Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Kama Kahani :The Indian Romance Series








Many times when I used to read Mills and Boon as a teenager I could never relate with the protagonist and I wished that there would come a day when romance novels would get more local and desi .Mills and Boon, Harlequin was a part of growing up. I have devoured hundreds of M&B’s and whenever I got a chance would even re-read some of my favourites. But there was always the Indian tall dark and handsome I longed to read romancing an Indian woman.
Looks like years down the line my prayers have been answered! Random House India has published a series ‘Kama Kahani’ .The romance series are historical romances rather than contemporary love stories. So you have a rich backdrop of palaces, historical places and colorful characters such as Maharajas, Thakurs, Britishers. Think Heer-Ranjha, Soni-Mahiwal …the book tries to re-capture the essence of all these and more.
The books, however, don't score much on the authenticity of the period details. I also felt the writers have a severe M&B hangover. The plot is almost the same –
·        Boy meets girl
·        The girl hates him at first
·        Then a few chance encounters make her fall in love with the handsome man
·        She is unsure of his reciprocation
·        By the end they manage to clear the misunderstanding and live happily ever after!
Apart from a few drawbacks I feel it’s a good attempt by the publishing house to initiate an Indian Romance Series. India is the country of Kama Sutra and we very well deserve our very own desi romance!
What I’d really like to read though would be a few contemporary romance novels from them.
Some of the Titles available in the series:
Mistress to the Yuvraj –Sanyogita Rathore

Passion in the Punjab- Kiran Kohl

The Zamindar’s Forbidden Love-Jasmine Saigal

Ghazal in the Moonlight-Alessandra Shahbaz

The Thief of Poompuhar-Nila Iyer

3 comments:

  1. i saw these books in some book stores.. i am not sure how well they would work ..a king romancing a girl is not my idea of a tall,dark handsome Indian protagonist ! i would rather read about Marks and Davids of the world who are ordinary people.

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  2. True that!Even I'd like to read an Indian romance
    which has ordinary people rather than kings,thakurs misc.but there are a whole lot of women who find these stories very interesting..my buzz comments are a proof of that!

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  3. I am not sure how well could the Kama Sutra series help in overatking M&B craze. Even M&B publishers had got Indian authors to write an Indian romance for two years back, haven't read any of that though.

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