'Battle of Bittora' is a tale of young India: Anuja Chauhan

Adwoman-turned-author Anuja Chauhan, whose debut novel is being adapted on screen by Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment, tries to do away with the traditional "one-dimensional portrayal of politicians" in her new book, a laugh-out-loud romance set against the backdrop of Lok Sabha elections.

"The reason for a different setting is that I was little interested in portraying politicians as always done in our movies and books," says Chauhan.

"Politics has been covered in books and films in a very cliched manner. Politicians are always shown to be ugly, corrupt and money-hungry. But not all are like that," says the author who created popular ad campaigns like 'Nothing Official About it', 'Yeh Dil Maange More' and 'Oye Bubbly' for a leading cola company.

In "Battle of Bittora", 25-year-old Jinni lives in Mumbai, works in a hip animation studio and is perfectly happy with her carefree and independent existence.

Until her bossy grandmother shows up and announces that it is Jinni's duty to drop everything and come and contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from their sleepy hometown, Bittora.

Though Jinni declines at first, she soon ends upswathed in cotton saris and frumpy blouses, battling prickly heat, corruption and accusations of nymphomania as candidate Sarojini Pande, a daughter of the illustrious Pande dynasty of Pavit Pradesh.

And if life isn't fun enough already, her main opposition turns out to be Bittora ex-royal, Zain Altaf Khan -- an irritatingly idealistic though undeniably lustworthy individual with whom Jinni shares a complicated history.

Enlivened by Chauhan's characteristic brand of wicked humour and sexy romanticism, this is a rollicking new tale of young India.

"I wanted to write on politics in a different manner," she says.

Though the rights of her first book "The Zoya Factor" have been bought for screen adaptation by Red Chillies Entertainment, Chauhan says she did not write "Battle of Bittora" with a future script in mind.

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