Mahesh Bhatt, Shirish Kunder launch Mohan’s book

Author Mohan Deep, who is best known for his controversial biography on Rekha, launched his latest novel, Colour Me Rich on Saturday. While Mahesh Bhatt launched the paperback, Shirish Kunder released the Kindle version of the novel. TV actress Kunika read an excerpt from the book for the audience.

The book, a love story set in Mumbai, talks about the life of a struggling painter who decides to get rich by marrying a wealthy girl. There was buzz that the author sought inspiration from the story of Hema and Chintan Upadhayay, but Mahesh squashed the rumour. Recalling the instance where one of the stories written by him bore a striking resemblance to the Sheena Bora case last year, he said, “I was working on the script much before the Sheena Bora case happened. I was shocked by how startlingly similar the script was. Here was a case of life imitating cinema. Families are dysfunctional. Last year, the world woke up to the story that seemed right out of a novel.”

Mahesh Bhatt later lauded Mohan Deep for his efforts as a novelist, and even called him “fearless”. Talking about how the death of good stories today, Mahesh said, “In this day and age where a 140 character is the popular format, writing out a novel is a phenomenal task. Anyone who takes a pen to paper is extraordinary, in my opinion. Writing is one of the most solitary acts. There is a narrative starvation today. People talk about the dearth or stories/scripts, but there is no one going out and telling a new story. Mohan has previously dared to excavate lives in the past. He previously rubbed Rekhaji the wrong way. I think he has the tendency to gravitate on the wrong side of the track, but that is what brings us together. Mohan is fearless; and I am sure he has done his research to depict the life of the super rich protagonist, in this case.”