Helping dad with his script is encouraging: Zuni

Zuni Chopra has a rich pedigree to count on. Daughter of filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra and author and film critic Anupama Chopra, 17-year-old Zuni, however prefers to carve her own identity and is currently busy promoting her debut novel The House That Spoke. She has already penned two books on poetry.

Zuni took to writing at a very young age. In fact, during her growing up years, she recalls making up stories using LEGO minifigures. Her father said, “I saw her writing on my phone when she was five. I was surprised at that.”

“Originally the book was based in London, but I had no idea about the place. So, I shifted the setting to Kashmir,” smiled Zuni, who finds inspirations in the writings of JK Rowling, Lewis Carroll, Neil Gaiman and Ernest Hemingway. While writing the novel, Zuni interviewed her father, and uncle again. “Although, I have been visiting the place
since childhood, I learnt about a new Kashmir through their eyes. I watched a number of documentaries and books on Kashmir before writing the novel,” she said.

The book delves into the life of a young girl Zoon Razdan who lives in a house in Kashmir. Zuni finds a bit of herself in her ‘creation’ Zoon. “Zoon is the kind of person she would be best friends with. She is headstrong and sarcastic just like me,” said the young author.

Despite having a filmmaker father, Zuni is not exactly looking at direction as a career at this point of time. I am not sure if I want to get into films or not. I want to explore liberal arts in a foreign university,” said Zuni who added she thinks better in words.

She may not be keen on getting into direction right now, but she does advise her father when it comes to script. “At times, dad takes my advice and when I solve a problem in his script, it makes me happy,” said Zuni whose all-time favourite Chopra films are 3 Idiots (as producer) and Broken Horses. “Though Broken Horses didn’t fare well at
the box office, I liked it,” smiled Zuni.

3 Idiots would always remain special for her and she loves watching it over and over again. “The film inspired my classmates to chase their dreams and not succumb to academic pressure,” said the young author.

(The writer works for Eastern Chronicle, Kolkata)