Interview in the Gibraltar Chronicle, November 2023

 

Puneet Bhandal on more diversity in the publishing industry

 

The glamorous and glitzy world of the Bollywood film industry was brought to the stage at the Gibraltar International Literary Festival captured in two young adult novels written by Puneet Bhandal. Bollywood (a play on the word Hollywood), the Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai in India, is the biggest film industry in the world. With a cinema audience of an estimated 2.2 billion people a year, Bollywood films are popular with audiences around the world.

 

A former Bollywood industry journalist for the Eastern Eye newspaper in the UK, Mrs Bhandal described of her experience working with the stars. Inspired by this time, she based the Bollywood Academy series on children attending a school of performing arts with the aim of making it into the world-famous industry. In her book ‘Starlet Rivals’ she follows the story of Bela, who comes face-to-face with Monica, the daughter of established stars, in a storyline based on nepotism within the movie industry.

 

‘Melody Queen’ follows the story of Simi who dreams of breaking into the male-dominated world of music production within the industry. Mrs Bhandal explained that these stories were 15 years in the making, but it was during the Covid-19 lockdown that she was able to put pen to paper and really focus on writing the story. She identified a gap in the market for young Asian readers, and the books happened at the right time when the right publisher was willing to take a chance on her vision at a time when there is a push for more diversity in the publishing industry.

 

As for her next book, Mrs Bhandal is currently working on a historical fiction novel. “I am really loving writing it and I have learned so much during the process." Turning towards her role as a published author, Mrs Bhandal said it really is a “labour of love” and something that a writer “really wants to do”. In answer to questions from Dr Jennifer Ballantine, Mrs Bhandal told the audience she listens to podcasts and has been carrying out research for the novel, and has developed her own process of writing by giving herself a “daily deadline”.

 

She writes 1,000 words a day late at night after her children have gone to bed, adding: “I have to do this for myself.” In addition to having worked as a Bollywood journalist, Mrs Bhandal also launched herself as a clothes designer, designing clothes for the likes of the Miss England competition.