While celebrities turning authors is not a new trend, Indian publishing today is increasingly looking at children of stars to write the next bestseller
Urvashi Bahuguna (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 28, 2020)

Step through the doors of a bookstore in India today and chances are you will see a prominently displayed title or two by a celebrity. With the presence of a wildly popular film and television industry in the country, it is unsurprising that publishers seek out actors and stars for memoirs and the occasional work of fiction. But a less obvious publishing practice, we’ve seen of late, is the commissioning of books written by the children of celebrities.

Some recently published titles include Shweta Bachchan-Nanda’s collection of short stories, Paradise Towers, Aishwaryaa Rajnikant Dhanush’s Standing On An Apple Box: The Story of A Girl Among The Stars (right), Shaheen Bhatt’s I’ve Never been (Un) Happier, Soha Ali Khan’s The Perils of Being Moderately Famous and Esha Deol Takhtani’s Amma Mia: Stories, Advice and Recipes from One Mother to Another.

While publishing celebrities is not a particularly new phenomenon, Mirror spoke to a few publishing houses, industry veterans, book critics and writers to get a sense of why a name matters, what drives this trend and what place it may or may not have in our burgeoning reading culture.

Art of selling
“Most people assume publishers will publish anyone who has a famous name,” laments Gurveen Chadha, a senior commissioning editor at Penguin Random House India, “While celebrity books are an easy sell, it has to be a compelling story at the end of the day — whether written by a celebrity or non-celebrity. Of course, selling a celebrity book is a tad easier, but if there’s no story to tell in the first place, the book will eventually tank.” Diya Kar, a senior commissioning editor at Harper Collins India, agrees that the talent of the person in the limelight is what eventually draws publishers to these deals.

Shaheen Bhatt (daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt), who wrote a candid memoir about her struggle with depression, says she recognised that her privilege provided her with a platform. She felt compelled to use it to reduce the stigma around mental health. “When I first began talking about mental health publicly in articles and on social media, the response I got was far greater than anything I could have anticipated,” she shares. “I was flooded with hundreds of messages from people telling me that they were going through their own trials with mental health. I saw the difference sharing was making.” When Penguin approached her, she chose to go forward because a book could potentially reach far more people than a social media post. But I’ve Never Been (Un)happier wasn’t easy to write. She would work on it for a day before having to step away from it for several days because of the toll of “forcibly reliving bad memories”. Ultimately, she is glad she did it because she says she is “much more at ease” with herself and the world around her, “now that I have been able to lay my heart bare. There is nothing to hide anymore.” She was inspired by her father who never held anything back in his writing.

Esha Deol, who is the mother of two young daughters, intends her book to be a “helping hand” for new mothers. In what she describes as her “first clueless year of motherhood” she encountered surprises every day. As she overcame them, she realised she wanted to share her experience with other mothers. She wanted to convey that “if I am able to do all these things, so can you.” Writing in the middle of the night, she spent a year-and--a-half working on Amma Mia as she went through the pregnancy and birth of her second child. Experiencing the emotions of pregnancy and the early stages of being a mother all over again was really helpful as she wrote. She’s penned down everything she went through alongside recipes and advice, and she hopes Amma Mia is everything a new mother is looking for.

A number game
Shobhaa De, Mirror columnist and the author of multiple books, suggests that a significant social media presence is a key determinant in these publishing decisions. On Instagram, Soha Ali Khan has 2.3 million followers, Esha Deol has 1 million, Shweta Bachchan-Nanda has 3,40,000, Shaheen Bhatt has 2,32,000 and Aishwaryaa Dhanush has 1,68,000. On Twitter, Ali Khan has 2.1 million, Deol has 3,56,694, Bachchan-Nanda has 42,983 and Dhanush has 1.7 million. Referring to social media’s impact on sales, Chadha says: “I believe we tend to buy books that have already done the rounds on social media and there are very few readers visiting bookstores looking for new writers or a new book. Most come with their minds already made up.” But like Kar, she sees this as only one of many factors that help sales.

While sales numbers for these books were not disclosed by the publishers, sources within the industry are not convinced that each of these books necessarily turns a profit. A publishing house employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that in these cases, the investment from the publisher is substantial in terms of advances and marketing budget.

Kanishka Gupta, a literary agent and author, stresses that in addition to the above there are hidden costs for the publisher such as editorial trips to work with the celebrities, launches at top hotels and ghost writer fees, which are expenses they don’t normally encounter with other authors. With these steep costs in mind, he believes the profit margins may not be significant. Moreover, he has found in his experience of promoting books that there is no guaranteed correlation between social media following and book sales. He believes that the number of followers is less important than the quality of the celebrity’s content and the level of engagement of the followers.

Westland Books’ publisher Karthika V K believes that exceptional success stories within this genre keep publishers interested. She says, “It’s not as though every book written by a celeb becomes a hit, but there are enough success stories for us to know that the offtake from retail is quicker and more positive. Whether the celeb is connected to entertainment or politics or sport or self-help, there are existing channels of communication and marketing, which are already open and can be effectively leveraged.”

Aditya Mani Jha, a former commissioning editor at Penguin Random House and book critic, believes that even if each of these books is not profitable, a publishing house may take them on because they can risk “a small loss in the short-term so that they are in the good books of the celebrity whose family member wrote the thing and are well-placed to represent the ‘actual’ celebrity later”. The aforementioned anonymous employee also says that nepotism is a driving force where offspring of eminent personalities have easy rides to publication.

Some star power
Both De and Gupta see this publishing practice as an extension of society’s obsession with celebrities. Chadha appears to agree to an extent stating, “We’re a celebrity-obsessed country and there’s a vicarious thrill in reading about the lives of your favourite stars in books. It’s a sneak preview into their lives that you may otherwise not have access to. The interest in such books is massive and they generally tend to do well. In fact, some of the biggest bestsellers today tend to be celebrity books. It’s a very dependable publishing trend.”

According to Kar, the honour of being an author, and having a published book on the shelf, is what motivates celebrities to try their hand at writing. Chadha finds that for non-established names: “it’s a way to reinvent themselves, to use books as a medium to showcase a part of themselves with the world that they might not necessarily have otherwise.” Karthika imagines that “it’s a matter of legacy as well as brand extension, depending on where they are positioned in their careers.” De says, “Star kids have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by lending their names to books. They get invited to book fairs and literary festivals, where they even get mobbed.”

The question of quality is harder to assess. Gupta argues that both Bhatt and Ali Khan deserved to be published on the merit of their stories alone, though he qualifies this by saying that even good celebrity writers are often overrated. The quality of the books does affect sales, according to both Kar and Chadha, who state that in the long run, word-of-mouth endorsements and the book’s calibre are what sustain sales. Chadha further stresses that “a lot of these books are original, ambitious in scope and writing and really, really good.”

Aishwarya R Dhanush's book showcases her as a celebrity child, star wife, filmmaker, mother
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 22, 2016)

Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 16, 2015)

Dhanush reflects on the long wait between his Hindi debut and his second film, insists he will not repeat the mistakes he has made down South and falls silent when quizzed about certain co-stars
Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 8, 2015)

At the trailer launch of their upcoming film Shamitabh, Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush descended on stage dressed like magicians. Wearing tinted Lennon glasses and a black costume, the two were soon bickering over who had pulled the greatest tricks. Their cries of "Main hoon Shamitabh.... Main hoon Shamitabh..." resounded through the hall as Akshara Haasan tried pacifying two actors who were years her senior in both age and experience.

The heated exchange summed up the films theme - conflict of egos, fight over credit on whose was the bigger contribution to Shamitabh's super success - Amitabh or Danish (Dhanush's name in the film). Mirror (December 20, 2014) had earlier reported that Shah Rukh Khan was the first choice of the role of the mute character and then the character was called Shah Nawaz. But he couldn't do the film for 'various reasons' and that is when Dhanush stepped in.

Bring this up and Dhanush pleads ignorance saying, "I'm just happy I'm in it, I couldn't have asked for a better second film. I'm aware that I'm not exactly a hero material and after Raanjhanaa I just kept getting similar roles. Some were actually good, I just didn't think they were apt for me. The wait was long and agonising."

Isn't it tough turning down studio bosses and risk offending them? "It is incredibly difficult and dreadful," he admits candidly. "And perhaps the most difficult part was convincing these makers that I'm not the hero they were looking for."

When Shamitabh came along, he knew he was in safe hands. "I'm a greedy, selfish actor and after pouncing on the role I surrendered myself to Balki. It was unreal working with legends like PC Sreeram, Amitabh Bachchan and Ilaiyaraaja. Just standing in the same frame with them made me weak in the knees," he says.

Quiz him on his Danish-the mute-and Dhanush turns mum. "Balki will kill me if I utter a single word about him," he quips. The only one in the loop is his Raanjhanaa director, Aanand Rai, with whom he discusses all his assignments. He, however, denies that he is a part of the Tanu Weds Manu sequel. "I only went on the sets to meet Aanand," he asserts.

The actor is categorical that he is not in Bollywood to 'establish' himself but insists that he won't repeat the mistakes he made down South. "Bollywood is a second chance for me," he says.

His personal life is under constant scrutiny. Although married to Rajinikanth's daughter, Aishwarya, there's been plenty of gossip about his womanising ways. Of late, the rumour mills are buzzing about an affair with his Anegan co-star Amyra Dastur? What follows is a moment of silence. But the actor quickly recovers, "Amyra is only a co-star, like any other," he retorts. And Shruti Haasan, Akshara's sister? They are supposed to have grown close, and we don't mean professionally.... "There is nothing with Shruti. I'm a happily married man with two kids. There's nothing more to it," he says looking straight at the door.

And that's our cue to leave!

Amyra Dastur rubbishing rumours of an affair with the actor with whom she stars in an upcoming Tamil film
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 6, 2015)

National Award winning actor Dhanush, who is married to Southern cinema icon Rajinikanth's daughter Aishwarya R. Dhanush, is known to be a family man. But of late, there have been persistent rumours of a growing romance between Dhanush and his Anegan co-star Amyra Dastur.

Buzz is, the 31-year-old star is 'more than friends' with Amyra who made her debut opposite Prateik Babbar in Issaq. After that she moved down South to film Anegan.

Dhanush and she have been shooting together in Chennai for over a year now and have also travelled to Vietnam, Cambodia and Bolivia in the course of the film's making.

The reel-life love story, co-starring Karthik, is finally complete and targetting a Valentine's Day release.

When Mirror contacted her, Amyra laughed off the gossip saying, "Dhanush is more than friends with just his wife. We are work buddies and nothing else. He and I joke around a lot and have a bet on whose film will fare better."

Dhanush's Shamitabh is opening on February 6 and Amyra's Mr X, which was also supposed to open on V-day has been pushed to April.

According to the grapevine, Aishwarya got wind of the romance and confronted her husband and Amyra on the sets of Anegan in October, 2014. The 21-year-old actress retorts, "Nonsense! There were no tantrums or fights on the sets at all."

Amyra reveals that she is in a long-term relationship. "I am happily committed to a man who hates Bollywood. I have no issues talking about my relationship, but he will not like it." she says.