THE MAGIC OF BOLLYWOOD IN A BOOK

We're very pleased to welcome author Shobhan Bantwal to popculturedivas! Shobhan is hanging out today to chat about her latest release THE SARI SHOP WIDOW (Kensington Publishing – Sept 2009) & share her love of Bollywood films!

Take it away Shobhan...


Several years ago, as a teenager growing up in India, I was addicted to Bollywood movies. Bollywood is the term for Bombay Hollywood and it has provided loads of inspiration and fodder for my stories. My books are romantic women’s fiction bubbling with high emotion, drama, and lots of cultural detail – all the elements of Bollywood.

I also tackle social issues like dowry, arranged marriage, female feticide, joint family living, and other subjects that set my fiction apart from the other writers’, even my fellow South Asian authors, who primarily write literary fiction.

THE SARI SHOP WIDOW is my third novel. Set on the streets of Edison, New Jersey’s Little India, it tells the story of a young businesswoman who rediscovers the magic of love, family, and her roots as she fights to save her failing sari boutique.

Little India is a quaint neighborhood filled with sari and clothing stores, jewelry shops, restaurants, music and video galleries, and grocery markets. It is a slice of India transplanted into suburban America. From a 22 karat gold necklace to a cup of spiced tea, from a plate of sizzling tandoori chicken to a hand-embroidered tunic top, one can buy most anything Indian in Little India.

My first two books, THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER and THE DOWRY BRIDE were set in India and dealt with hot-button social issues that plague women in contemporary India – the practices of dowry and aborting female fetuses in a male-oriented society.

However, since the tastes, scents, textures, and colors of India are available right here in the U.S., I decided to set my latest book against this somewhat exotic backdrop. Every time I visited Little India, I felt it would make a great place for a story. THE SARI SHOP WIDOW is a product of that urge to spin a story and plant it right in the heart of my home state of New Jersey, and offer a glimpse into the Indian-American immigrant experience to my American and Canadian readers.

The book trailer and excerpt of THE SARI SHOP WIDOW can be viewed at www.shobhanbantwal.com along with my favorite recipes, photos, and reviews. I’m on FaceBook and MySpace, too. Come on over to my website and take a look.

Question: Shobhan is giving away a copy of her latest book THE SARI SHOP WIDOW. She would love to know what you think of Bollywood or Indian/South Asian films. Let us know & you could be a lucky winner!