Anuja Chauhan

Anuja Chauhan
Born 1970
Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
Nationality Indian
Occupation Writer
Known for

The Zoya Factor (2008)

Battle For Bittora (2010)

Anuja Chauhan (born 1970) is an Indian author and advertiser. She worked in the advertising agency, JWT India, for over 17 years, eventually becoming vice president and executive creative director, before resigning in 2010 to pursue a full-time literary career. Over the years she worked with brands like Pepsi, Kurkure, Mountain Dew and Nokia, creating Pepsi's "Nothing official about it" campaign and advertising slogans like Pepsi's "Yeh Dil Maange More" and "Oye Bubbly".[1][2] As a writer, she is best known for her bestselling, contemporary rom-com novels, The Zoya Factor (2008)[1] and Battle For Bittora (October 2010). Both books are romances, the first set in the glamorous, high pressure world of Indian cricket, and the second in the heat and dust of a Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) election.[3][4]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in the small town of Meerut, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Chauhan spent most of her childhood in various cantonment towns in North India, as her father served in the Indian Army. He took premature retirement at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, migrating to Australia thereafter. She was the youngest of four sisters.[3]

She did her schooling at the Army Public School, New Delhi, Sophia Girls Convent, Meerut Cantonment and Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi. She has a Bachelors degree in economics from Miranda House, Delhi University, and a post graduate diploma in mass communication from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.[3]

Career

Advertising

Chauhan joined JWT in 1993[5] and in the next seventeen years was responsible for many memorable catchphrases, primarily for Pepsi Cola, India, such as "Yeh Dil Maange More!", "Mera Number kab Aayega","Nothing official about it" and " Oye Bubbly", etc.[3] Other popular catchphrases she worked on include Darr ke Aage jeet Hai for Mountain Dew, Tedha Hai par mera Hai for Kurkure, "Be a Little Dillogical", for Lays Chips and KitKat Break Banta hai for Nestle Kit Kat. By 2003 and at age 33, she had already become one of the youngest vice presidents in JWT, and was known for her penchant for "simple solution to a complex advertising problem", with clutter-breaking ideas.[6] She features regularly in The Economic Times supplement Brand Equity’s list of the ten hottest creative directors in India, and was ranked 26th in the 'creativerankings 2010', a list of the hleading executive creative directors in Asia-Pac.[7]

In August 2010, she resigned from her post of vice-president and executive creative director at JWT, Delhi, where she had worked for 17 years, to pursue a career in writing.[1] However, she still remains active as an advertising consultant and is the only Indian to feature on the prestigious One Show Jury for the year 2011. (The One Show awards, organized by the One Club, New York, are the most coveted advertising awards in the world.)

Author

She started working on her first novel in 2006, writing during her spare time. Having worked on the Pepsi brand for 13 years, closely associated with cricket advertising, led to cricket becoming the setting of her novel about a girl Zoya Singh Solanki, a client service representative with an advertising agency, who becomes a lucky mascot of the Indian cricket team.[8] At the time of its release, The Zoya Factor ran the danger of being dismissed as ‘Mills and Boon-ish’ but most reviewers were quick to praise the depth of the author’s characters, her wicked descriptions and the authenticity of her Hinglish laced dialogue.[9][10]

She has been hailed as the best chick lit writer in India, but in a recent interview with CNBC-18 said that she has issues with the chick lit tag and with tags generally. The Zoya Factor has won Cosmopolitan Magazine, India’s Fun Fearless Female award for literature (2008) and the India Today Woman award for Woman as Storyteller (2009).[2] It was longlisted for the India Plaza Golden Quill (2009). The novel has also been optioned for a film by Shah Rukh Khans Red Chillies Entertainment production company. The option is for three years.[11]

Her much anticipated book, Battle For Bittora, about a 25-year old Jinni living in Mumbai and working for an animation studio and what happens when she comes back to her hometown, Bittora, at the call of her grandmother, was released in 2010 by actor Saif Ali Khan in Delhi in October 2010,[12] to unanimous critical approval from India Today, Outlook, The Week and Tehelka magazines.[13][14]

Tehelka called it a "worthy successor to The Zoya Factor."[14] According to Ira Pande, in Outlook magazine, Chauhan 'manages to legitimise a new vocabulary emerging from the violent collision between Bharat and India that has all the promise of a new lingua franca. In the way that Piyush Pandey, Prasoon Joshi and A. R. Rahman have brought a whiff of newness into lyrics and jingles, this new language may outrage purists but describes perfectly memorable Indian sense-impressions, such as Bhainscafe, the brew that marries instant coffee with nauseatingly rich buffalo milk.'[13] The Hindustan Times is its review commended the book for its treatment, while giving the "biggest vote" to novel's characterization.[15]

The film rights for Battle of Bittora have been purchased by the film production company Saregama for three years for an undisclosed sum.

Chauhan is also writing the screenplay of a commercial feature film - a love story titled Guppie - mein liar nahi shayar hoon by Nikhil Advani a promiment Bollywood producer/director who directed Kal Ho Na Ho and most recently, Patiala House, starring Akshay Kumar.

Neither of her novels have been published outside India.

Personal life

Chauhan is married to the noted television presenter and producer, Niret Alva, who has produced popular reality shows like Indian Idol for Sony, Perfect Bride for Star Plus and Roadies for MTV. The two met in Delhi in 1989, during the production of a college play. They married in 1994.[16] Chauhan's mother-in-law is Margaret Alva, a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, the former General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee and the present Governor of the mountain state of Uttarakhand. Chauhan has two daughters, Niharika Margaret and Nayantara Violet, and a son, Daivik John. The couple moved to Gurgaon, a Delhi-suburb in 2002.[17] Chauhan was featured in Femina magazine's list of the 50 most beautiful women in India in 2011 and in MSN's The Influentials, a list of the top 50 most powerful women in the country.

Chauhan converted to Christianity ten years after her marriage.[18]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c "Anuja Chauhan puts in papers at JWT". Economic Times. Aug, 2010,. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-announcement/Anuja-Chauhan-puts-in-papers-at-JWT/articleshow/6322248.cms. 
  2. ^ a b "India Today Woman Summit & Awards 2009". India Today. March 6, 2009. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/31388/India+Today+Woman+Summit+&+Awards+2009.html?complete=1. 
  3. ^ a b c d Fire works Woman, India Today, March 2010.
  4. ^ "Politics of Passion". Indian Express. Oct 12 2010. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/politics-of-passion/696064/0. Retrieved 18 December 2010. 
  5. ^ Anuja Chauhan, Elvis Sequeira quit JWT Indiantelevision.com Team, 17 August 2010.
  6. ^ "Cannes cubs roaring to go". The Times of India. Sep 29, 2003. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Cannes-cubs-roaring-to-go/articleshow/207298.cms. 
  7. ^ Anuja Chauhan Creativerankings.
  8. ^ "Maiden Over". Indian Express. Jul 05, 2008. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/maiden-over/331743/. 
  9. ^ "Review"Droll Connect". Outlook. Sep 22, 2008. http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?238441. 
  10. ^ "Books: Fortune rookie". Indian Today. July 3, 2008. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/10815/SOCIETY%20&%20THE%20ARTS/Fortune+rookie.html. 
  11. ^ "Booking A Story: Bollywood is now dipping into desi bestsellers for inspiration". Outlook. Dec 21, 2009. http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?263236. 
  12. ^ "Saif’s literary side". Hindustan Times. October 16, 2010. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Saif-s-literary-side/Article1-613744.aspx. 
  13. ^ a b Pande, Ira. "Review: Hot Bhainscafe". Outlook. http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?267885. 
  14. ^ a b "Chicklit goes khadi". Tehelka Magazine, Vol 7, Issue 42. October 23, 2010. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main47.asp?filename=hub231010CHICKLIT.asp. 
  15. ^ "Betting on the ballot". Hindustan Times. December 18, 2010. http://www.hindustantimes.com/Betting-on-the-ballot/Article1-639723.aspx. 
  16. ^ "Love Story". India Today. July 9, 2009. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/50915/SUPPLEMENTS/Love+story.html. 
  17. ^ "Splashing out". The Telegraph. December 21 , 2008. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081221/jsp/graphiti/story_10277534.jsp. 
  18. ^ "I AM: Anuja Chauhan". The Times of India. Apr 5, 2010. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/spirituality/mind-over-matter/I-AM-Anuja-Chauhan/articleshow/3719036.cms. 

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