Eminent author Sumant Batra launched his bestselling book “Anarkali” at The Astor Hotel Kolkata.

Sumant Batra is an insolvency lawyer with a global presence. An International Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, Distinguished Fellow of the Government of India Think Tank, the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, and Visiting Professor of National Law University, Delhi, Batra is ranked amongst the top 30 restructuring lawyers in the world.  He is the Founder of Insolvency Law Academy,  the country’s first institute of excellence in insolvency.  Batra is the founder of the Kumaon Literary Festival, the country’s premier traveling literary festival with five successful editions.

His coffee table book, The Indians, was also a bestseller and received rave reviews.  His most recent book was the late actor Sanjeev Kumar’s biography, An Actor’s Actor, An Authorised Biography, co-authored with Hanif Zaveri, and published by Penguin.

To preserve the rich legacy and history of Indian cinema, Sumant founded the Indian Cinema Heritage Foundation, a public trust. Curating the nation’s first complete, publicly accessible digital encyclopedia of Indian films and its people is Cinemaazi, the Foundation’s first specialized study center on Indian cinema.

“With Anarkali, I have attempted to put together the puzzle that surrounds this woman whose silhouette is all that we have known. I want to give her a name, an identity, a family, and a life beyond the tragic love affair she has come to be associated with. What emerges is a new and captivating story that captures the experience of a woman negotiating Mughal Empire social systems and dealing with the fallout from standing up for herself. Simultaneously, it pays tribute to the passion that first made Anarkali famous in myth and history, igniting a discourse on a love that is transcendental, all-consuming, and sincere inside the plot” said the author.

The book launch was followed by a panel discussion moderated by writer and social activist Saira Shah Halim and was graced by writer, editor, festival director Anjum Katyal, National Award-winning director and theatre personality Ashoke Vishwanathan, and editor-in-chief Om Books International Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri.

Anarkali, a national bestseller, has achieved extraordinary success. Within forty-five days of the book’s release on December 9, 2023, the first print run of 3000 copies of Anarkali had completely sold out. On December 9, 2023, renowned director Vishal Bhardwaj launched the book. Bhardwaj, who is impressed by the narrative, has promised to adapt the novel into a movie.

A great book to read indeed!!

Priyanka Dutta