Book Review: Shobhaa De’s Superstar India

July 7, 2008 

Shobhaa DE’s latest offering ‘Superstar India : From Incredible to Unstoppable‘, released by Penguin India in April,2008, is a deviation from her racy novels. This work of non-fiction by the author reminisces her sixty years of existence on her 60th birthday which also coincides with independent India’s 60th birthday celebrations. In her words,  “‘Surely my life has taken the same trajectory as the country’s?’” After reading the 434 page long book, I failed to draw any similarities between the independent India and her life.

I love the columns De writes in the Sunday edition of The Times of India.  And that’s where my exposure to her writing stops - haven’t read any of her previous novels except ‘Spouse‘ which I didn’t have the patience to complete.  ‘Superstar India’ seemed interesting or let’s just put it this way that the marketing gimmicks of Penguin worked well in addition to the huge effort put in by authors these days in post-launch / promotion of their books. And, I fell a prey to it. I had just finished reading Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and was in no mood to read more heavy duty stuff. So, I picked up a copy of Superstar India early May soon after its launch.

When I met Mr. NT- the day they ran an interview with Shobhaa De - he asked me what I thought of her book. Honestly, it was not a very well thought of answer you’d give to a highly opinionated and well-read man. I don’t remember the exact words but I said something to this effect - I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it but it’s something that makes you want to read, not in one sitting though.   She contradicts herself in ways that only exposes her ignorance about the history of some cultural practices of this country and her belittling of why one has relatives is a glimpse into the socialite’s life. Years of practice from writing gossip columns has made her style of casual writing perfect that is peppered liberally with slang and Hindi words.

I’ve been contemplating of reviewing this book for a while but couldn’t settle on one approach - whether to review it as a single entity or as individual chapters. The reason being this is not one book - it is a collection of around twenty chapters packaged as one that has no continuity but just a common thread linking them.  The weak link in this book is about India in general and Indians in particular - of all castes, regions, countries, gender, ages, shapes and sizes; the titles are catchy in true Shobhaa De’ ishtyle such as “Indians are sex machines”, “Meet my Mrs,” But when you say India - what pops up?”, “Nazar na lag jaaye” to name a few. There is no sense of rush to go to the next chapter; yet, there are times when you feel like reading some sections all over again what you’ve read. In short, the book is incoherent and the thought that occurred to me was - “Gosh! she doesn’t have to narrate stories about her childhood and those of her children to her grandchildren seated on her front porch. All she needs is to hand them a copy of this book while she gets on with her hi-fi parties.” There is one other thing that struck me all through - how she misses no opportunity to flaunt about her opulent lifestyle drawing references to her stays at the poshest hotels across the world,  her hangouts with the nation’s rich and powerful, how she sports the most expensive accessories such as a Cartier watch or  how she hands over Rs.35,000 to her driver as a loan with as much ease as she drives round in a Merc.

The highly opinionated author is a good observer of things common in the everyday lives of an Indian.  She chronicles them with an objective of how Indians are incredible and unstoppable and that we are the best in the world. Unfortunately, what comes out at the end of every chapter are the ills that plague our society - from the respect the Indian male has for his better-half to the Godhra conflicts (secular intolerance)  to an attack on the bureaucracy to our amazing capability at procreation. I failed to understand how by dishing out doses of Indian hypocrisy at regular intervals, this book is a celebration of sixty years of Independent India.

If anything, this book is nostalgic. Nostalgic of the conversations every middle class Indian has had in their drawing rooms through the growing up years -  of the generation gap, of the famous Indian stares, of the Americanization of our society, of the splurges in the Great Indian Wedding, of the lost ties and the joint family system, of how irrelevant relatives are today, of the comfortable lifestyle of today’s generation - Gen “I”, their impatience at everything and how they do not value money and how our parent generation worked hard to get where they are now.  At some point or the other, it’s all about the money, honey! Phew ..she doesn’t spare the ABCDs, the acquired fake accents of the desis, the chinese! It’s but natural for contrasts to come to the fore when you compare generations over a span of sixty years.

Some sections I liked —

Work hard for the exams. Slog away, swot, swot, swot. Await results. First class in hand, work some more.  Apply for a decent job.Keep your fingers crossed. Land the job. Continue slaving. Wait for promotion. Keep slogging. Spend fifteen years or more in the sma ejob. Get bored. Get restless. Marry sometime in between. Produce children. Hang in there. Grow middle-aged. Grow a paunch. Lose hair. Lose patience. Give up! End of story. End of life.

On a closing note, the book is anything but a boring read. Her tone and style at delivering social commentary is commendable. The style is natural and captivating something an ordinary person can relate to. The variations in the mood are little making it a monotonous read.  A gap in reading various chapters is recommended. The sarcastic references to the NRI’s and their desire to come back to India to cash in on the boom caught my attention as did the middle class existence of the ’70s. Do not expect to find any historical or political reference sand its impact on the socio-cultural aspects of Indian during these sixty years. Neither will you find any references to De’s sixty years with that of India - just a flimsy marketing tactic. Finally a word of caution - if you are someone who believes strongly in the traditions, festivals, joint family system of India and the pleasures of hanging out with relatives, this book will not be a pleasure to read.

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