That Twinkle Khanna is hilarious is not news. She slays online trolls and shoots off quick-witted replies on Twitter in the most humourous manner. She credits her mother, Dimple Kapadia, the biggest troll in her life—from naming her Twinkle and calling her random names such as Alfred and David to the most bizarre like 'endometriosis'! She's had years of practise training herself to battle online trolls on a daily basis. And on top of that, Khanna has had three books published in three years. Those comparing her success to that of Akshay Kumar's, her superstar husband, take a hike!
The Townhall presented by THE WEEK and Mojo have had some illustrious guests including Kangana Ranaut, Nitin Gadkari and Kamal Haasan, among others. Twinkle Khanna joins the bandwagon as she promoted her new book Pyjamas Are Forgiving.
Khanna and Barkha Dutt get on like a house on fire, the conversation somewhat like a stand up comedy routine—fast, witty and, most importantly, entertaining.
Pyjamas Are Forgiving is Khanna's first novel. Her first book Mrs. Funnybones was a compilation of her weekly columns for a national newspaper. This was followed by The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, a collection of short stories.
The title Pyjamas Are Forgiving came to her a couple of weeks after some festive bingeing during Diwali, and Khanna found it difficult to zip up her jeans.
"Pyjamas are forgiving, but it is skinny jeans who know how to hold a grudge," she thought and immediately wrote it down.
The book is about Anshu, the protagonist who visits Shanthamaaya Sthalam (literally meaning 'peaceful place'), an Ayurvedic spa in Kerala, and is dealing with her personal struggles and the spa's strict regimen. At the spa, she runs into her former husband and his current wife, and the story unravels, touching upon the #MeToo movement and feminism.
The conversation between Khanna and Dutt eventually steers into these topics.
Khanna reveals that feminism was never discussed at home when she and her sister Rinke were growing up, and they watched their mother who lived life on her own terms. She admits that she has embraced feminism, but refuses to be called a feminist icon. Icon is simply a manner of saying 'I con you' convincing people to believe that the icon is superior, she says.
In our society, mindset is what needs to be changed to bring the change. Why should a mother think that her job is done only when her son gets a job and her daughter settles down, i.e., gets married, Twinkle Khanna makes a point.
The writer also weighs in on the Serena Williams controversy at this year's US Open, saying that while feminism means equality, it cannot be used as justification for bad behaviour because men also do it.
Considering her current career trajectory and success as a writer, would she ever write an autobiography? Twinkle Khanna doesn't think she would. Truth is always wrapped around in fiction. An autobiography would be full of lies, she quips.
And she won't write about Bollywood either, as she is too familiar with that world and would rather write about something that won't bore her.
Before signing off, Mrs. Funnybones jokes that if she had the body she had when she was 20 and the brains she has now, she would be prime minister! Now that would be something.
