Shobhaa De Explained

Shobha De
Birth Name:Shobha Rajadhyaksha
Birth Date:7 January 1948
Birth Place:Satara District, Province of Bombay, Dominion of India
(present-day Maharashtra, India)
Spouse:Sudhir Vrajlal Kilachand
Dilip De
Children:6

Shobha De (née Rajadhyaksha, formerly Kilachand; born 7 January 1948) is an Indian novelist and columnist. She is best known for her depiction of socialites and sex in her works of fiction,[1] for which she has been referred to as the "Jackie Collins of India."[2]

Early life and education

Shobhaa De was born on 7 January 1948[3] in the Satara district of Maharashtra and was brought up in Bombay (now Mumbai),[4] in a Marathi family.[5] Her father was a district court judge, and her mother was a homemaker. The youngest of four siblings, she has two sisters and a brother.[6] She studied at the Queen Mary School, Mumbai. She then graduated in Psychology from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.[7]

Career

At age 17, she began her career as a model, which lasted for five years.[8] At age 20, she began her career as a journalist, writing "agony aunt" advice columns and features for society magazines. She was the editor of the magazine Stardust from 1971, which included Bollywood interviews, gossip, and photographs.[9]

In the 1980s, she contributed to the Sunday magazine section of The Times of India. She has since been a regular columnist for several newspapers.[3] She has also written several popular soaps on television.

Ankita Shukla wrote for The Times of India, in 2016, that "unignorable has been Shobhaa De's unabashed description of the womenfolk in her novels. De's women range from traditional, subjugated and marginalized to the extremely modern and liberated women. De's novels take a leaf the urban life and represent realistically an intimate side of urban woman's life, also revealing her plight in the present day society."[10] In 1992, Mark Fineman of the Los Angeles Times described her as "India's hottest-selling English-language novelist," and how her second novel, Starry Nights (1991), had "a drawing of a nude woman on the front cover," and according to De, "they said it was the first time they’d broken through the ‘F’ barrier, the first time they’d run the F-word without asterisks." Urmee Khan writes for The Guardian in 2007, "Her books are steeped in a lifetime's observation of Bollywood," and "They describe a side of the country that western audiences rarely encounter, her central themes being power, greed, lust and sex."

In 2010, De and Penguin Books created the publishing imprint Shobhaa De Books.[11]

De has also participated in several literary festivals, including the Bangalore Literature Festival,[8] having been part of it since its first edition.[12]

Personal life

De has been married twice, and is a mother of six children with six grandchildren.[13]

After graduation, Shobha married Sudhir Vrajlal Kilachand of the Kilachand Marwari business family, with whom she has a son and a daughter. The marriage ended in divorce.

Shobha then married Dilip De, a Bengali businessman in the shipping industry, with whom she has two daughters. Dilip also has two children from his previous marriage.[14] [15]

Books

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Khan . Urmee . Hooray for Bollywood . 22 June 2021 . . 4 May 2007.
  2. News: Betigeri . Aarti . Meet India's Jackie Collins, Shobhaa De . 22 June 2021 . . 18 February 2013.
  3. News: Dasgupta . Shougat . That Shobhaa De show: Godmother of Indian chatterati embraces her 70s with new book . 8 February 2020 . India Today . 10 January 2018 . en.
  4. News: 70-year-old Shobhaa De's age-defying pictures will leave you stunned! . Mid Day . 6 November 2018 . 13 August 2019.
  5. News: Nandgaonkar . Satish . Rashid . Omar . 14 April 2015 . My DNA is 100% Maharashtrian, says Shobhaa De . The Hindu . 13 August 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20250126184946/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/Shobhaa-De-interview-on-Shiv-Sena-scandal/article60329118.ece . 26 January 2025.
  6. News: Fineman . Mark . 'The Jackie Collins of India' . 22 June 2021 . . 1 April 1992.
  7. News: Sen . Debarati S. . My days in Xavier's were the defining years for me: Shobhaa De Mumbai News . 12 September 2020 . The Times of India . 12 October 2015 . en.
  8. News: Sarmmah . Surupasree . Editing script of my life was important: Shobhaa De . 22 June 2021 . Deccan Herald . 30 October 2018.
  9. Web site: 2021-03-14 . Magazine that taught us paparazzi rules . 2026-01-21 . Mid-day . en.
  10. News: Shukla . Ankita . Depiction of women in literature through ages . 22 June 2021 . . 21 December 2016.
  11. News: Shobhaa De, Penguin script new chapter . 22 June 2021 . . TNN . 9 April 2010.
  12. Web site: Soak in the cultural extravaganza that's the Bangalore Lit Fest. 27 September 2014. 20 December 2019.
  13. De . Shobhaa . 14 May 2020 . Shobhaa De on the ups and downs of lockdown-grandparenting . Vogue India . 18 February 2025.
  14. News: Bobb . Dilip . Shobhaa De's 'Spouse' takes a hard look at Indian marriages . 10 September 2019 . India Today . 28 February 2005 . en.
  15. News: Daniel . Vaihayasi P . 16 February 2005 . 'Marriage is becoming like the dinosaur' . Rediff . 31 December 2020.
  16. News: Salim . Lubna . The tales of two women . 22 June 2021 . Hindustan Times . 25 October 2020.
  17. News: Kumar . Surya Praphulla . Shobhaa De on her latest book, Lockdown Liasons . 22 June 2021 . . 31 July 2020.
  18. News: Ghoshal . Somak . Sex, lies and job loss: Shobhaa De on her weekly lockdown stories . 23 June 2021 . Mint . 15 June 2020.
  19. News: Khandelwal . Tara . 70 And To Hell With It, Says Shobhaa De . 22 June 2021 . . 9 November 2017.
  20. News: Bobb . Dilip . Shobhaa De's 'Spouse' takes a hard look at Indian marriages . 22 June 2021 . India Today . 28 February 2005 . UPDATED: March 22, 2012.

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