The conversation that ensues with Zuni Chopra is no give away to the fact that she's just 15 years old. The teenager made her debut as a novelist at the Jaipur Literature Festival held from January 19-23 in the pink city. It helps to have famous parents—her father is filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra and mother, film reviewer and TV host Anupama Chopra, who were thrilled with their daughter's foray as a novelist, giving interviews alongside.
The book, The House That Spoke, published by Penguin, is about a house in Kashmir, the troubled land that her father hails from. Speaking to The Week, young Chopra is quick to point out that it's not a political book. “It's about a house and the place where it's based, which happens to be Kashmir,” she says. Does she look at the concept of home and house differently having gone through the process of writing a novel about it? “My book showed me the difference between house and home, and that they mean different things. The idea came from my cousin's lake house in Michigan which we visit during Christmas. I also realise I live in a privileged part of Mumbai in a nice house that one might generally have taken for granted. It gave me a sense of gratitude.” On a recent visit to the US, Chopra says she was also struck by the idea of homecoming when an immigration officer said to her, 'welcome home' (she holds a green card).
Her father, Vidhu, who is working on a film set in Kashmir says he was at first shocked discovering his daughter's talent at age five, when she had typed out an entire poem on his mobile. “I write my scripts using a pen and end up hurting the tendons in my arm, constantly erasing, rewriting... what shocked me most about Zuni was her ability to write and type it out in a flow without hardly erasing anything. She wrote the book in a year and it takes me on an average of four years to write a script. Even before an interview with a journalist, I'll think about what I'll say whereas she just lets it flow. I hope she never loses that child-like innocence... Look at her, yawning in the middle of an interview!” he turns to mock chide his daughter. But the adoration is amply clear.
Do they plan to turn her book into a film at some point? “No, I can't let my father make a film on my book, because it will then cease to be my book and become his film,” she says. “If someone else makes it and it doesn't do well, it'll be easier for her to blame him or her!” he quips.
Meanwhile, she is nervous about her upcoming boards that coincide with her novel's big launch next month. “In the whole excitement, I've forgotten that I have exams coming up!” she says, sharply dressed in a lipstick print black and white dress with red spectacles and short hair. But the witty young author says there is a while to go before she can wear actual lipstick.
