Mush ado about new romances

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Gone are the days when one would pick up a romantic fiction featuring a Prince Charming in a European setting. Today’s readers look forward to realistic stories, which is setting the tone and stage for romances by desi authors. Harlequin Mills and Boon, for instance, came up with an Indian author’s book last year and the latest to join the bandwagon is author Aastha Atray, who has made a mark with her novel His Monsoon Bride, MB’s first “made-in-India-with-Indian faces” book.
Even as the company plans to rope in two more Indian writers next year, Indian authors are penning contemporary facets of new-age romance for today’s lovers of mush.
“The demand for realistic settings is high. I wanted to give my readers a balance of both — romance and realism. So my novel is set in contemporary Mumbai. It’s about a rich journalist in Mumbai who chooses to travel by train. The hero is a self-made millionaire in modern Mumbai who has lived in Dharavi as a child,” says Aastha.
Writers today are tweaking timeless love tales to fit a new format of modern romance. Shoma Narayanan, who is all set to release her untitled novel next year with MB, has modernised the much-done theme of a couple breaking up in college and meeting after years of seperation.
“The female lead in my story is a woman who is independent. There’s wit and humour involved in dialogues, which is very relatable. Young girls today are strong and want to be portrayed that way,” says Shoma.
Unlike a few years back, when readers could easily be wooed by international settings and sunsets at exotic locations, people now want to read novels set in their own country. “I’d rather read something set on the local roads of Delhi and Mumbai than something exotic. Indian models will make MBs more personal for Indian readers. And if content is Indian too, these are likely to sell more than others. MBs have always ruled the market for romantic novels,” says Rohit, a Hansraj College student.
Relatable characters are the need of the hour too. “After a point of time, these romantic tales get boring. A book like Of course I love you till I find someone better, and others have characters one can relate with,” says Monica, a DU student. Seconds Manish Singh, Harlequin Mills & Boon India country manager, “Milan’s novel published last year was set in Sarojini Nagar. Indian readers don’t want to read about exotic settings but their own local space.”