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What a novel inspired by Jayalalithaa and mentor MGR aims to achieve

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Kaveree Bamzai
Kaveree BamzaiMay 03, 2017 | 15:21

What a novel inspired by Jayalalithaa and mentor MGR aims to achieve

A young girl, brilliant at school, is forced by her actress mother to become a heroine at 16. She meets an older actor, famous and powerful, who goes by his three initials. What ensues seems remarkably similar to the life of a certain recently deceased chief minister of a southern state. Anita Sivakumaran’s The Queen is a retelling of that story with detail and drama in equal measure.

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Here is Sivakumaran on her new novel:

So the obvious question — is Kalai Jayalalithaa and is PKB MGR?

Kalai and PKB are inspired by the mythic characters that were very familiar to me growing up, from films and newspapers. But the words, mannerisms, the consciousness of the characters, and many of the events of my book, are all figments of my imagination.

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The Queen; Anita Sivakumaran; Juggernaut

What kind of research did you do for the book and how long did you spend writing it?

I hardly did any research for it, because I was aiming for an imaginative truth, rather than the literal truth. It isn’t a biographical portrait, by any stretch.

I spent a few months writing the first draft, and I had many intelligent people read and give me comprehensive editorial comments. This was even before the publisher had a look at it. From start to finish, it’s taken nearly six years, but I was involved in other projects along the way. Another book, a PhD, two children!

What are the lessons in it for a woman politician? Do women wield power differently from men?

I am amazed at women who not only inhabit a male-dominated world, but also learn to master it (or mistress it?). Men have a lot of mates in politics, women don’t. My book touches on Kalai’s need for friends. You would think things have changed now, but look at the photos of Donald Trump’s cabinet! Women politicians need the presence of more women politicians. Then they wouldn’t feel the need to imitate men (deeper voices, trouser suits, aggressiveness, short haircuts!).

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What are the five things we can all learn from Kalai’s life?

You mean uplifting lessons? We simply have to admire how full of initiative she is, and how full of optimism. "When the going gets tough..." I personally enjoy the sense of irony I’ve given her, and her capacity for self-analysis. And I’ve made her noble too, the way she decides not to stop the press writing what they want about her! She always has queenly attributes, even at 16 years of age, and these attributes only intensify into this huge personality that she becomes by the end of the book.

Kalai’s life is so tragic — how difficult was it to write it, especially her stint in films?

I suppose it is terrible for any young person to have to forgo their dreams and be forced to earn a living doing something they don’t believe in. But I found it enjoyable to write these scenes. It’s all so dramatic, and the films run in my veins like blood. I loved coming up with filmy dialogue and songs to show her interactions with PKB, and their attempts to insert propaganda into their film scenes had me laughing aloud.

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Do you expect controversy around the book?

Of course. Everyone has a strong opinion, especially in India.

Last updated: January 17, 2018 | 11:00
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