Anuja Chauhan is a gift from god.

 Apart from being a talented copy writer in the most reputed ad agency JWT(she is the one behind those quirky ads screaming 'Oye Bubbly Bubbly Oye', 'Yeh Dil Mange More' and many more), she has dished out 4 TOTALLY AWESOME novels.

She is 'mostly' considered to be a chick-lit author but she isn't one actually. Her style of writing may appear so to some but if you observe carefully then it is not. She doesn't write the quintessential stories of how-a-boy-falls-in-love-with-a-girl-and-their-love-has-to-cross-several-illogical-barriers-like-villains-and-diseases-and-evil-societies-and-blah-blah. You know how these stories pan out coz they have been done to death.
I had read a blog where in an interview a journo told her that she is the female Chetan Bhagat. She obviously came pat with a witty reply, but to an AC fan this 'female Chetan Bhagat' tag is blasphemous!! With all due respect to Chetan Bhagat, Anuja Chauhan is nothing like him.
                                                             
                                                                        Why?
                                               Because of her style and sense of writing.

The fact that Anuja Chauhan has an incredibly keen eye for observation is monstrously evident in what she writes.
Every situation she mentions, the emotions revolving around those situations, the thoughts running in people's minds, the consequences that follow, the comparisons she brings up can be related to so much !!

Yes she does have deliciously handsome tall boys with toffee-coloured toned torsos and sinewy limbs,intense eyes and disarming smiles who are very serious about their work and have genuine feelings for their lady love, play the 'hero'(Do I hear some girls sighing already?).


Her 'heroine's' are also beautiful,vibrant,intelligent,'very well endowed' and sexy in an innocent way.
Unlike the generic chick-lit stories where the 'heroine' is shown to be a damsel in distress EVERY damn time waiting to be rescued from the mess she is in by her knight in shining armour, Anuja Chauhan gives all her women a BBA(Brain, Backbone and an Aim in life).
Of course they do steal glances at their hot-shot's hot bod (if ever on display) and their knee's do wobble when they are greeted with a flash of that dazzling smile but they hold their ground firm and focus on their duties without having their pheromones and oestrogen levels play havoc with their mind.

She does have a love story in every story but in her story love isn't the only thing she talks about. Her stories are woven around serious issues, which she obviously narrates in her own humorous and witty way. And that is exactly where she unfolds her magic. So far she is the only one to have written about the hypocrisies of our society in various aspects unabashedly, sprinkled it generously with her wit, humour and sarcasm without offending anyone.

She uses a sharp,sophisticated and desi way of writing her tales which gives her books the perfect balance of being taken seriously-but-not-too-seriously. She thoroughly believes in entertaining both the soft heart and intellectual mind of the audience. And once you read her novels you will be crooning 'Yeh dil mange mooooreeeeee' for sure.

Here is a gist of  the books she has written so far:


THE ZOYA FACTOR

Title : The Zoya Factor Author : Anuja Chauhan SOC Rating : 5/5 Genre : Fiction/Drama/Romance Publisher : Harper Collins Re Published By : Westland Publishing Year : 2008 #Pages : 511

This book happens to be the first of Anuja Chauhan's books.

Zoya Singh Solanki has been plucked from the ad film set and thrown into the circus called Cricket. She detests the game, but incidentally she happens to be born right at the moment when India won their World Cup back in 1983.
As she is an employee from an ad agency she has to deal with a lot of behind-the-scenes work and it is an absolute pain to do so with the Indian team Captain being anything but helpful. Nikhil Khoda, the brooding hot skipper, believes that his team needs to remain focused on the World Cup and not go about endorsing brands and smiling prettily for photo shoots. But Zoya needs to get the photos clicked or else the plethora of items that need to be manufactured in a weeks time with the Indian team's pictures plastered on them cannot happen. And if she can't do it within the dead line she will have to kiss her job good bye. However the Indian team boys, full of raw talent and nerves, believe that if Zoya has breakfast with the team then they will win. And that is where the tension starts.

Here she shows how India is obsessed with this game where you have to hit a round little object with a stump of willow and how India is a staunch believer of superstition. Not only that,coming from an ad agency herself, Anuja Chauhan provides a peek-a-boo into the ad world and shows us what goes on before we see the World Cup commercials.

Grab the book from Amazon!
 

Or watch it in Netflix here !

BATTLE FOR BITTORA

We have all heard of the term 'dirty politics'. But do we know how the wheel of politics runs and how the dirt soils politics?

Forced by her politician grandmother, Sarojini Pande has to leave her cool job of drawing cartoon germs for Harpic in Bombay and fight for her native land Bittoragarh. Obligingly she does stand from her grandmother's party but things take a turn when her old crush stands from the opposition and politics unfurls its nasty side. But Anuja Chauhan makes it a point to give the nasty game a sweet and happy end.

Since her mother-in-law is a politician herself, Anuja Chauhan knows the real deal and provides a brutally honest description of the campaigning process obviously in her own humorous,witty,sarcastic style.

Title : Battle for Bittora

Author : Anuja Chauhan

SOC Rating : 4.5/5

Genre: Fiction

Publisher : Harper Collins

Publishing Year : 2009

#Pages : 426

Read it now!

THOSE PRICEY THAKUR GIRLS

Title : Those Pricey Thakur Girls Author : Anuja Chauhan SOC Rating : 5/5 Genre : Fiction/Drama/Romance Publisher : Harper Collins Publishing Year : 2013 #Pages : 400

                                  
Now Anuja Chauhan moves onto family matters.

The story is about Debjani and Dylan and how media has to bear the brunt of politics,ruthless people and at times even mutilate the truth or hide it totally.
Debjani hails from a large Thakur family, the second youngest daughter out of Laxmi Narayan's five daughters(Anjini, Binodini, Chandralekha, Debjani and Eshwari) and works as a news reader in the country's most famous channel. And Dylan,who is a handsome,truth-digging journalist, criticises her work.
But when the two meet, they fight, they fall in love but due to a misunderstanding it all falls apart only to be rejoined by Anuja Chauhan's masterful story telling.

This book also focuses greatly on the other family members and gives them so much life that you imagine these people actually exist and you become emotionally involved.


Grab the book from Amazon right now!

THE HOUSE THAT BJ BUILT

  This is a sequel to Those Pricey Thakur Girls.

Here we find a vibrant, young, fiery Bonita Singh a.k.a Bonu who runs a successful apparel business by replicating clothes worn by celebrities and Samar Vir Singh, a successful director making movies which make sense.

Samar is Bonu's step cousin and she has nursed a huge crush on him ever since childhood. Bonu had been orphaned at a young age and after all her mausi's had settled on different parts of the world and her grandmother had gone off to the heavens she became alone living in a large house with her old grandfather.
But things take a turn when her grandfather goes to join his wife up in the heavens making Samar vow that he is going to sell their house and divide the money equally between his five daughters. Bonita who shares a deep bond with the house intends to seek the revenge her late mother had always wanted.
Bonu puts her foot down but her four mausi's and Samar are adamant on getting the house sold. Trouble amongst the family members and love between Bonu and Samar begins to brew. And to add to the mountain of stress their uncle Ashok Narayan comes up with a new plan.

But the troubled waters are calmed and all ends happily for the Thakur clan.

Title : The House that BJ Built
Author : Anuja Chauhan
SOC Rating : 5/5
Genre : Fiction/Drama/Romance
Publisher : Westland
Publishing Year : 2015
#Pages : 410