‘Aishwarya’s life is a fantastic story’

The camaraderie between John Makinson, chairman and CEO Penguin Group and author Shobhaa De is hard not to miss, even to the casual observer. “We’re friends,” he says candidly, adding, “and this is not a formal, professional association, it’s more personal.”

Shobhaa echoes the ‘we’ feeling, saying, “I’ve been a part of the Penguin family for a very long time, more than 20 years. It’s been a relationship based on a lot of trust, and this was the obvious next thing to be doing.”

The ‘obvious next thing’ she is referring to is of course the announcement of her own imprint, Shobhaa De books, under the umbrella of the Penguin Group.

Minutes before her entry, Makinson had been all praise for De saying, “What’s amazing is how consistently relevant she is — she’s still articulating to modern India in that sort of brave, intelligent way she has, its concerns, hopes, fears…”

Makinson isn’t a stranger to India either. “I’d actually lived here, in 1972, working as a school teacher,” is his surprise revelation. “I come here often. I love India.”

The English-language market in India, though small in terms of size when compared to the West, is a growing one, hence a ‘very high priority’. “It had been growing consistently at the rate of 20-25 per cent a year,” he elaborates. “Though it stalled in the first six months of last year, because of the recession, it has however resumed that growth.”

Shobhaa’s new imprint seeks to ‘blend creativity and commerce’ as she puts it. “It’s an ambitious project, we’re looking at lifestyle books, an untapped space waiting to be taken: books that reflect a changing and young India.” And she is quite emphatic about including Bollywood (read: celebrity memoirs) in that space.

“Hollywood’s titles have a global fan base. Bollywood is one of the biggest brands India can export. There is a huge interest in the lives of stars. We don’t have to wait for a person to be 90 and above to write a biography. I think we should be in a position to chronicle the lives of young actors, who are living icons. Aishwarya Rai’s life, for instance, is a fantastic story. A story worth sharing. Everyone wants to be Aishwarya. If you’re asking is she on our wish-list, then yes, she is!”

Earlier, Makinson was asked whether writing a book was on his wish-list.

“I still write journalism. But no, I’ve never kind of woken up in the morning and thought, ‘I have to write a book.’ I don’t want to write a book. (Then, cheekily) Everybody though, wants to write a book, and they want me to publish it!”