Battle For Bittora

by Anuja Chauhan

BRAND NEW, Exactly same ISBN as listed, Please double check ISBN carefully before ordering.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Chick Lit, Indian Literature, Contemporary, India, Rom Com

426 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2009

About the author

Anuja Chauhan is an Indian author and advertiser. She worked in the advertising agency, JWT India, for over 17 years. She has written 3 novels, The Zoya Factor (2008), Battle For Bittora (October 2010) and Those Pricey Thakur Girls (January 2013). All three books are romances.

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

Opens with a page of jokey casual homophobia which put my hackles up and by 20% hadn't really recovered from that so I'm bailing. Plus, a political comedy that doesn't soft soap the very real problems is something I'd be very on for, but I'm not sure how well that fits with the romcom aspect, for me at least. Or possibly I don't have a sense of humour about politics any more. Anyway, not working for me. DNF.

[Rubal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want my very own Zain Altaf Khan. Are you listening, god?

[Indrani Sen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I read by Anuja Chauhan. I zoomed through the book in about half a day. The writing is nice and smooth. The wit is wicked. The desi English very very funny. For someone not particularly interested in politics, I found the workings of an election very funny and to be frank quite informative. What I found slightly weak is the romance. The male lead is all good looking and charismatic and I kept visualizing the person who was rumored to play this in the movie. Still I found both the romance and the male lead under-written (I felt the same about Zoya Factor as well). However this doesn't take away from the story of Sarojini Pande's maidn election campaign. It's the girl's story all the way through and we definitely can do with more of these. It's just that I can't help wishing that the romance was built up a bit more.

All in all a very very enjoyable light read.

[Smita Beohar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Battle for Bittora, as the name & the cover suggest is a romantic cum political battle. Jinni, a 25 year old belongs to a political lineage but still has carved a career in Animation. Leading a peaceful & normal life in Mumbai, her life goes topsy-turvy when her stubborn yet adorable grandmother shows up at her door and drags her to Bittora all because she feels that it is Jinni’s duty to take up politics.


Jinni, short for Sarojini , our protagonist hates her name, mane & mouth but it is these very things that make her stand out in a crowd. She follows her granny to Bittora and doesn’t realise how she is pulled into contesting the elections, not that she doesn’t enjoy it; the blood running in her makes her a natural politician. She gets into the groove of canvassing but her hope of having a cake walk is in for a shock when she meets the opposition candidate.


Zain Altaf Khan, an ex-royal of Bittora & Jinni’s childhood friend cum could-have-been-a-boyfriend; is an enigmatic personality and shocks everyone by deciding to contest from a party which has always been known for being hard-line religious politics.


Jinni & Altaf share a complicated history, they know each other too well and share an intimacy which can not be put into words. Meeting after 9 years they realise that the attraction that they had felt as teenagers (which was termed as hormonal thing by her granny back then) still existed between them. But will that attraction make them fiercer opponents? Or will they sacrifice their passion for their political ambitions? Or would one of them withdraw? That is what forms the crux of the book.


Written with generous amount of humor & some tender moments (all coming up at the right time) the book is a very good read. The entourage as in the core team of Jinni provides us with ample humor and the encounter between Jinni & Zain are endearing & humorous at the same time. The characters are real & you know that these kinds of people do exist, I-will-do-anything-for-you-ma’am types!


Despite the political setup of the book the politics is neither pedestrian nor boring I guess we can attribute that to the political background of the author (Margaret Alva is her mother on law). Another good thing about the book is that the suspense of who will finally win the election keeps you glued to the book and the way the book unravels towards the end keeps you on tenterhooks.


Set in the genre of Chicklit & Rocom the book makes for a wonderful read and an otherwise thick book (425/- bloody pages) breezes past you. I guess we should attribute that to the clever writing by the author. I have always felt that though Indian authors are coming up with loads of chick lit but somehow the amount of romantic those-that-bring-a-flutter-in-your-stomach-&-a-sweet-heart-ache moments are not sufficient but Anuja Chauhan fills in that gap. Her previous book “The Zoya Factor” was also a breezy & lovely read & this one again brings in the same quality. My only issue with the book is the generous use of Hinglish (Hindi+English)words; not that I don’t understand them but I feel that the usage limits the readability geography for the author but then I also feel that if we remove the Hinglish usage then the book will lose some of its magic! Am I sounding confused? Hehehehe….

I loved the author's attempt of writing a book on politics in a contemporary manner. Politics is one profession which is always looked down upon but the way the younger generation is involved in this book sets an example for us.


So, if you love reading humorous & romantic book then this is the one for you! A time pass book better than many other contemporary counterparts of this book!

[Selva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading a Anuja Chauhan book is like watching a movie like Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya. I am a big fan of that movie. But the point is it is like a masala entertainer more focused on the female lead than the male. It has romance, comedy and enough drama squeezed in. I like the way she writes romance but it gets too sugary sometimes ( and a bit repetitive in her later books) but what I dig most is the comedy aspect. Her comedy for the most part is built on twisted Hinglish and the variety of Indian English accents besides being situational. In this book it was slightly overdone but overall likeable. As to the other dramatic aspects it depends on whether you buy it or not. Either it could amuse you or leave u with a wtf moment. I am somewhat in the middle on this too. About the writing, I thought it flew with effortless ease and was very good considering it falls under the popular fiction category. A far cry from most other writers who operate in the same spectrum. Thought it could have been trimmed by some 50 pages because it was a slog at times. To rate it properly, it falls in the middle in her list of 5 books with The Zoya factor being most likeable and Baaz being the least.

[s · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well.

I liked this book as a kid when I was 13 and thought it was so cool, snark, and fun. Now, I couldn't really get past the first few pages given the politics and stereotypes this book dabbles in. I found Jini's grandmothers treatment of Zain especially horrible, and Jini also goes on to justify it. I think this book could've been good if it wasn't marketed as a romance but rather as a story centred around Jini turning into something she despised all her life - the author has a grasp on Indian politics and could've developed that further. But it is marketed as a romance and I found Zain and Jini to be super toxic and I don't think they would've lasted as a romantic relationship long term, maybe they struck a Frank and Claire type deal but I don't know.

Ultimately, this has the same problems as Red, White, and Royal Blue in that I am unable to take the political set-up as a cutesy premise and move beyond it. It has Chauhan's characteristic witty banter and snark observations but they sadly couldn't salvage my reading experience this time around.

If I envision this as a very different book, I might've liked it more.

[Neha Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty, quirky, fresh and spicy – it has all the drama of a Bollywood movie, romance of a chick flick, humorous satire of a north Indian political setting, glamor of advertising world form where the author comes from. So it starts off with the lame subject of a single girl in a big city working in ad firm trying to be chick and suave and looking for the perfect man. But this usual story takes a turn when her grandmother turns up and pulls her into the political furore of a typical uncouth North Indian state with its dirty politics and politicians. And no points in guessing who is standing opposite her – of course her prince charming, child hood love, knight in shining armour, the most gorgeous hunk, man of her dreams, etc etc. You can throw in a gay best friend, and a quirky but smart grandmother, an idealistic mother and a bunch of party jamboree bringing in the fun element and support for her.

So YES it’s a chick book end to end but it has a twist – what with politics being a no-no area for chicks, also sleeping with the opposition is not so healthy but anything can happen in a chick lit, and her grandmother had to die otherwise there was no chance she was winning the elections..

Oopppsss sorry I said too much.. but come on wasn’t it predictable.. all chick books or flicks are.. the girl always wins the game and the man… The men have to bow out graciously and give their lady love the pleasure and pride of winning. That’s the only way they get the girl…

But then why the 4 stars when it was so predictable and obvious. Simply because it made me laugh.. I laughed like I a school girl at the wit and tongue in cheek humour of Anuja Chauhan. She is brilliant and spontaneous. Her observations and connections of incidents are fresh and authentic.. I would read this author again just for her sense of humour. Chuck the predictable story, chuck the stale concept, chuck the silly protagonists, chuck the silly chick stuff… I just love the sense of humour.. 4 stars for it.. and an ardent fan of Anuja’s wit and smartness…

[Sara Naveed · Rating 2 out of 5]

I DID NOT enjoy reading this book at all. I had to run through the pages quickly because I wanted to finish it as soon as possible.
The reason to pick this book for reading was the fact that apparently Fawad Khan (my most favorite Pakistani hero) is going to play the much hyped Zain Altaaf Khan in the Bollywood adaption of this book alongside Sonam Kapoor who will play the role of Sarojini Pande aka Jinni. I just wish Fawad had not agreed to do this book because it is again centered around the woman. :( Since he is doing the movie, it is my sincere plea to the makers of this movie to re-write the screenplay and give some more significance to ZAK's role!
Nevertheless this was the sole reason for reading it. Otherwise, I'd never dared to start this book.

This book will be an interesting and enjoyable read for the people based in India as they can relate to their political system with an ease.
As I'm a Pakistani, so it took me sometime to understand the tactics of the Indian politics. There were some terms which were non-understandable. I'm a person who'd want to stay away from politics as far as possible. Therefore, for me it is not a must-read.

There was too much politics in this book as the title indicates. Elections, campaigning, ballot boxing, voting etc is what the book is all about.
I wish there was more exposure of romance between Jinni and Zain but I could only sense sexual tension arising between the two of them at few parts.

Indian readers will surely love this book, I'm sure. As far the movie adaptation is concerned, Fawad Khan is perfect to portray the character of Zain because he's all lean, well chiseled body type and a Muslim guy.
Halfheartedly, I choose to give only 2 stars to this book.

Happy Reading!

[Namratha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anuja Chauhan follows the success of The Zoya Factor with yet another desi firecracker.

--------------------

Jinni Pandey is a happy-go-lucky animator drawing award-winning ‘kitaanus’ (germs/bacteria) for Harpic and other noteworthy brands. She’s young, spunky and has a carelessly-on-purpose disheveled half-rosebud haircut that she's mighty proud of.
But Jinni is also, in fact Sarojini Pande, granddaughter of the fearsome political matriarch Pushpa Pande. The Pande clan is an illustrious (albeit with a dubious background) political dynasty. For the longest time ever, they have been contesting the Lok Sabha elections through their hometown Bittora. Sometimes they have had resounding victories and at other times, embarrassing losses but it’s always been a full-on, no-holds-barred tamasha.

And now in true-blue unbendable grandmother/ conniving politician mode, the great Pushpa Pande has manoeuvered the clueless Jinni into contesting the upcoming elections from Bittora.

Soon Jinni finds herself togged up in starched sarees and matronly blouses. She’s thrown headlong into a world of kleptomaniac Election agents... dubious crack teams who will “do anything” to help ‘didi’... hormonal pet dogs...frenemies...stalwart ladies who don’t visit salons but bite off their underarm hair with their teeth (a very disturbing but smirk-inducing exaggeration, that)...manipulators...back-stabbers....indiscriminate gropers and much more.

Standing on the tip of this fast dissolving Gola, is Jinni's opponent : the idealistic (also, chiselled), intellectual (yes, his tan is honey colored) and universally loved (well, with that build-up....he obviously has to be lustworthy) Zain Altaf Khan. Maruti Zain (as Jinni had mockingly nicknamed him) and Jinni share a rich past. They were childhood friends who were almost lovers before the great Pushpaji brought their raging 'haarmoans' under control.

As the two youngest ever Lok Sabha candidates battle out the elections in grimy Bittora; kid gloves are shed, dirty politics lunge forth in full force and the trusty hormones make a predictable reappearance.

Anuja Chauhan brings forth the disgruntled, sweaty, heaving beast that is our grand Indian Politics and makes the befuddled creature trample through humorous situations and over-the-top drama.

-------------------

The author strikes gold yet again. Battle for Bittora is all familiar, tried-and-tested Bollywood clichés parcelled into one enticing masala-read.
I am thoroughly chuffed to say that I have a favourite Indian author who doesn’t play the displaced NRI/ skanky urban cougar/ Indian travelogue card. Her dialogue is a delightful blend of propah English with a spicy tadka of local dialects. She captures the dusty flavors of rural India, jazzes it up with a host of laugh-out-loud caricatures and gives you a stellar lead pair that makes you go 'aww-gee-shucks'.

Kudos to Chauhan for plumbing her political lineage (her mother-in-law is Margaret Alva) and employing it with insouciance.
I loved the book and would strongly recommend it for all who are still searching for that elusive "must-read Indian Author".

[Simran Khurana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a long time to warm up to this book. Although I had read one of Chauhan's novels earlier, which prompted me to pick up this book in the first place, I was not impressed with the pace of this book. There is too much back story that drones on and on. And while Anuja Chauhan is brilliant in her caricature of her characters, most of whom have been created from real life famous personalities, the story loses steam with the mundane details of the lead character's life. The romantic scenes are few and far between, and somehow I got the feeling that the romance was more infatuation than love. In fact, despite the physical attraction that is so prevalent across the book, there was no substance to the love story.

The only story worth reading if at all, is how Sarojini and her crack team go about trying to win the election. At places, it is funny, but mostly it seems like a reaffirmation of the fact that Indian politics is dirty. (What to do: we are like this only!)

On the plus side, the book has some really funny lines. Anuja has wily wit, and she is unapologetically brazen about innuendos. She could spill out the innermost secrets with a dash of crudeness to make the book jump at you.

I am usually a fan of vernacular speech used in stories to give it a local flavour. However, in this book I find the language interfering in readability. Also, I couldn't help but notice that in many places the vernacular text was not consistent. Where the writer used "ij" for "is" to give a certain edge to her character, there were times when the style was not maintained. Hello, Editor, were you sleeping on the job?

Having read The Pricey Thakur Girls", I got the eerie feeling that the supporting characters were similar to this book. The feisty women, the matriarch with objectionable language; it seemed like the same format. Same outline, new theme. I read somewhere that this book will soon be made into a Bollywood movie. Well, if that's the case, I'd rather wait for the producer to spice it up on the screen. Because this book lacks lustre.

If you have not read any Anuja Chauhan books, don't bother to read this one. If I were you, I'd skip them all. But this one cannot be on your bucket list.

[Geena · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5

Honestly wouldn't call this a romance, it's more political floundering which is comedic at sometimes but other times it drags on and on

Also, this might just be the diaspora in me talking but I don't think the atmosphere that was set was the right one for some estranged childhood friends to political rivals to lovers... I understand that Chauhan was trying to keep it light and up beat because hey! it's a political romcom but for me it just came off so flippant about so many things really had me 😬 half the time I was reading it

Zain was just the perfect hot brown man who was good at everything (except for winning elections I guess), came off one dimensional honestly and we didn't see him that much... in fact we saw ponty the dog or whatever more than the main love interest 😭

Sarojini... girl... she sure wasn't one dimensional in fact she was one of the funniest characters to read but the way she would brush off shit got on my nerves, but what else can u expect from an UC Brahmin I guess... so guess Chauhan captured that perfectly (The way she invalidated Zain for not liking her grandma over the vile Islamophobic she said, and the other hundred prejudiced things her grandma had said like 'oh it was a sign of the times' like ma'am doesn't mean you let that senile old woman just keep talking... like take a stand for something goddamn )

Also her grandma... were we supposed to like her or something 🧐

But Anuja Chauhan really is good at writing banter and chemistry, even though the two main characters don't have much interaction each one is believable like okay yea these bitches are horny for each other... I'll prolly read her other books too and hopefully they're better than this one

[Harshita · Rating 4 out of 5]

So... this book was okay. Just, overwhelmingly OK. There's a lot that's good and entertaining about it, all to do with Chauhan's pacy, vibrant writing, her hold on Indian English which I absolutely love (Nave vs Swayve, perfect) and all her Bollywood pop culture referencing. All the things I enjoyed about "The Zoya Factor" as well. The main protagonist is pretty likeable, and most characters are also pretty well drawn, and her thinly veiled allusions to politicians today is very wink-wink entertaining. Most of all, her commentary on the over-the-top politics in the books is sharp and hilarious. I found the parts about campaigning and the survey report especially, most interesting.

The book starts off pretty well. Where it really lost me as a reader was with the Romance. There just wasn't enough history to it to make me believe in Jinni and Zain's intense love-hate relationship and the scenes with the two of them felt too manipulated? Plus, all the great dramatic episodes in the middle -- the walking through fire, the midnight rescue, the revelation of her party member's betrayal and Zain's redemption -- just didn't have the bang or payoff they could have had in the story, which had gotten pretty predictable by then anyway. The impact of the grandmother's death, though it understandably took up a portion of the story, was also pretty mild, overall.

All these elements were perfectly placed to work, but somehow they just didn't. I'd definitely read another book by Anuja Chauhan, but I'm also resigned to not being fully satisfied with it, just like with both 'The Zoya Factor' and this one.

[Komal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading this well into my late 20s, all I will say is that Zain ages well.
(Whoa, smile impact).

[Meenu Annadurai · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEW

Battle for Bittora is a fun filled. humorous, romantic and very realistically written political rom-com. This novel revolves around the Parliamentary election of India which precisely focuses on a particular constituency called Bittora, a fictional place in a fictional state of Pavit Pradesh which is located somewhere in the northern part of India. This novel will take you through the entire procedure a Lok Sabha Election and the inside happenings of political parties in India during the time of elections.

As it has been established in the blurb earlier, the 25 year old Sarojini aka Jini was forced to stand in the MP Election from the ticket of a very famous party in the country which in fact helped India in gaining her freedom against the British. In order to carry forward the legacy of Saraojini’s Freedom Fighter Grandfather and a Political stalwart of a Grandmother, Sarojini steps into politics without much interest as such. When you do something with least interest, the chances of you succeeding in it is very lower and to make things more difficult, Sarojini’s battle to win over the votes of the people of Bittora becomes very meager as she is made to stand against a very strong opponent.

Her major opponent turn out be an extremely good looking ex-royal Muslim guy, Zain Altaf Khan whom the entire of Bittora loves and respects because he has a very good credentials than Jini. And to make things even more worse Jini and Zain has a very complicated past. But the only confusing thing here is, Zain Altaf Khan is made to stand in the election from the party ticket of a party which is not particularly very secular. Zain’s party is a Hindutva party which is determined to make India a Hindu country and it doesn’t adds up why Zain despite being a Muslim and much forward thinking and determinant guy will align himself with this kind of a party and what is his motive ? Who will win this Battle ? And who is more competent to be the most eligible Member of Parliament from Bittora and how these two fight each other ? is the story of this book.

Firstly, the plot was very natural and realistic. There was not a bit of artificiality in it. The pace of the plot will take speed within the first few pages of the book. The character development and arc of Sarojini was slow and steady and remarkable. It is very normal for people feel entitled to read about a revolutionary and righteous characters whenever it comes to reading or watching political fiction. We all want a hero/heroine who is very great and idealistic, to come forward and stand in the election and clean up all the dirt that’s been prevailing in the political system for years. Don’t we want them to change everything in one song ? But can that really happen in real life ? No right ? That’s why author didn’t take that approach, Anuja Chauhan is a very realistic person who only writes about stuffs which are possible in reality. In this book, the author had showcased politics, elections and political parties as it is. We all know about the money peddling that happens during election but still we want an ideal candidate and ideal story line which is revolutionary, don’t we ? The author has taken a different angle and wanted us see the plot through her eyes and ideas.

The best thing about this book is the author had managed to give a precise inside view of these political parties, what they do during elections ? how they canvas votes ? how they prepare for election ? Who are the people who are helping out a candidate win their candidature and election and lot more. We all would have seen election campaigns happening all around us during the election times but we wouldn’t have paid much attention to. This book focuses on all the nuances of conducting an election and participating in one. It was really exciting to read. Even if you are not someone who is into elections and politics you will love this whole procedure because the vibe it gave was extremely great and it was almost festive like.

Of course, there were few issues with this book and the most major one among them was there were usage of lots of Hindi words in the book which made it more or less like a Hinglish novel. Definitely, these words and slang brought about the true essence of the region and a book should absolutely convey it but an apt and timely translation was lagging and it would have been really useful for the Non-Hindi people. Because Anuja Chauhan is known for her witty and layered writing style, if the readers miss one word they might be missing out something really great and funny that’s there in the plot and that’s the readers loss. The second major issue was why Zain was participating in the election from a Hindutva party that’s not friendly with the Muslim population wasn’t justified deeply. A bit more of an in-depth, clear and proper reasoning and justification would have been even more satisfying.

The characterization of Zain Altaf Khan was out of the world experience, his presence was very minimal in the book which was quite disappointing but however in the minimal time he was present in the book was totally mind blowing. He was carefree and very sportive, he never takes anything very personal and he is always game-on kind of a guy particularly during election times and all. Though at times Sarojini thinks he is kind of moody and stuff but he was real fun. Sarojini had her set of flaws and pluses which only made her more real. The story majorly revolves around Sarojini and her journey in the election. There were lots of interesting and strong characters around her helping her out in the campaigning. Especially women, like her grandmother, her mom, campaign manager Gudia aunty and Munni. They were all very interesting to read about. The slang in which Jini’s grandmother speaks was spectacular, as you read, you yourself will start sounding like her grandmother. And her grandmother’s dialogues had been written tremendously. Her grandmother is a kind of a very confusing character, one moment you love and adore her, on the other you hate and be annoyed with her and sometimes you feel sad for her. Obviously we all would have these kind of characters in our lives. Sarojini’s mother was very idealistic and a good-hearted woman. Sarjini’s only friend Gaiman Tagore Rumi and a media person Nausar Nulwallah turned out to be a very healthy and apt attachment to the plot, they will keep the readers entertained whenever they make their presence on the pages of the book.

There were a handful of wild and adventures moments in this book which will make the reading process all the more funny, interesting and thrilling. How the media reacts to a particular situations has also been elaborately told in the book. With her writing style Anuja Chauhan had brought Bittora in front of the readers eyes.

This book actually tried to convey, how religion and caste are feed into the people’s mind, heart, body and blood and how it is completely difficult to take that mindset away from them. How no one is truly secular or truly caste free. Even the people who consider themselves as secular would have certain prejudices against people from certain religion, caste or community. At least 90 – 98 % of the people are affected by these non secular and casteist mindset. It also throw some light on the two major political parties in the country, how they are different from each other and mostly how they are not actually very different from each other. It was eye opening. The author had also made some real life political references in the book without pointing hands directly but it was obvious and those moments were really fun and shocking to read because Anuja Chauhan had done some serious predictions which is happening right now in Indian Politics. To know what it is, read the book keenly.

MY VIEWS

I absolutely love Anuja Chauhan so much, that is why I have taken it upon myself to do an Anuja Chauhan readathon along with a friend. I’m reading all her books now and Battle for Bittora turns out to be the second book I’m reading from the author. I liked the total idea of the book because it is set in the political background and if you haven’t noticed already I like to read books that talks about Indian political arena and politics. But however, I started this book with totally different mindset and the book turned out to be a completely different one. Initially I was skeptical about the surprise because I was like “I wasn’t expecting this” but then I gradually warmed up to the idea and I loved it so much in the due course.

I loved all the adventurous trip Jini takes on and I totally love Zain Altaf Khan, oh come on, how good the name sounds ? I love this name so much. First it was Nikhil Khoda and now it’s Zain Altaf Khan. Wow!! Where does Anuja Chauhan selects all these names from ? My only disappointment was I didn’t get sufficient amount of glance at Zain, I wanted to read more of him.

And of course, they were lots of details and layers in Anuja Chauhan’s writing and I feel like I need to read it again to totally immerse and glaze myself in her writing style. And whatever she said in the book had an authenticity to it, I don’t know she brings it to her writing.

At the end of the book, it was told Anuja Chauhan’s grandparents-in-law were the parliament’s first romantic couple and they have also given a picture of them and I did a bit more of research on her family background. I guess she got some first hand experience from her mother-in-law Margaret Alva who is a politician as well. And I suspect that’s how she is bring the authentic voice to her plot and characters which is really hard.

My rating for this book would be 4 out of 5 stars

Since it is an Anuja Chauhan book, you can only fall in love with it the more, the more you read it again because you keep discovering new things every time you read it again. And I guess if I read it again some two years later, I might like this book an extra more and I might increase the rating of the book as well 😀 So don’t blame me then!

I would like to recommend this book to Indian author lovers, people who are addicted to light hearted and rom-com kind of books and also to people who are interested in political stuff. You will love this book to the moon and back.

Do read this book and let me know how you feel about it.

Yeah, and I have an extra information for you, Battle for Bittora’s movie adaptation is coming which is being starred by Sonam Kapoor and Fawad Khan. I don’t have much confidence in Sonam Kapoor after watching The Zoya Factor because she actually ruined the movie. Let’s hope the movie will turn out alright and she gives a good performance. This is kind of an old information, so I don’t know how far the plan has been materialized but let’s hope for the best :/

Happy Reading Folks!!

~ Meenu

[Pradnya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last night I finished Battle for Bittora and experienced book hangover. It's been long time since a book left me in this way. I guess the reason was I binge read it, screwing up all my schedule and when it finished I was left with little energy to do anything.

The story starts in a posh Pixel animation studio in Mumbai with protagonist, Jinni, reviewing animated "kitaanus" (like in the Harpic toilet cleaner ad) and suddenly her granny comes, convinces her to help election campaign and boom, Jinni is standing for MP election of Bittora!
I was taken aback by the ease with which one enters politics, without any qualifications, without any experience, and mostly without a strong personality which I feel is mandatory for any public service. But I must be an idiot to think that. Being a close relative of some party leader is still the main qualification for election tickets.
Gujrat elections coming soon and the Battle has changed my view towards Indian elections. And our glorified, corruption leaded political system. There are certain things in the book which go in elections I wasn't privy of knowing and I have a bit of doubt yet they make perfect sense.

The book is so much written for Indian readers that too mostly northern India with a lot of Hindi words, slogans and sentences.
The story spirals through funny incidents and interesting characters mainly Jinni's Granny, her crack team for election with idiosyncratic quirks, her charming opponent, her party members and a few friends. I won't go in the story, there's not much to dwelve in it but the way it's written is commendable - quirky, dark yet written with wry humor and most importantly, never dragged much.

We get glimpses of problems in Bittora, MPs treating voting seats like a hen hatching eggs and afterwards, turn a blind eye till next election. We see a village as a community, blended in the election hustle bustle and with dallops of promises, being played with and obligingly playing the parts. And we finds ourselves roll in the prose, tumbling in chapter by chapter, in the way writer set up so well. Many times the story takes Bollywood dramatical avatar with unconventional reality. The narrative is frank, badass, and light, once in a while forcing to consult a dictionary.

The question haunted me was why should it be called a romance novel? There's not much of it except as a central binding thread which writer keeps reminding us time to time because chances are reader would forget it amidst gushing storyline. I liked the lady protagonist, she gets all required focus and rest goes in background only popping up, when needed. Election is a huge turn off topic for me and yet, I loved the Battle. Now looking forward to read The Zoya Factor by the same author which is considered to be her best. Do pickup Battle for Bittora for quick, light read. It won't disappoint.

[Pooja Jeevagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, its fatter and better than most Indian Author backed novel...then to be more honest, you kind of expect lot from Anuja Chauhan specially if you read her work backward (I started with Thakur Gals, then came this and finally would be Zoya Factor), and to add some more truth, Anuja is the only author I forgive using Hindi/ Hinglish in her work because it seems so intertwined with the story and you don't really are able to object it...

Phew, I did ignore (in fact even appreciated) the Hindi/ Hinglish touch of the book, till it became an overdose...till it appeared that probably she wrote the book to break and twist words, because honestly story; it doesn't have much...with the complete political environment that's in picture these days, I thought this book would actually be an even more interesting read...but half-way through it, you realize that it doesn't really want to tackle any real issue (somewhere Thakur Gals dealt better with serious political issue than this) and then there was nothing explicable between the authors, other than the pheromones as the author herself writes...

The book it good on fun part, it shows you hundred ways to break a word and arrange it cheesily, but no it neither deals properly with politics or show a love story you would want to be a part of..it definitely has a long long way to before it can really capture your heart...as for the movie; I don't think one based on 'Battle for Bittora' would come...

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just thought I should mention that this was my favourite book from 2011 to 2016. It's funny beyond measure, super relatable (mostly because of its desi-ness) and the romance floored me for 5 years straight. Though I have a different favourite now (I'll Give You The Sun) it felt wrong to never acknowledge this amazing book or the INTENSE love I had for it for SO long.

This book was also very important to me because of some really big transitions I was going through at the time I read it, so all in all I could probably say that because it was a very big part of a very big thing in my life I can never really, truly replace it. I can just stack other favourites on top of it.

[Deepa · Rating 5 out of 5]

India is known for many things, and one of those is that it is the world's largest democracy (however imperfect). This book brought that fact to life, and I am so glad I could be on this journey with Jinni and Zain. I knew what was going to happen, but the counting climax had me hooked - hey, that's what election fever does to you.

Week 8 (who even knows) of lockdown and a visit to my beloved India is not in my foreseeable future. However, this sweet, sassy chick-lit novel has been some remedy.

I'm looking forward to the future Deepa who gets to enjoy this book again.

[Andaleeb Wajid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fun and gripping and had many laugh out loud moments. Totally loved it, although it would seem that because of some of the localese, a few people might not get some of the wicked jokes, unfortunately. I did though, and this book has become a top favourite in contemporary Indian writing for me.

[Supriya · Rating 3 out of 5]

LOLZ. Frothy, silly, hilarious, and totally absorbing. A perfectly Bollywood book for a perfectly Bollywood state of mind.

[Manali · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Ratings: 4/5

What I liked:
--> Jinni’s (the female lead) dry sense of humour
--> The suspense of who will finally win the election keeps you glued to the book and the way the book unravels towards the end keeps you guessing about the conclusion till the last page.
--> Gives use a political hope (for India)
--> Satirical and political humour
What I didn't like:
--> Non-understandable terms and contexts (especially political ones) for non-Indians.
--> Less presence of ZAK (Zain Altaf Khan-the male lead)

[Meena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anuja Chauhan is the only Indian English rom com writer who makes it feel like the novel was thought in English and not translated into English. The few others that I have read have been so juvenile. For that she is automatically qualified to get a 3 😀
This is a 3.75. Somehow i feel that all her novels run a tad bit longer than is needed. The last 50-100 pages could have been crisper.

[Priyanka Goel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light and a fun read. I never knew that a book with a political theme can be so interesting. The Desi English vocabulary was funny. I was craving for more Zain-Jinni scenes. All in all a good book. 😊

[Srishti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked Those Pricey Thakur Girls and The House That BJ Built wayyy better, but can't help giving 5 stars xD

[Arunayan Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[Nahian Nawar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely funny :")

Waiting for Sonam Kapoor's movie lol

And then again Fawad is not there :)

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

we NEED more books like this

OMG it was sooooo good

[Priti · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read the book “Those Pricey Thakur Girls”, I became the fan of Anuja Chauhan. In present times, she is one author who has excelled the art of wittiness and humor. She has the capability to tell you the most serious matter in funny ways. Though she talks about poverty, honor killing, dirty politics, bribery, caste system and hunger in villages of India but not even for a second you get the feeling that this is a very serious book. If some of you have watched the movie “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro” of Naseeruddin Shah, you would understand exactly what I mean.

I won’t be talking much about the story as I can’t tell a thing without spilling the beans. It is a book which should be read and enjoyed.


I have only one piece of advice for you that please don’t read this book in public place as you will not be able to stop yourself from laughing and then people might call you insane.

For complete review: http://bibilophile.wordpress.com/2014...

[Sharayu Ail · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel is written in a very bollywood-esque style that I found a little immature and annoying. I do think Chauhan writes for a younger audience. The story is simple and predictable. She does create interesting characters that come alive. Her books would make entertaining movies.
Her use of slang and local Indian languages are a deliberate addition but not one that I'm particularly a fan of.
I enjoyed reading the novel as it is election season in India at the moment and the book gives a great insight into Indian politics. It details the ugly/corrupt side of politics in a humorous way.

Her novels are great light reads. They don't take too much of your time and you can get through them in a few days.

[Saibal Bose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Akin to her first novel another pacy, fun-filled and hilarious offering. GenY lingo has been used profusely.Young readers would connect well with the literary style of the book and would find it un-putdownable. Too much over the top sexual connotations seemed forceful at various points and slackened the tempo. Some funny premises/situations were played out too many times, more than that was necessary. A predictable melodramatic ending left a lot to be desired. Overall I liked the first one better.
But anyways I would pick Cricket over Politics on any given day