KOLKATA: Author Sumant Batra launched his best-selling book ‘Anarkali’ in Kolkata on Saturday at a panel discussion moderated by writer and social activist Saira Shah Halim in the presence of writer, editor, festival director Anjum Katyal, National Award-winning director Ashoke Vishwanathan, and editor-in-chief Om Books International Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri.
During the panel discussion, Katyal said: “...what I found very interesting was sort of the nitty gritty detail of historical research that came through and this is something I talked to Batra ji about.” Viswanathan added: “If a book called ‘Anarkali’ has been written, it would be enough provocative to look it up you know. I think the book is extremely well written.”
Reflecting on the process, Chaudhuri said: “I have seen Batra’s passion for this subject for the last 7-8 years since I have known him.” Saira Shah Halim also praised Batra’s approach and said: “...when we see deeply toxic films where women are told to lick a man’s shoe, he (Sumant Batra) has given a lot of grace to the character (Anarkali) and also tried to find a closure to it.”
“I have tried to piece together the puzzle that surrounds this woman (Anarkali) whose silhouette is all that we have known, giving her an identity, a name, a family, and a life beyond the tragic love affair she has come to be identified with. What comes forth is a saga, fresh and compelling, reflecting the experience of a woman navigating social structures in the Mughal Empire and bearing the consequences of asserting her desires,” said Batra, an insolvency lawyer of global eminence. Interestingly, the book was launched by renowned filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj in December 2023. Impressed by the story, Bhardwaj has even offered to make a film on the book.