Murzban F. Shroff gave up a successful career in advertising to work on his first book, Breathless In Bombay , a collection of short stories about various aspects of life in Mumbai in 2008. The book was short listed for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the best debut category from Europe and South Asia and was rated by the Guardian as among the 10 best Mumbai books.
In Bengaluru for the launch of his second book, Waiting For Jonathan Koshy , the advertising professional turned author reflected about his foray into writing and more in conversation with Sumit Shetty.
He said: “I always wanted to be a writer and was the editor of my school and college magazines. After college, I choose advertising since I felt it was closest to a creative avenue. I worked with many agencies and started one of my own.”
He adds: “I realised I was becoming part of the corporate culture and decided to go back to writing. I decided to take up only freelance projects and began penning short stories. I decided to focus on the lives of the underprivileged in my stories and travelled across Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, living with tribals and learning about migration patterns to the city. The experiences transformed me completely. My plots reflected this change and I got published overseas.”
On a question of his relationship to the city of Mumbai, that plays an important part in both his books, Shroff contends, “I have had a torrid love affair with Mumbai in general and Bandra in particular. Waiting for Jonathan Koshy is set in Pali Hill, Bandra, where I had many friends and family, who helped me when my parents were abroad. I feel Mumbai is like a benevolent mother taking care of everyone, without expecting anything in return. It is a tough city to break into. However, it does take good care of you, once you are part of it.”
One of the short stories in Breathless In Bombay saw him embroiled in a court case for many years. “It was a terrible experience. I had to go underground, spend time and money for court appearances, all because one of the characters in the book used a term that was offensive to some groups. I had to battle a similar complaint in a court in Kodaikanal too. It was in the midst of fighting these cases that I decided to shelve my plans of a non fiction work on the eunuchs in Mumbai and began work on Waiting for.... I have a undertaking in this book saying that the author does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed by the characters.”
Talking about the protagonist in his latest book, he says, “I needed a character that was more entertaining than myself and that’s how I found Jonathan — a jocular malayalee, full of high-flying ideas. The character changed me completely.”
