‘Normal childhood with superstar Appa’

Aishwarya Rajnikanth Dhanush discussed her book with journalist Sudha Sadhanand.

book talk: Director and classical dancer Aishwarya Rajinikanth Dhanush at the Jaipur Literature Festival at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur on Saturday.

The sun rose on the third day of the Jaipur Literature Festival on Saturday with a conversation between writers, filmmakers and one playwright.

Alan Hollinghurst, whose Booker Prize-winning novel The Line of Beauty has been adapted for film, was in conversation with playwright David Hare, novelist and Oscar-winning director Neil Jordan and Booker-winner Richard Flanagan.

The conversation shifted easily and frequently between literature and cinema. “When does a novel become literature?” a member of the audience asked Hollinghurst. “In twenty years,” he laughed.

David Hare spoke about his difficulty adapting films from his own plays. “My films based on my plays are terrible. And I can’t bear to have my plays adapted to film by someone else. So I basically don’t sell any film rights,” he concluded.

Aishwarya Rajnikanth Dhanush, daughter of superstar Rajnikanth and wife of actor Dhanush, discussed her book with journalist Sudha Sadhanand. The book documents her childhood and the unique experience of growing up with “superstar Appa.”

She began in Tamil, saying: “I am a proud Tamil. Jallikattu must, will and should happen. We need everyone’s support for jallikattu. And I salute the protesting students.” Then, continuing in English, she spoke about her unexpectedly “normal” childhood. “Nobody treated me like a celebrity’s kid. Most of my childhood was spent in Bangalore, playing on the road, walking to school, buying vegetables at a mandi, having chaat with my friends on my birthday. Even when I moved to Madras — I like calling it Madras because that sounds more like home — very little changed.”

Paul Beatty, who won the Booker Prize 2016 for The Sellout , a novel where the narrator tries to reintroduce slavery and segregation, talked about the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. “The tone (of the inauguration) was so scary...”

“Nobody is considering the impact that this rhetoric will have on the rest of the world. And that’s why I’m glad I’m here [in Jaipur], and not there right now,” Beatty said.