Title : Those Pricey Thakur Girls
Author : Anuja Chauhan
Genre : Chick lit ; Rom-com ; Indian Fiction
Pages : 398
Thank you Harper Collins India for sending the copy of this book.
BLURB
In a sprawling bungalow on New Delhi’s posh Hailey Road, Justice Laxmi Narayan Thakur and his wife Mamta spend their days watching anxiously over their five beautiful (but troublesome) alphabetically named daughters. Anjini, married but an incorrigible flirt; Binodini, very worried about her children’s hissa in the family property; Chandrakanta, who eloped with a foreigner on the eve of her wedding; Eshwari, who is just a little too popular at Modern School, Barakhamba Road; and the Judge’s favourite (though fathers shouldn’t have favourites): the quietly fiery Debjani, champion of all the stray animals on Hailey Road, who reads the English news on DD and clashes constantly with crusading journalist Dylan Singh Shekhawat, he of shining professional credentials but tarnished personal reputation, crushingly dismissive of her state-sponsored propaganda, but always seeking her out with half-sarcastic, half-intrigued dark eyes. Spot-on funny and toe-curlingly sexy, Those Pricey Thakur Girls is rom-com specialist Anuja Chauhan writing at her sparkling best.
REVIEW
Anuja Chauhan is one of the most celebrated and loved Indian rom-com authors. Most of the readers and reviewers in the country love Those Pricey Thakur Girls and have also vouched as Anuja Chauhan’s best work. Many readers even compare this book with the very famous Pride and Prejudice. These humungous good reviews obviously placed a lot of responsibility and burden on Those Pricey Thakur Girls’ shoulders. Were Those Pricey Thakur Girls able to beat or match with the legendary Bennet sisters from the 1800s or not? Let’s find that out.
Those Price Thakur Girls happens during the pre-economic reforms in India. The author has set up the mood of the book by focusing on the nostalgic elements of the 80s and 90s. The story revolves around the Thakur household located in Hailey Road, New Delhi. The retired Justice Laxmi Narayan Thakur, who is dearly called as LN has five beautiful and efficient daughters who are extremely unique and different from one another.
Our protagonist, Debjani is a newsreader at the Doordarshan which has been renamed as DeshDarpan for obvious reasons. Debjani is the most innocent and naïve one amongst the five sisters and she also happens to be her father’s favourite. Debjani becomes a star after becoming a famous newsreader the country loves. She comes across our male lead, Dylan Singh Shekhawat, who is the son of LN’s best friend. Both of them are clearly into each other, but the only problem is Dylan has thrashed Debjani like hell on the newspaper even before meeting her. Debjani was completely traumatised by this article and doesn’t know it was her love interest Dylan who has written that nasty piece about her. This time bomb lures around the corner for the perfect timing to blast itself.
The plot line focuses on the personal and professional lives of both Dylan and Debjani. These two has a quintessential Tom and Jerry kind of a relationship where they fight super often. This trope is something present on most of the Anuja Chauhan‘s books. This is like one of her trademarks. Dylan and Debjani‘s parts have been written charmingly. Anuja Chauhan’s guys have the tendency to sweep the readers off their feet from the very first moment and Dylan is also one such character. As much as he is charming and attractive, he’s also a bit misogynistic at certain levels and has quite problematic relationship traits with Debjani.
The best thing about this book is writing about the Anti-Sikh riots which happened post the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The author had taken this as one of the major themes of the book. She has fearlessly written about it. Anuja Chauhan has incorporated this issue into the plot line meticulously. Dylan is an investigative journalist who makes his life’s mission to bring the ruling party’s politician who instigated the riot in front of the judiciary. The way the author has written about his professional life was spectacular, how he approaches a story and how he writes it in the newspaper. Above all, how he feels about the Anti-Sikh riot and how invested he was in it was extraordinary. On the other hand, Debjani works for the DD. Though this seems super ludicrous and enchanting, it wasn’t as interesting as Dylan’s career comparatively. You could say, Dylan, simply overtook her with his dedication and obsession towards his work. With a little bit of extra details or space, the author could have written about life at DD in a much more enticing way, especially when there was so much room for it.
The characterisation of Debjani could have been even more better. At times it felt like she was aimless and her zero knowledge on general knowledge and current affairs, wasn’t that interesting or good to read about a lead character. Especially when the male lead has been projected as someone with strong political views and up-to-date with the happenings of the world. The little feminist inside any reader would be super disappointed. Though, Debjani learns and develops her political views and updates herself as the book progress but still it wasn’t enough.
As I told earlier, certain things were also misogynistic, particularly the way Dylan talks about his ex-girlfriends or how he had thrashed Debjani, that too when she was a complete stranger was completely not nice. That is not something anyone would expect in an ideal character. As much as his political stance, his bravery, his honest and dedicated way of working were fascinating, the toxic male ego of Dylan staggered the very basement of his characterisation. If the misogynistic part was eliminated, his character had so much potential to become the best fictional character or a male lead.
The sisterhood shared between Debjani and Eshwari was phenomenal. They made a good team. When you have more than one sibling, you always have a favourite. How Eshwari supports Debjani was ultimately so fulfilling to read. Anjini, though she has been mean to Debjani very often, at certain instances, you will be able to see her sorrow and reasons as well. Her relationship with her husband, Anand was strained but still it was good to read about. It would have been great if the author had explored a little bit on that angle and divulged a lot more about their story as well. The turmoil going on between this couple was tad too interesting. Instead of writing about Eshwari and Sathish in much detail, the author could have easily chosen Anjini and Anand. Many a time, Eshwari’s parts felt unnecessary and forced which could have been avoided. Also, the book doesn’t says much about the other two sisters’ lives, it would have given an in-depth insight into all the Thakur Girls and their lives.
There were many characters in the book, some funny and some not so funny. At many instances, it felt like all the characters were being over-dramatic and many characters were two-dimensional which was so unlike Anuja Chauhan. Still, the characterisation of LN and Mamataji was awesome, even Dylan’s parents’ characters were written finely. The way the book ended was super dramatic and at certain points felt unrealistic. It could have been written in a little more believable and authentic manner. One of the interesting things about this book was the game of kot-piece which LN loved so much. Whenever they played the game and hang out in LN’s garden was funny and entertaining. LN had a good set of friends.
The writing style of Anuja Chauhan was flawless as usual and witty. Her regular layering was missing but nevertheless, the writing was entertaining, fast pacing and humourous. She has written this book in a way where the readers will be directly transported to mid-eighties India without difficulty. On the whole, it was a decent read.
MY VIEWS
If you didn’t know this before, I’m a big fan of Anuja Chauhan. I love her narrative style, her sense of humour and the layers she gives to her plot and her characters so so much. I love plotlines which involve siblings and especially sisters. When I came to know my favourite author has written about something I love, I was super excited. And as an added advantage, I was buddy-reading this book with my dear friend and a fellow reviewer of The Nerdy Bookarazzi @suchitra-shekhar
Though I felt Debjani’s character should have been more driven and goal-oriented, I was able to relate to her at many levels. That is the thing with Anuja Chauhan, she writes about characters like you and me. I really liked the innocence of Debjani. The tiny details about her were captivating and funny and relatable to read. Her love for stray dogs and any underdog for that matter was one of the things I love about her. I liked how Dylan worked. He was quite problematic but hot.
More than anything, I loved the fact that the author has written something about the Anti-Sikh riot in a sensible way. I also liked how obsessed Dylan was in uncovering this story against all the odds. He was an ideal journalist. Let’s forget about him thrashing Debjani on his newspaper, which was obviously below the belt. Apart from that, he is an extraordinary journalist and I loved him for that.
The other thing I loved about this book was, how forward-thinking, broad-minded and modern the characters and their families were in this book, considering the fact it was happening somewhere between the 80s and 90s. The pop culture way of writing this book made it unique and also it had a good amount of authenticity while bringing back the black-and-white days in front of our eyes while reading it. The author also focused on the property issues that are going on in the family which is always an issue when you have more kids at home.
Coming back to the Pride and Prejudice comparison, I don’t see much relevance between the two. I guess, people would have compared it with Pride and Prejudice, just because there are five sisters. I think the similarity ends there. Well, you can also count the love-hate tension between the lead characters and the property quarrel going on in the family. But Those Pricey Thakur Girls is a full-fledged romantic comedy whereas Pride and Prejudice is not. I can’t even accept the fact that Pride and Prejudice is a romance book. It is a classic about people’s behaviour, social psychology and society as a whole. Well, that’s a story for another day. I know it is a quite controversial statement 😛 So, my verdict is let’s not compare these two, since both of them are different genres altogether.
I wouldn’t say this book was as great as The Zoya Factor but nonetheless, it was fun reading it and I simply enjoyed it. What can I say, I’m an Anuja Chauhan girl any day, any time 😀 You can go ahead and read this book to lighten up your mood or during vacation or while traveling or when you are looking to read something light and at the same time which has a solid storyline. This book will keep you good company.
My rating for this book would be 3 out of 5 stars.
Buy this lovely book over here!
Happy Reading Folks!
~ Meenu
