Marked by their candour and vulnerability, and written in a spectacular fashion, these memoirs by Bollywood celebrities definitely deserve space on your bookshelf.
The Perils of Being Moderately Famous by Soha Ali Khan
At its heart, Khan’s debut book is a collection of personal essays that reflect her journey of recognition as an adjacent star in a family, which comprises of royalty, and revered Bollywood actors. Peppered with ‘blink and miss it’ conversations that reveal the intrinsic traits of her family members, her time as a student and banker and finally her career as a contemporary Bollywood actor on the fringe, the book is funny and insightful in the right pages. Come for the name, and read the self-effacing memoir on how Khan carved her own place on her illustrious family crest.
Sach Kahun Toh by Neena Gupta
As a Bollywood actress with a stellar resume, Gupta changed the rules for older actress with her viral Instagram post asking for a job. She did it with such elan and grace, a manner she replicates in her engaging memoir. Reclaiming her narrative, she writes about events that have defined her journey, both as a woman and as an actor in front of her eyes and of those who have watched her by simply writing out the truth. And, she does with a delicate sensibility that we have always known was her strength.
Elephant In The Womb by Kalki Koechlin
Humour was the default coping mechanism for Koechlin throughout her pregnancy. Indubitably, her book on motherhood is filled with tongue-in-cheek records of her pregnancy and motherhood landmarks and the physical, mental, and emotional rollercoaster that came with each passing month. The book is an amalgamation of personal essays, ‘think pieces’, journal entries, reflections, anecdotes, punctuated with illustrations by Valeriya Polyanychko.
I Have Never Been (Un)Happier by Shaheen Bhatt
Through her deeply raw confessions about her mental condition on living with depression, Bhatt creates a marker of her time. She is few of the brave exceptions voicing her truth on mental illness in India, a topic barely touched upon, and if conversations happen, they are in often in hushed tones. Chapters bookended with snippets of her journal entries, meticulously maintained since she was first diagnosed at 18, offer the first person account of her struggles, as she through her book offers a hand of solace to those suffering from mental health disorders.
The 12 Commandments of Being A Woman by Tahira Kashyap Khurrana
This is Khurrana’s fourth book, and her proclivity to portray her life and her challenges unfiltered draws her readers to her books repeatedly. Rife with tales of insecurity, jealously, ageing, doubts, and how she overcomes them through time and chalks it down to all the wisdom she has grudgingly picked up along the way. Her biting of sense humour marks her latest, a celebration of her journey to becoming a woman on her own, an outrageous and hilarious must-read.
Unfinished by Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Jonas stitches the many chapters of her life from her upbringing in small town Bareily to USA, the return to India, her career in beauty pageants, then Bollywood, a stint in singing career, and yes, her romance with Nick Jonas. Chopra’s irresistible charisma translates onto the pages of her memoir, where from chapter to chapter you are drawn in to discover the girl from the past who became the woman she is today.
