Vidya's journey was my own: Advaita Kala

When the 29-year-old and 'still unmarried' Aisha Bhatia of 'Almost Single' struck a chord with the young readers in 2009, little could one anticipate that two years on, we would see the birth of another woman that would leave the audience in awe of her strength and character. Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman out on the streets of Kolkata to find her husband, brought appreciation galore for Advaita Kala, the literary brain behind Sujoy Ghosh's recently released film Kahaani. Advaita shares her journey with us and the milestones in her career. She talks to us about her inspiration, real-life glimpses in Kahaani and why, if given a chance, would write under a male pseudonym. Here's more on the Kahaani behind Kahaani... The much awaited film of the year has released. You are its creative progenitor. Your expectations from Kahaani... I want my audience to enjoy the movie viewing experience. As a writer, when you begin writing, you have no idea what it's going to end up being. I never predict the future of my writing. It's a long, uncertain journey. I am already gratified by the response the film has generated. I enjoyed writing it, more when it got made into a film and now when I plan to write the novel. How much of Vidya/Bidda Bagchi of Kahaani is Advaita Kala? Tell us about the real-life resonances that inspire the plot of the film. There are always bits of me in my work. It's also the writers I have admired, like playwright Tennessee Williams whose work reflected his personal life and his struggles. With Kahaani, I was clear that the point of view would be that of an outsider's - she must experience Kolkata from the eyes of a newcomer. I moved to Kolkata right after college in the US, worked in hotel kitchens and was quite struck by the experience in this city. It is somewhere also an attempt to traverse the footsteps of my boyfriend who worked at the same hotel a year ago. I would try to relive his time, visit places that he did and feel closer to him in every possible way. This emotional ride gets manifested in the character drawn out for Vidya. Apart from this, I read Maloy Krishna Dhar's Open Secrets and Maj. General V. K. Singh's India's External Intelligence that formed my research. So while there is fictional licence, there is research too. Was Vidya Balan your choice for Vidya Bagchi? Yes, it was always Vidya Balan, hence the name Vidya. Bagchi is my friend, the novelist, Amitabha Bagchi's gift to me. Novels/dramas in the past have been adapted into movies, be it Shakespeare's Othello in Vishal Bhardwaj's Omkara or Jane Austen's Emma in Sonam Kapoor-starrer Aisha. You as an author have redefined this trend and followed a reverse route from being a scriptwriter to an author. Kahaani has now made you convert it into a novel. Does this method work better? No, I wasn't really thinking of redefining anything. I am a novelist, that is the form I am comfortable with and very early on I knew this would be a novel, so I wrote the story as a novel exploring literary devices like the interior monologue. The film explores Vidya's conversation with herself and the loneliness of her predicament. The layering of the character of Rana for example, why does he reach out to Vidya in the way that he does forms some 'back stories' that find adequate space in the novel. In your earlier interviews you had said that you believe in showing the real picture of an 'urban woman who has been misrepresented in society for many years.' Do you think a woman's story cannot be justly narrated or portrayed by a man/male author? I don't take a gendered view of this at all. I only feel that more stories representative of the urban woman's experience must be told; consideration of genre and gender regardless. I think the complexity of the modern Indian woman's journey isn't tackled seriously enough and that's my only contention. Has the present era recognised the literary power of a woman and become more acceptable in comparison to earlier when women writers would have to adopt male pseudonyms to get their work published? Well, yes and no, publishers have certainly recognised that most readers of fiction are women. There still is a perception that women write sentimental "tosh" (love that word) and that it must be immediately labelled "women's fiction" or a female-centric film. Kahaani, I would say, is a woman driven story in a male genre - the thriller, a tempting premise to venture into. I would however love to write under a male pseudonym... in fact, I think I will. Is writing for you a personal pursuit or is it intended for a target audience? Always personal - that is why every time a film releases I end up alone in a room, not reading anything, not watching previews or going to the premiers or anything. Just alone, like when I started writing it. It's only during the release time that it finally hits me. I don't think about any audience when I write; if I did, I wouldn't be able to write. Do you think referring to a literary piece of work as 'Chick lit,' is irreverent or belittling? I don't get into the whole label debate. A story dictates the narrative style, that's all there is to this. I don't know what makes a movie or a novel a success, when I start writing the next one; it's like starting over again! Your future projects... Two films with Siddharth Anand; let's see if destiny shapes them into movies. And, of course the next book in the Almost Single series. Your message to all the budding writers out there... Just write.