Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Interview in iDiva : From National Award to Mistakes Like Love And Sex

Madhuri Banerjee
With a background in documentary filmmaking, National Award winner and supermom Madhuri Banerjee proves to be the perfect multitasker as she turns author with her debut novel Losing My Virginity and Other Dumb Ideas.

madhuri banerjee


She’s an author, ad film director and a relationship counsellor to those who write to her after reading her weekly columns in popular publications. Madhuri Banerjee, who won a National Award for her thesis film in college titled Between Dualities, talks about her latest book and success story with iDiva.com.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
How did you decide to be an author?
Madhuri Banerjee
I’ve been composing poems since I was nine. I wrote a full-fledged book about three girls when I was 12. So, writing has always come naturally to me! I wrote a diary daily for 25 years. If I don’t write, I feel incomplete. Writing a book was a natural progression of storytelling, so I used to write short stories and incidents about my day. In this case, I just increased the word limit to 75,000 instead of 2,000. It just gets easy when you know the story that is in your heart.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
Tell us about your production house Gray Matter Solution - how did that happen?
Madhuri Banerjee
One day, a friend of mine and I were drinking coffee when we realised that we didn’t want to limit our creativity to just one thing in life. We wanted to make brochures, design stalls for fairs, make ads, direct TV programmes and make films - everything using our grey cells! And so we decided to call it Gray Matter Solution which would have a solution for every media problem. You want a corporate film, you come to us. You want us to direct an ad, we can make it at reasonable price. You want ideas for films? We have a bank. You want to contact an actress for a film? We have her number. Solutions galore! That’s our production house.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
How about assisting film directors? What did you learn from that experience?
Madhuri Banerjee
I was assisting Subhash Ghai as soon as I graduated from Jamia Milia Islamia. It was an enriching experience. Working on a film immediately makes you grow up and you realise you don’t know anything and need to learn everything about filmmaking all over again. No matter how many times you’ll go on a set, there will always be people who will know more and can teach you. I assisted Kaizad Gustad on Boom and that was a blast. I met amazing people like Katrina Kaif and Padma Laxmi who opened my eyes to new things. Assisting in a movie does not pay you monetarily, but it pays you in memories.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
Describe your latest book's hook in one sentence.
Madhuri Banerjee
A hilarious adventure of a young girl searching for the perfect man, and the prefect career while trying to find the balance between balancing quirky friends and family.

mistakes like love and sex




Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
Briefly describe the story behind your book and the reason behind writing it.
Madhuri Banerjee
Mistakes Like Love And Sex is the second book with Kaveri as a protagonist, while Losing My Virginity And Other Dumb Ideas was the first. The story of a young girl trying to match her dreams to reality seemed incomplete with just one book. Hence, the rollercoaster had to continue into a second book as well. But you can read both the books individually and be happy. Crazy characters, sensuous sex scenes, and hilarious situations take place in both the books with Kaveri being in the centre of it all. In addition, the theme of love and relationships needed to continue as women grow, mature, and begin to think more wisely and boldly with new men in their lives. It was interesting to see how Kaveri grew to react differently with men in the new book.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
How should a first-time author leverage his book to a publisher? And how did you go about doing the same?
Madhuri Banerjee
A first time author needs to send a synopsis and the first few chapters to as many publishers as possible. All publishers take four to eight weeks to get back to the author. I sent my book to Penguin and they got back to me in a week. I am so glad they saw potential in my writing and published my book. Otherwise, I would have needed to find an agent or an alternate career.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
According to you: a) How important is writing a book proposal; and b) If you did submit one, what stood out in the one you wrote?
Madhuri Banerjee
A book synopsis is important because it helps the editor decide in which genre to place the book as the correct commissioning editor will then receive the mail. I submitted my entire book with a cover letter to the commissioning editor describing the story, genre and a bit about myself. I think what stood out was my honesty.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
Would you say there is a market for the genre your book falls under and if yes, did it help in getting the book published?
Madhuri Banerjee
My book got slotted into the chick lit genre by the media. For me, it’s a piece of fiction and I would sub categorise it under 'romance'. I believe there is a market for good stories, believable characters and identifiable situations. And that’s what is there in both Losing My Virginity And Other Dumb Ideas as well as Mistakes Like Love And Sex. All characters are people I know, and situations are real scenes with an exaggerated imagination. Even dialogues are something that everyone would speak today. I haven’t written in the Queen’s English but rather in the type of language we use. I guess all this helped in selling 40,000 copies!

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
Do you think employing a literary agent helps new authors to make the right noise about their book? If yes/no, why? Did you have an agent to help you with your book?
Madhuri Banerjee
I’m not sure about literary agents. I didn’t have one.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
According to you is it sustainable to be an author?
Madhuri Banerjee
Being an author can be a sustainable profession if you write more than one book a year. If you make it your job to write 8 to 10 hours a day, five days a week and churn out many books, then it is sustainable. If it’s just something that comes randomly and needs divine inspiration to follow through, you’d better find an alternate career to put food on your table.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
Tell us about your thesis film Between Dualities for which you won a National award.
Madhuri Banerjee
It was my thesis film at Jamia Milia Islamia and the subject was women and psychiatry. I decided to make a film on the subject as I felt there wasn’t much done on the topic.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
What's next for Madhuri Banerjee from here?
Madhuri Banerjee
I’m currently working on a comedy; a fun book about a Bengali boy. I’m also working on Harlequin Romance and the third part of Kaveri’s story. I hope that a director picks up my two books and make them into movies.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
What were the challenges, obstacles you faced to reach where you are and how did you overcome them?
Madhuri Banerjee
I was a Delhi girl before moving to Mumbai for a job that paid only Rs. 9,000 a month. It was a tough decision as I had to live close to work where Rs. 6,000 went on rent and the rest went on electricity and food. But I chose to follow my dream. I didn’t buy a single thing for two years, didn’t take money from my parents and never dreamed of returning home. The film industry was where I belonged. And I worked every day without a break for two years. I met my parents in Delhi when there was a shoot there or if they visited me in a studio or a set where I was working in Mumbai. There was no time and it was tough and how. But I always believed that this was my destiny. One day my cook ran away with Rs. 2,000 and never came back. I had to learn how to cook from that day. And I ate bread for dinner till I was paid again. The course changed when I had a child and it was essential to stay at home and look after her. I never had a nanny or family to help for too long. So I wrote Losing My Virginity And Other Dumb Ideas while she slept. The book Mistakes Like Love And Sex happened when she started school. When she comes home, I’m a full-time mom and when she’s not there, I’m a full-time author. The biggest challenge you can face is doubting yourself. If you believe you can do it, you will. I never thought I should give up. I am greatful for each day.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
What's your take on violence against women? How would you take a stand?
Madhuri Banerjee
I am totally against violence of any kind, especially against women and children. I wrote an article which is on a popular news blog and my personal one called 'It’s Not Ok'. I raise my voice on any social media platform I can to help create awareness about violence and I speak to as many women as possible who choose to reach out to me about their situation on such platforms.

Sumitra Nair, Team iDiva
How do you strike a balance between all the things you do; your de-stress mantra and how do you maintain a work-life balance.
Madhuri Banerjee
My de-stress mantra are my very cool friends who are willing to meet me whenever I want for a coffee. They are a mirror to my idiosyncrasies. A woman is incomplete without her girl friends and I have thanked them in both my books. I also think the greatest joy on earth is my daughter and being with her every day is a great stress buster. I balance my work and life through meditation as it helps me stay calm and focused. I love going to the gym and doing a zumba workout. I don’t crave materialistic things as much as I used to. So the choices are easy.



 

2 comments:

Supriti Banerjee said...

Superb mam, u are always been my great source of motivation..!! Keep rocking. And wish u a very Happy New Year..!!
Regards- Supriti :)

Bharathi Bhaskar said...

Hi Madhuri,

I am back again actively following your posts, blogs and books. Thanks so much for keeping people inspired.

I wanted to tell you that in the new era now that people have lost faith in marriage, forget about arranged marriages, I would like you to come up with a sequel of Kaveri's wedded story. Struggles of a working woman, her ambitions, her compromises, her raising from the everyday challenges is what I would like to convey on. Sometimes or most of the times influential people's words reach a wider audience.

I personally know lot of women and men who undergo lot of everyday challenges and do not know how to handle them. I believe Kaveri's story would show them the desired path.

Keep writing and keep inspiring

Love
Bharathi

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