Penning books Bollywood’s new passion!

More and more Bollywood celebrities are taking to penning books with Sonali Bendre Behl the latest to join the league with a book on parenting tips.

Several Bollywood actors have recently come out with books or are planning to do so in the near future among them being Anu Aggarwal, Twinkle Khanna, Emraan Hashmi, Shilpa Shetty and Shadaab Amjad Khan.

In her book “The Modern Gurukul: My Experiments with Parenting”, Behl shares her three principles of parenting which she says will help find a balance between tradition and modernity, and show how to raise a child in the digital age.

“This isn’t a conventional self-help book. It is an honest and sincere narration of my journey as a parent,” she says about her book, published by Penguin Random House.

When Behl’s son Ranveer was born in 2005, she gave up her career to play the role of a mother in real life. It was only after her son started going to school and she was confident of the quality of time she spent with him that she resumed her career.

She has since appeared on television as a judge on shows like “Indian Idol”, “India’s Got Talent”, “Hindustan Ke Hunarbaaz” and “India’s Best Dramebaaz”, and a daily sitcom with Balaji Productions called “Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh”.

A few months ago, Khanna’s “Mrs Funnybones: She’s Just Like You and a Lot Like Me”, Aggarwal’s memoir “Anusual: Memoir of a Girl Who Came Back from the Dead” and Khan’s debut novel “Murder in Bollywood” were published.

Full of wit and delicious observations, “Mrs Funnybones” is based on Khanna’s popular column. The book, published by Penguin India, captures the life of the modern Indian woman.

In “Anusual: Memoir of a Girl Who Came Back from the Dead”, published by HarperCollins India, “Aashiqui” girl Aggarwal tells the fascinating story of her self-discovery, a near-death experience and amazing recovery besides details of the men in her life, from millionaire jet-setters to superyogis.

“Murder in Bollywood”, published by Penguin India, is a Bollywood crime caper by Amjad Khan’s son Shadaab.

Ayushmann Khurrana has also written a book called “Cracking the Code” in which he outlines a step-by-step guide to making it big in tinsel town, drawing on his personal experiences in Bollywood.

Hashmi is coming out with a book next year which will be a combination of his personal story and an emotional journey, along with practical reference and resources to help anyone else whose loved ones are battling cancer. In January 2014, his four-year-old son Ayaan was diagnosed with cancer. Throughout this difficult time, Hashmi educated himself about the disease and sought the best possible treatment for his son. Now, following Ayaan’s return to health, he will share his experience in the book.

Written with Bilal Siddiqi, the book will be published by Penguin Random House.

“Dealing with my son’s cancer has been the most trying phase of my life. But the way my son fought it changed my outlook to a lot of things and in turn gave me immense strength. I also discovered so many things about this dreaded disease that I have documented in the book. But finally the book is about how my son beat cancer, with a little help from his friend batman,” Hashmi says.

“Emraan’s book is about how to deal with challenges that life throws at you and how to deal with them; conquering your fears and valuing what we are blessed with. I’m proud to publish this inspirational book from one of our most loved actors Emraan and one of our most promising writers Bilal,” says Milee Ashwarya, editor in chief at Penguin Random House.

Shilpa Shetty’s book “The Great Indian Diet”, co-authored by with Luke Coutinho, will be released soon. It tells how nutritious locally grown and sourced ingredients are and that there’s no need to look beyond borders.

Inputs by PTI