Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt launches debut novel at World Book Fair

New Delhi: Acclaimed Bollywood filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt says his debut novel 'All That Could Have Been', which is based on the screenplay of his forthcoming film 'Hamaari Adhuri Kahaani', is about the new-age woman. Set in present-day Mumbai, Bastar and Dubai, the book is a story about a woman named Vasudha and it chronicles her relationships.

"Vasudha stays married by choice, chooses to be a prisoner to those traditional values. Yet, during the course of the narrative she discovers a new side to her. Once she comes out, she erupts and cannot be kept on a leash," Bhatt said during the launch of the book at the World Book Fair here today.

'All That Could Have Been' has been written by Bhatt and Suhrita Sengupta, a young writer, who had helped in the novelisation of the script of 'Hamaari Adhuri Kahaani', which Stars Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi in lead roles. "I met Bhatt saab when he came to Kolkata during Durga Puja. We kept in touch via email. I was working on a short novel about a woman who gets married to a zamindaar in Kolkata. So, when the narrative of 'Hamaari' came I related to Vasudha and to the character that I was building. And that is how the novel also took birth," Sengupta said.

Mahesh's daughter Alia was all praises for daddy dearest after reading the book. She posted-