Filmmaker Shruti Ganguly talks to her friend, the award-winning author Salman Rushdie, as he releases his new novel, The Golden House
Shruti Ganguly: How did you craft the protagonist of The Golden House, René?
Salman Rushdie: I started with René as a writer and I thought, “This is awful and so boring”. It would be more interesting if he was an accountant. Anything except a writer. At a certain point, I thought,“Well maybe he wants to be a filmmaker”. He was the real discovery in the book, and then he became central.
SG: What do you create first—the story or the world?
SR: I had the character of the old man, Nero Golden, from the beginning. This idea of somebody with a shady past trying to move across the world and start again. Other things just fell into place. The gardens began to seem like a stage, a theatre in which all the action could take place, where all the characters could watch each other. I began to think about family, and gradually I got the characters of the three sons. I asked myself, “Why aren’t there any women here?” and I had to find the answer to that question. In the end, there are some very important female characters, including one based on you [called Suchitra]. Once I put René in that world of movies, I didn’t want him to be in this successful, grand Martin Scorsese world, but a more contemporary one, which includes videos and things that get made for the internet, which is what you’ve been doing.
SG: Your previous book was almost an imagination of the future, and this one is a meditation on the past, but also very current.
Esta historia es de la edición September 2017 de Harper's Bazaar India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición September 2017 de Harper's Bazaar India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Filler Fatigue
With worries about facial distortion and a shift towards the natural, is it time to sav goodbye to these corrective tweaks?
Mind-Skin Connection
Is il possible for your skincare to communicate with your brain:
Tailored for the Game
Fashion meets sports as U.S. Polo Assn. names Sawai Padmanabh Singh of ol Jaipur’ s royal family its global ambassador.
Reimagined Classic
Louis Vuitton launches the Neverfull Inside Out bag, transforming the icon into a fully reversible tote.
Italian Muse
Guecr's new high jew ellery collection isa stroll through the country’s picturesque gardens.
Co Gs Art Post, Gas Art Pas New CELSIOR Net Lay the show Neking ble e dh PATRON An TH Fotal 24 ANAR Romantics
Romcoms might not have prepared me for modern dating, but they offered a timeless sartorial guide to falling in love.
Making a Case for India's Ingenuity
William Dalrymple says The Golden Road is an extraordinary story but also the most challenging book he has written in the last two decades.
On My Playlist
Playback singer turned indie-pop artiste Dhee talks about music, identity, and empowering a new generation.
Explicitly Bold
The latest lipstick range by Nars is designed to empower wearers with colour and confidence.
Art in a Bottle
The Perfume Library founder Jahnvi Lakhota Nandan believes fragrances are meant to be liberated.