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| NEW SUNDAY EXPRESS-Sushila Ravindranath |
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What is the theme of your new novel?
THE ARRANGEMENTS OF LOVE is an intricate and subtle exploration of love. I’ve constructed a quirky and oddball scenario that reveals a tender and moving story of characters all looking for something – and hidden under these individual stories is the search for love, in its many guises. There are three main characters involved in these searches. Nikhil, an NRI, looking for his father and escaping a broken marriage. Apu, the detective he hires to find his father and who mourns for her own lost love, and the father who lives alone with the memories of a betrayed love. Love after all is the raft we all cling to in this very lonely sea we all exist it. Without it, everything else is meaningless. At the same time, the novel’s a detective story and about surviving in the chaos and confusion which is our India. Here, as we all know, we must expect the unexpected and India is full of surprises.
You’ve set this novel is Madras? Why is that?
Apart from Madras being my home city, my family having lived here for many generations, I deliberately wanted to set it in this city as it’s very seldom written about. If you look at all the novels being written today by Indian writers (or even non-Indian ones), they’re all set in a north Indian city or in a north Indian landscape. Madras barely exists in the modern literary landscape; it’s fallen off the map. Yet I find this a fascinating and exciting city. It has the subtle blend of tradition and modernity, it’s a passionate city and quietly cosmopolitan. It’s also a city with a long history and many beautiful buildings which I hope will not be demolished by our philistine government. I wrote about the city in my previous novel, STEPS FROM PARADISE (which, by the way, will be reissued by Penguin Books next year). And I set another one of my novels, FIELD OF HONOUR, in another south Indian city, Bangalore. I love the south and even in my novel ‘TAJ-A story of Mughal India’, set entirely in its historical locations, I managed to drag in a south Indian character to make him major figure in that story.
What are you working on now?
I have completed a new work of non-fiction, OUR HOUSEHOLD GOD, about my personal experiences with an orphaned baby. It’s again set in Madras (Chennai if you wish) and I’m still working on finding the right title. Penguin Books will be publishing this one early next year. I’m currently working on the final re-write of my new novel, which I’ve just completed an early draft, and you guessed right – it’s set in Madras and other south Indian locations. |
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| TODAY-Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan |
THE ARRANGEMENTS OF LOVE is so different from your earlier boo, TAJ, that was released earlier this year. Which genres do you prefer- contemporary/historical fiction?
It's not a matter of preference really. It's how I want to tell a story. I have written two other historical novels, set in India, after Taj and at the time thoroughly enjoyed recapturing Indian history as I was then in the mood of writing and studying our history. History gave me a great perspective on our past and what I have said often is that when we study our history how little things have changed. In both Mughal and British times our conflicting self interests which allowed the invaders in divided us. And I should add that our present day politicians remind me of our princes of the past, both in their lifestyle and their lack of morality. But then contemporary fiction reflects the times we live in which is an equally exciting genre to work with and I have been writing it for the last few years.
This book deals with the whole NRI confused thing. Don't you think it is a little clichéd?
When you say clichéd it means that what I am reflecting is our present day problems. The novel isn't entirely about Nikhil and the NRI problems but also about the relations my detective, Apu, has within her present, day society about love and arranged marriages. She is a modern Indian woman coming to terms with the death of a man she had loved and struggling against the family pressures most young people face in b places like Chennai. The novel also deals with the break up of a marriage (Nikhil's mother's) and the consequences of what happened. So while it is partially about NRls, it's about how love or the lack of it can distort our lives. And I do believe these are problems facing every one of us as we all want and need love.
Would you describe your new work, OUR HOUSEHOLD GOD, also as autobiographical?
It is, I suppose, somewhat autobiographical and is about my and my wife’s relationship with an orphaned baby. The baby was surrendered for adoption by its parents because it had a serious problem. My wife saw it in a Chennai orphanage, raised the necessary funds (over a lakh) for the nine-hour operation to correct the problem. And she arranged for its adoption abroad. But it stayed with us to recuperate and unfortunately remained in our home for a year before the adoption came through. It’s really a love story between the baby and two elderly people.
You have worked with Parminder Nagra of Bend it like Beckham (for The Square Circle where she played opposite Rahul Bose). Tell us about the experience?
Working with Parminder was great. I found that when you direct a very talented actress, your life can be both easy – because she responds so well to suggestions – and difficult because she needs to understand the motivations of the character. In my play she was on stage all the time and gave herself both emotionally and physically to the role. In fact, when I first cast her, she didn’t want the role because she knew it would very demanding. But once she agreed to play the main lead she gave herself to the role over a 100 per cent. |
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| THE HINDU 20th July 2004 |
Moods and monuments
I HAD heard a million tales about the Taj Mahal before I actually saw it — in mid afternoon, at the height of summer. With scorching sunrays bouncing off the white marble, it was a blinding, dwarfing experience. I felt the way Murthy does at the first sight of the city of Agra in Timeri N. Murari's Taj: A Story of Mughal India, re-launched now to mark the monument's 350th anniversary. Murari's sculptor from South India, one among the nameless thousands deputed to build the Taj, says on his first glimpse of the city: "I will be lost here... I wish I had never come..." What an interesting coincidence that real-life archaeologist have now found names etched in stealth on the monument by those who worked on the Taj, perhaps with the faint hope of not remaining anonymous entities in the pages of history.
Ask the author of the exotic novel what his own experience of seeing the Taj for the first time was like, and he surprises you with a totally unemotional account. His father was in the army, posted in the North, and the family often went to the Taj for picnics on moonlit nights. Years later, he went there with his wife Maureen. "She asked me the story behind the monument, and I felt ashamed of not knowing enough," he says, on the sultry afternoon I met him. He then started researching in the New York Public Library and found enough material to write a novel that offers the most colourful concoction of love, lust (and how!), violence, treachery, corruption, opulence, dire poverty... A concoction that was eagerly lapped up when Taj... was first published in 1985, and has since been translated into nine languages. But Murari has revisited the Taj after writing the novel. Why, you wonder. "It's probably the been there, done that feeling," he says. "Taj wasn't an obsession or anything."
Murari wouldn't admit, though, that the novel fits the classical Orientalist fantasy of the West. "In fact, as I researched, I realised that not too much has changed in the last 400 years." The kings and queens have been replaced by politicians with similar ambition and greed," he argues. "We have a Lalu Prasad who behaves like a nawab!"
Murari takes pride in the fact that he has been complimented for his accuracy on factual details by historians themselves. Even the story of a fleeing Shah Jahan seeking help from the worshippers of Mother Mary (which we haven't heard before), he says, is recorded history. But for reasons of fleshing out the story and providing varied perspectives, he has introduced fictional characters. Murthy and Isa, for instance, provide a counterfoil for the stories of intrigues and degenerate lifestyles of the kings and queens. As Isa, the trusted eunuch who closely watches all the goings on in the palace and yet remains an eternal outsider, sits in stealth on the Peacock Throne for which wars have been fought and kith and kin murdered, the omniscient narrator says: "Isa sat down on it, attempting to feel the power of the Great Mughal, but only found it uncomfortable. As he sat, a strange emotion entered him, rising from the throne itself — a chill, terrible feeling of loneliness..."
But wouldn't a good number of historians pick a quarrel over this sweeping statement in the introduction: "This continuing conflict between Hindus and Muslims — and the creation of Pakistan — can be attributed to the actions of Aurangzeb, the son of Shah Jahan and Arjumand..." Murari does a bit of psychoanalysis of Aurangzeb, and attributes his later zealotry to the fact that he was not loved as a child — a man who took to religion as a "cold substitute for love". But historians have said that the construction of Aurangzeb as the epitome of intolerance is largely spin-doctoring done by the British to underplay their own contribution to the communal divide of India.
Murari admits that the British were masters at the divide-and-rule game and added their bit to the tensions. But he does believe that it was indeed Aurangzeb who sowed the first seeds of communal divide. People down south hardly ever understand what it is to be constantly invaded, he says. But how come Murari talks about Aurangzeb's temple destructions and not about his donations to temples and other non-Islamic religious institutions, also a fact of history? Murari has never come across accounts of these donations. At least not in the New York Public Library. That's a library which has the best documents on the Mughal empire, he insists. And there's a hint of irritation in his answer when I ask him why the Hindu characters in the novel are uniformly "good". He lists out Muslim character who are good too, and says: "I think I have balanced it out nicely..."
What was a hint begins to show more pronouncedly with my next question: would a modern-day reader be impressed with all the mushy romance in the novel? "Love doesn't go out of fashion, does it?" he snaps, and follows it up with another rhetorical question. "Why, haven't you seen enough Hindi and Tamil movies?"
The same evening at the formal book launch at the Taj West End, Murari comes across as an altogether different person. His attire has a touch of the Mughlai era, and he is laughing quite a bit. He is even cracking jokes about how the Taj is the story of a dysfunctional family that often opted for an out-of-court settlement guided by a simple rule: Taktya Takhta (throne or coffin). I'm convinced that weather and time of the day greatly determine moods and perceptions. BAGESHREES |
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| THE DECCAN HERALD 25 July 2004 |
Not cynical, but realistic!
His books have dwelt on the powerful emotion of love. But Timeri N Murari has a different view on love, finds Bala Chauhan!
Timeri N Murari is a novelist-cum-journalist. He has written 11 novels and has worked and written for leading international papers like The Guardian, The Observer, The Telegraph, Penthouse and Sunday Times. He now lives in Chennai and was in Bangalore for the reading of his novel, Taj - A Story of Mughal India, (published in 1985) on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Taj Mahal. Penguin India decided to re-release the novel on the occasion and The British Council wanted to do a reading of the novel. It was supported by Theatre Y, The Taj West End and HSBC.
Excerpts of an interview with Deccan Herald:
What is the novel about?
It’s a historical fiction. It tells the story at two different levels. The first one talks about the love affair of Shah Jahan and Arjumand Bano and concludes with her death. The second level deals with what happens to Shah Jahan, the poverty of the people who contributed towards the construction of the monument and the politics of the day. It concludes with Shah Jahan’s death. The novel has lot of similarity with the present day politics. How the heads of the State cheat and betray their people. Every chief minister comes with his own army and views the state as his kingdom.
How real is the character of Arjumand or Mumtaz Mahal?
It’s 90 per cent fiction. There’s very little literature on her. There are sketchy references to her in history, as a beautiful lady who was also charitable and courageous. There are her pictures in the Delhi museum. I wonder how original they are because no one really saw her. The purdah system was very stringent those days. Moreover, how many people would have had the occasion to actually see the Empress?
How did you portray her?
As an extremely beautiful, courageous and charitable lady. She used to accompany her husband on his tours. She remained a nomad even in her death.
Her original tomb is in Burhanpur, on the other side of river Tapti. Her son Murad disinterred her and buried her where the Taj Mahal now stands. All this is factual and recorded in history.
What inspired you to write Taj?
When I got married, I brought my wife Maureen to India. She’s an Australian. We visited the Taj Mahal. She was very curious to know about the history of the monument. My knowledge on it was very limited. That’s when I decided to know more about the monument. In India, I travelled to a lot of places to trace the history of the Taj. The reading part I did in the West, most of it at the New York Public Library. It is ironic that some of the best books on Indian history are found in the Western libraries. Dr Irfan Habib helped me source books from the library of the Aligarh Muslim University but unfortunately I couldn’t get much there. The books were not catalogued well.
When did you switch you career, from a journalist to a novelist?
I began my career as a journalist in 1965 with a Canadian newspaper - Kingston Whig Standard. I wrote my first novel - The Marriage in 1973. I took out time from my work to write novels and make documentaries. As a journalist I used to do profiles of celebrities. That gave me the experience to observe them sharply.
What is your latest novel The Arrangement of Love about?
It’s about love again. The characters fall in love and end up getting disillusioned.
Are you cynical about love?
I’ve been disappointed in love affairs but I’ve been successfully married for the last so many years. Love is not an easy emotion. The expectations are very high to sustain. I am not cynical. I am realistic.
Watch out for the review of Murari’s new book next week in our book review section! |
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| India Abroad January 2, 2004-the magazine ENCOUNTER |
Love with an English flavor
Shobha Warrier speaks to Timeri N Murari, whose 25-year-old novel is making a comeback in Hollywood
In 1978, when Timeri N Murari was a journalist with The Guardian, he wrote Lovers Are Not People. He had just moved from London to New York. Twenty-five years later Carlton America, the Hollywood film production company, is recreating his novel as a contemporary film.
The novel, written in the first person, is the account of a wife whose husband deserts her and their two young children for a younger woman. Instead of letting him go, the jilted wife resolves to bring him back. Playing detective, she learns he has gone to America with the young girl. She follows him to New York, befriends the girl, undermines the relationship and wins back her husband.
Murari has written the novel - a love story of disappointment, possible divorce and emotional entanglement - in the form of a romantic comedy. There is nothing Indian about his novel. The husband and wife are British and the mistress, an American. New York provides the setting, for a drama ideal for Hollywood.
"It came out of an emotional experience I had been through," recalls Murari, 62, who in 1959, moved to London from Madras to study engineering but found his calling in writing. "I had just moved from London to New York and had been away from India for a long time. The characters came through naturally as English and American." Since the story was the written as the woman's first person account, Murari felt she had to be an English woman.
In 1963, after studying at a university in Montreal and freelancing for The Guardian, Murari joined a newspaper, in Kingston as a reporter. "I was very lucky to have got my first job," he recalls. "Most papers were not willing to hire an Indian. They were very prejudiced against Asians at that time. "
In six months the new editor sacked him. "I was the only Indian in the newsroom but when I was fired, the rest of the staff was ready to go on strike against racial prejudice." But he dissuaded them and returned London to join The Guardian.
Looking back, he feels The Guardian had perhaps published his articles unaware that an Indian wrote them. "From my name, nobody could make out my Indian identity," he laughs. Murari feels other British journalists accepted him only because he played good cricket.
The only other Indian working with The Guardian then was cartoonist Abu Abraham, whom Murari remembers as a "very charming, friendly man, always there for you with advice." Abraham, who died last year, once told him, 'I would like to see people like you in India rather than your talent being used here.'
Once he left England, Murari was struck by the difference between the America of the 1970S and the England of the 1960s. "America was a more open society, and much easier to get on with because it never had colonial ties with India," he reasons. "The British had prejudices against India because they had ruled India. There was a lot of racial prejudice there, and I wanted to escape that. "
He wrote Lovers Are Not People during his stay in New York. About four years ago, William Blaylock, a Hollywood producer and Murari's friend, read the novel and wanted to make a film out of it. Taylor Hackford, the director of well known films like An Officer And A Gentleman, was to direct it and Murari went as far as writing a screenplay. But the project fizzled out.
"After that, I had forgotten completely about the novel and the project," he says. "Then I got an email from William [saying] that somebody else is interested in the project and [inquiring] whether the rights were available. I said yes, and the contract was signed. "
For copyright reasons, Murari is not writing the screenplay for the new project. Scripting began in Hollywood in December. Casting is due in February and the film will be ready for release by fall.
Love, betrayal and retribution are these not ingredients for a wholesome Indian film? In fact, not long ago, one-of Murari's' friends thought Lovers Are Not People was ideal for a Tamil film.
"It did not materialize," he says. "You know the kind of films that are made [in India]. Efforts to attract Hindi film producers also did not [work]. I am happy that it is not going to be a Hindi film. Commercial elements in Hindi involve six songs, six dances, etc. At least in Hollywood, she [the wife] will not be made to dance around New York! I am happy that it is going to be a Hollywood film!"
He has his reasons to be peeved with the Hindi film industry. In his only stint with Hindi films, Daayra (1996) starring Nirmal Pandey playing a transsexual and Sonali Kulkarni, he ran into disagreements with director Amol Palekar.
"(Daayra) was the second crossover film to reach the Western audience after [Shekhar Kapur's] Bandit Queen but it did better than Bandit Queen in France and England," Murari recalls. "I would have loved to direct the film but I didn't have the experience and the film financiers wanted a name known to the film field. That was how Amol Palekar came in. I gave him a full script. The film was a disappointment in one context that Palekar changed the end, which I didn't like at all. He killed the cross dressed man in such a stupid way. But it was very satisfying in the context that all the reviews that came out barely mentioned Palekar but mentioned me, the writer, which is very rare in the film business. Time magazine voted it as one of the top ten best films of 1997 and in their review, they only mentioned me!"
To compensate for the disappointment, he directed" the same story as a play titled The Square Circle for the Leicester Haymarket theater. Murari says it was an extremely satisfying experience directing Parminder Nagra (before she became famous for Bend It Like Beckham) and Rahul Bose as the transsexual. "I thoroughly enjoyed directing the play. I had a very talented cast. Parminder's role was a very demanding, emotional and physical role and poor Parminder had to do it night after night. In the no-minute play, she is there on stage all the time."
His association with Hollywood is not going to end with Lovers Are Not People. Another novel, Field of Honor, set in Bangalore in 1952 "in a time when India just became independent and was changing," might appear as a Hollywood film soon.
Since 1973, when his first book The Marriage, a work of fiction set in England, was published, Murari has written over a dozen fiction and non-fiction books. He returned to Chennai in 1988 when his father fell ill and now lives there with his Australian wife. |
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