashmir to complete Zoon and reach out to a lost love. Will Zoon the film ever be released?
A mingling of real and reel, past and present, played out against the violence and volatility of Kashmir. Zoon is a powerful love story set in strife-ridden Kashmir, with the making of a Bollywood biopic on the 16th-century poet.
The Rise of Sivagami
By Anand Neelakantan
Pages: 490
When five-year-old Sivagami witnesses her father being branded a traitor and executed by the maharaja of Mahishmathi, she vows to one day destroy the kingdom.
At seventeen, she recovers a manuscript from her crumbling ancestral mansion. Written in a strange language called Paisachi, the manuscript contains a secret that may redeem her father or condemn him further.
Meanwhile, Kattappa, a proud and idealistic young slave who blindly believes in his duty, finds himself in the service of a spoilt prince. Alongside, he must try and keep his brother, who resents their social position and yearns for freedom.As Sivagami tries to unravel the secret of the manuscript, she finds that the empire of Mahishmathi is teeming with conspirators, palace intrigues, corrupt officials and revolutionaries. An ambitious nobleman will do anything for power and money.
You are the Best Wife
By Ajay K Pandey
Pages: 248
It is about how people find true love and comfort in dissimilarities; about how two people with absolutely different ideologies meet and fall in love.The story revolves around Bhavna and Ajay. Bhavna loves living life for others while Ajay loves living for himself; Bhavna is more spontaneous, never planning the next move and living life with the flow. On the other hand, living life without planning a single move is almost blasphemous to Ajay. Yet, they fall in love; they get married and love changes both of them for good. However, destiny had some other plans for this couple in love; and, midway through their happiness, Bhavna had to resign from life.
Written in a straightforward language with generous dosage of humour, 'You Are the Best Wife’ is hailed as a true love story amidst all adversities. The tale of a youth that metamorphoses into a whole new being after being touched by love is bitter-sweet.
From Mumbai to Durbar
By S. Giridhar, V.J. Raghunath
Pages: 440
In 2009, India became the number one-ranked Test team in the world, 80 years after it played its first Test match in 1932. The team’s journey to the top is a story best told through its greatest games: the epic victories in West Indies and England in the 1970s, the thrilling tied Test, and the now-immortalized Eden Gardens Test of 2001, culminating in a cascade of wins in overseas Tests in the 2000s. Through it all, the Indian fan stood with the team, obsessed, fervent and passionate.
This is the story of 28 of India’s greatest Tests, told by two fans who’ve followed the team meticulously since the late 1950s, staying up through radio commentaries late at night, newspaper reports, TV broadcasts, and following the team to stadiums across the country. It is the story of a billion people’s romance with a game, and about cricketers who won the hearts of millions across the world.