T he novel, 'The Zoya Factor', is being adapted for Bollywood with
Sonam Kapoor Ahuja and
Dulquer Salmaan playing the lead roles. Ask the author,
Anuja Chauhan
, what it is about her book that lends itself to the big screen and she replies, “The Zoya Factor is based on a simple premise and it’s a one-line story — if a cricket team or the nation believes that a girl is lucky for them, how will it change her life?” Speaking about the parallels between the characters in the book and real cricketers, she adds, “The wicketkeeper in
The Zoya Factor
sports blonde locks. When I was writing the book, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was nowhere on the scene. But when the book released, everyone said that it was based on Dhoni. Now, people are suggesting that it is based on
Virat Kohli. The truth is, it’s not based on any of them.”
The writer also gives her stamp of approval on the actors. She says, “I am happy that Dulquer and Sonam are playing the lead roles. I knew vaguely about Dulquer, because of my daughters’ Malayali friends. He has a lovely voice and also the right persona. I saw Sonam in Khoobsurat (2014) and I really liked her performance. Also, she has read all my books and she is into them. I think she really understands the characters that I write about.”
Having said that, Anuja reveals that she doesn’t think of actors while fleshing out the characters in her head. “The last thing you want to think about when you are writing a book is, ‘Which actors are going to play the roles when it is made into a film?’ It’s very restricting. And in my opinion, it is lazy writing because you may write crappy dialogue, but in your head, if Shah Rukh Khan is saying it, then it sounds good,” she shares.
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