Origins of Love and
Sea of Innocence. The three novels has been optioned for a web series. Desai is in the middle of negotiations for a screen adaptation of
The Longest Kiss too, she told
Scroll.in. In an interview, the writer revealed how she distilled over 4,000 documents into a chronicle of the actor whom she describes as “a pioneer, then and now”.
How did your impressions of Devika Rani change as you conducted your research over a 15-year period?
To begin with, there wasn’t very much written on her except for a few write-ups or brief biographies. They had a lot of inaccuracies.
Devika Rani | Photo courtesy Rashid Ashraf
Devika was now the acknowledged boss of Bombay Talkies. The years of suffering and abuse were behind her. At last she was being valued for her own hard work as the head of the studio – not because she was Himansu’s wife. Along with her acting skills, her management skills also came to the fore.
When questions were raised by shareholders of Bombay Talkies as to why the resignations of so many of their leading artistes (including Ashok Kumar) and technicians had been promptly accepted by HIT, a carefully drafted note was submitted on 27 January 1943 addressed to the chairman of Bombay Talkies, by HIT, the managing agents.