NEW DELHI: She was born in the lap of fame; yet, being at the centre of attention makes her uncomfortable. Her parents were one of the most celebrated actors in Hindi cinema; yet, she has always remained grounded. She is a wife to an extremely successful actor; yet, she is unaffected by his stardom. That’s Twinkle Khanna for you.
It took a spate of flop films and a fair amount of criticism for the former actor to attain the self-realisation about her acting prowess — rather, the lack of it. After quitting the profession, being a bookworm, it was natural for her to turn to writing. That’s how she continues to live out her literary passion, having recently launched her third book, Pajamas are Forgiving.
Khanna opened up about her third literary enterprise during the book’s Delhi launch at the Town Hall.
The book traces the journey of a middle-aged woman who is shocked to see her former husband and his young wife at an Ayurvedic hospital where she has checked in. Though the book is a piece of fiction, the title of the book has completely seeped in reality.
It’s a metaphor for many things in life. “Right after Diwali, a couple of years ago, after two weeks of eating, drinking and gambling, I was standing in front of my mirror holding my jeans but I wouldn’t fit into them. That’s when this line—pajamas are forgiving but jeans really know how to hold a grudge—popped into my head. Later, pajamas became metaphors for my book, literally and figuratively,” she says.
Khanna’s relationship with words goes back to her childhood. But, while most parents want their children to be doctors or engineers, hers wanted her to wear a pink bow on her head and learn pelvic thrusts. “I tried very hard but nothing worked. Writing came as a refuge. I can say so much and so freely. It’s my truest way of expressing myself,” she says.
The milieu of Khanna’s work of fiction is a wellness spa — far removed from the ‘film world’ that she is part of. That’s because familiarity is boring, she says.
Khanna has never been the one to fit in. Perhaps, that’s why she called it quits when it didn’t work out in films. “I did not fit in even then. I thought maybe inside I really was a man trapped in a women’s body. But that wasn’t the case, I later realised. The thing was that my perception never had a gender. I have an androgynous mind,” she says.
That’s her secret. She looks at life slightly differently from everybody else, and that allows her to be who she is today. She has also learnt how to laugh at herself.