CHENNAI: Author Anuja Chauhan knows how to paint Delhi in different strokes. In Those Pricey Thakur Girls, we witness Delhi after the Sikh riots and the lives of the families of Central Delhi, residing in sprawling houses.
In its sequel, The House That BJ Built, Anuja introduces readers to the different kinds of Delhiites one might find in the capital city — especially when a property is at stake. In her latest page-turner, Club you to Death, we see a modern Delhi, where the rich and the politically connected know how to run the world.
The plot is set inside the Delhi Turf Club, where people of a certain ‘class’ run the show. When a murder takes place, everyone is quick to point fingers, concoct theories and hide their secrets. Soon, enters ACP Bhavani Singh and his team, all set to solve the case with the help of a young lawyer.
With this, Chauhan says, she’s leaving behind her favourite rom-com genre and stepping into the world of “Rom-crom”. “I was starting to feel a little constricted in the rom-com box it’s a lovely box light and airy and sunshiny and fun but it’s a box nevertheless.
A rom-crom (romance and crime) allows me to explore relationships that are a little rawer, and riper and darker than the ones I usually write about,” she shares. Currently happy in this space, Chauhan has already begun work on book two chalking out cases for ACP Bhavani to solve.
Excerpts follow.
Was it easy to switch genres?
A whodunnit takes a little more plotting and structuring. You have to do a whole lot of writing in a ‘rough work’ folder, before you sit down to actually start writing out the book in a ‘fair’ folder. But, as I chose a setting that I was comfortable with, it wasn’t too hard to make the switch. The people I was writing about were the same, at least on the surface. Their internal voices and layers were a bit darker than before, that’s all.
Are you a fan of crime-thrillers? Which are your favourite books?
I think the first whodunnit I read, without knowing it was a whodunnit, was Rebecca by Daphe Du Maurier. And I loved it! I still remember the cold chill I got down my spine when I read those damning words at the end of that dramatic chapter…it was just amazing! And then I started on Agatha Christie and didn’t stop till I’d read every single thing she’d done, including all the Tuppance and Tommy books and Mr Harley Quinn and everything else. I also loved Susan Howatch at about the same time (mid-teens). More than the whodunnit aspect, I love the way these writers write their characters. So flawed and compelling and yet, relatable. My favourite of Christie’s are Five Little Pigs, Endless Night and Crooked House.
In this book, PK is a youngster with a regressive outlook and Bhavani, a middle-aged man with modern thinking. How did these characters take shape?
I write instinctively. I’ve noticed that often young people are very hide-bound by convention and older people, who’ve knocked about the world a little and therefore have the benefit of hindsight, are often far more chilled out in their outlook. Bhavani and PK reflect that.
The book also discusses certain current political issues. And you tackled them with humour. Why was this angle important to the storyline, in your opinion?
Well, murder, just like love, doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There’s always stuff going on in the background, and it affects the characters’ motivations and goals. So, if a book has to be authentic, and believable, it has to be reflective of its setting and time. And the state of our nation being what it is today, one has to have a sense of humour to cope with it! On a more serious note, I always feel that serious points are always better made if they are made lightly, with a humorous or ironic touch.
You mention your personal experience of growing up in club culture. Can you recall any instance that found a place in the book?
Well, just Like Kashi Dogra in the book, I’ve felt outraged by the signs that say ‘no gunmen, servants, ayahs or security guards beyond this point.’ And my husband (then boyfriend) was once turned away for wearing a collarless shirt. Luckily, on that particular night, I happened to be wearing a loose collared shirt, so we just went back to his car, swapped shirts, and then spent the evening with him in a too-tight collared shirt, and me swimming about in his large round-necked t-shirt!
Book: Club you to Death
Pages: 421
Price: Rs 399
Publisher: HarperCollins India