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Seriously Sitara
Sitara Gopalasundaram – single, high-minded, just-over thirty, arts editor of Hommemagazine, with a mop of uncontrollable hair and no time for Bollywood types – is seriously upset.
Commanded to unearth the story behind Bollywood superstud Nasser Khan’s much-talked-about reclusive status, following the break-up of his long-standing engagement to a cinematic bimbette, is nothing short of a nightmare for someone who can’t quite tell her Khans apart.
Things get worse as what she had hoped would be a one-time, never-again, meeting turns out to be the first of a series of strange encounters, as fate keep throwing her back into the arms of Bollywood’s reigning pin-up boy. Blown away by the high octane world of showbiz, Sitara still thinks she can get her life back to its normal humdrum routine.
Seriously?
Commanded to unearth the story behind Bollywood superstud Nasser Khan’s much-talked-about reclusive status, following the break-up of his long-standing engagement to a cinematic bimbette, is nothing short of a nightmare for someone who can’t quite tell her Khans apart.
Things get worse as what she had hoped would be a one-time, never-again, meeting turns out to be the first of a series of strange encounters, as fate keep throwing her back into the arms of Bollywood’s reigning pin-up boy. Blown away by the high octane world of showbiz, Sitara still thinks she can get her life back to its normal humdrum routine.
Seriously?
328 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2013
25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 7, 2016
I'm an unabashed chick-lit reader, but rarely do I find Indian chick-lit writing that holds my attention or gets my respect. It is a category most often dismissed as frivolous and the only ones willing to touch it, are those who shouldn't be allowed near a pen. Even so, the recent past has seen a few solid writers try their hand at the genre and come out winners. Nishat Fatima is one of those.
Sitara Gopalakrishnan is an Arts Editor for the Homme magazine. And like most publications, the editor of this one too, is a bit of a slimey jerk who likes playing games. Which is how she ends up having to interview filmstar Nasser Khan, without a clue about Bollywood and its workings. One thing leads to another and before you know it, they're madly attracted to each other, but have no idea how to make it work out. A romance has only one way to end - happily. Which is why this is not so much about the story as the writing. Nishat's writing is intelligent and the bulk of the story is interesting, witty conversations and repartee.
While you don't get to hear or see much of Sitara's family, Nasser's family plays a huge role in the tale, from his domestic father, to his atypical mother, to his rocky relationship with his brother.
A quick and satisfying read, I hope Nishat is working on her next.
Sitara Gopalakrishnan is an Arts Editor for the Homme magazine. And like most publications, the editor of this one too, is a bit of a slimey jerk who likes playing games. Which is how she ends up having to interview filmstar Nasser Khan, without a clue about Bollywood and its workings. One thing leads to another and before you know it, they're madly attracted to each other, but have no idea how to make it work out. A romance has only one way to end - happily. Which is why this is not so much about the story as the writing. Nishat's writing is intelligent and the bulk of the story is interesting, witty conversations and repartee.
While you don't get to hear or see much of Sitara's family, Nasser's family plays a huge role in the tale, from his domestic father, to his atypical mother, to his rocky relationship with his brother.
A quick and satisfying read, I hope Nishat is working on her next.
April 27, 2022
When i was half way through this book, i took a pause and searched about the author. I wanted to know what other books she has written. Sadly, i haven't found any. I really liked the way she has written this book, which is in a never-boring way. I didn't just read this book when i had the time, but i did squeeze the time out of my traveling and work so as to read few pages of this book. A nice, light, enjoyable read...
September 21, 2018
Inspired by a friend of mine.
December 6, 2019
This was meh
June 28, 2013
By Nishat Fatima. Grade: B+
Seriously, Sitara? is an all around feel-good chick-lit with a heroine who is not Barbie thin and beautiful but still gets Ken. There is no mystery ridden sub-plot to unnecessarily complicate a story, or a secondary love story of the protagonists’ friends. These are common plots used by writers so that they get a third angle to work with, but Nishat Fatima doesn’t dip there, and keeps her focus singularly on Sitara, her thirty-something grumpy journalist for the international publication Homme.
With no plot line except to bring the hero and heroine together for their happy-ever-after, the author walks a tightrope as she ensures the reader stays involved and entertained for the three hundred pages.
Nasser Khan is the leading Bollywood Khan, after the original triumvirate. After a very painful break up with his fiancee Richa, another Bollywood product, Nasser has become a recluse. So when the Homme magazine gets a chance to an exclusive interview with the superstar, Sitara’s boss gives her the piece, if only to piss off the people who worked at getting the interview in the first place. Sitara can hardly keep her Khans straight, and her intellect is too sharp to consider Bollywood entertaining. Which is why we get a classic meet-cute, complete with Sitara getting drunk and throwing up all over this Bollywood legend. Fate decides to keep throwing them in each other’s path, and pretty soon Sitara is helping Nasser and his estranged brother grow closer, getting hit on by his best friend and having dinner with his family. There is little conflict to make the story intriguing, mostly just their hang ups in getting involved with someone that drastically different.
I loved Nasser. Despite his stardom, he is a very grounded character. He makes tea for his family, gets punched by people he pisses off, has unresolved childhood issues and gets scolded by his parents for mundane mistakes. There is little reference to his superstar status; he could have been holding any famous job for all the difference it made.
The narration is lively with a lot of great one-liners. There are frequent laugh out moments and the eclectic cast of secondary characters is plain hilarious. Sitara is likable enough, suitably funny and sarcastic to attract Nasser’s attention, yet I feel that not enough focus was given on the how’s and why’s of their courtship. I couldn’t see exactly what Nasser saw in her that made her so remarkably different from the hundreds of women he has had or can have. Usually the author shows in a myriad ways about the connection her protagonists share to negate the improbability of their happy-ever-after but I saw no such episode here. Sitara does question whether a relationship of an ordinary girl with a multi-millionnaire star will ever work out, but the resolution is weak and half-hearted.
These are all minor points, yes, but attention to them would have made a great book absolutely terrific. I love my chick-lit, and I know nothing is better to chase the blues away. This one does a great job. Go for it if you are looking for three hours of entertainment that won’t tax your brain, even if it is a read-’em-and-forget-’em story.
Originally reviewed at Vaultofbooks.com, a close-knit community of fanatical readers. We are looking for perceptive readers who can write well, and we are eager to provide lots of free books in exchange for reviews. Shot us a mail at contact@vaultofbooks.com”
Seriously, Sitara? is an all around feel-good chick-lit with a heroine who is not Barbie thin and beautiful but still gets Ken. There is no mystery ridden sub-plot to unnecessarily complicate a story, or a secondary love story of the protagonists’ friends. These are common plots used by writers so that they get a third angle to work with, but Nishat Fatima doesn’t dip there, and keeps her focus singularly on Sitara, her thirty-something grumpy journalist for the international publication Homme.
With no plot line except to bring the hero and heroine together for their happy-ever-after, the author walks a tightrope as she ensures the reader stays involved and entertained for the three hundred pages.
Nasser Khan is the leading Bollywood Khan, after the original triumvirate. After a very painful break up with his fiancee Richa, another Bollywood product, Nasser has become a recluse. So when the Homme magazine gets a chance to an exclusive interview with the superstar, Sitara’s boss gives her the piece, if only to piss off the people who worked at getting the interview in the first place. Sitara can hardly keep her Khans straight, and her intellect is too sharp to consider Bollywood entertaining. Which is why we get a classic meet-cute, complete with Sitara getting drunk and throwing up all over this Bollywood legend. Fate decides to keep throwing them in each other’s path, and pretty soon Sitara is helping Nasser and his estranged brother grow closer, getting hit on by his best friend and having dinner with his family. There is little conflict to make the story intriguing, mostly just their hang ups in getting involved with someone that drastically different.
I loved Nasser. Despite his stardom, he is a very grounded character. He makes tea for his family, gets punched by people he pisses off, has unresolved childhood issues and gets scolded by his parents for mundane mistakes. There is little reference to his superstar status; he could have been holding any famous job for all the difference it made.
The narration is lively with a lot of great one-liners. There are frequent laugh out moments and the eclectic cast of secondary characters is plain hilarious. Sitara is likable enough, suitably funny and sarcastic to attract Nasser’s attention, yet I feel that not enough focus was given on the how’s and why’s of their courtship. I couldn’t see exactly what Nasser saw in her that made her so remarkably different from the hundreds of women he has had or can have. Usually the author shows in a myriad ways about the connection her protagonists share to negate the improbability of their happy-ever-after but I saw no such episode here. Sitara does question whether a relationship of an ordinary girl with a multi-millionnaire star will ever work out, but the resolution is weak and half-hearted.
These are all minor points, yes, but attention to them would have made a great book absolutely terrific. I love my chick-lit, and I know nothing is better to chase the blues away. This one does a great job. Go for it if you are looking for three hours of entertainment that won’t tax your brain, even if it is a read-’em-and-forget-’em story.
Originally reviewed at Vaultofbooks.com, a close-knit community of fanatical readers. We are looking for perceptive readers who can write well, and we are eager to provide lots of free books in exchange for reviews. Shot us a mail at contact@vaultofbooks.com”
February 17, 2017
After a particularly long and rough week, I was looking forward to a light and fun weekend. The moment this book landed up on my doorstep, I knew that this was the one that I wanted to read over the weekend.
Let’s start this review with something that is unusual for my reviews - he book cover. Yep! By now you guys know that book covers hardly matter to me. You can give me a book without its cover or a disgusting one, and I’d gobble it up all the same. The cover of the book hardly ever reflects the quality of the story inside. But in this case, when I opened the package, the brightly coloured cover and the fun fonts used on the back, had my attention. Like I said, after the week I have had, the quirky cover immediately put a smile on my face and sealed the deal for the weekend. Sitara’s hair and what I assumed were the contents of her purse is what takes up the cover and coupled with its title makes you feel that it will be a light read. I was ready to say ‘Seriously, Sitara?’ over the weekend in an instant.
Sitara Gopalasundaram hails from a typical middleclass family from Chennai. Her working as an Arts Editor Homme Magazine and living alone in Mumbai had raised quite a few eyebrows. Yet she is an independent woman who is still single at thirty something and she knows what she wants. Well, most of the times. What she doesn’t want is to be set up with innumerable ‘eligible’ bachelors by her parents and Aunt and what she wants is to land up an interview with a leading artist for her magazine. So when her boss sets her up to do the cover story by interviewing the ‘leading’ Khan of Bollywood she is less than thrilled. Nasser Khan is the leading but reclusive star of Bollywood. His recent break up with one of his leading ladies has been the topic of the town. He plans to take a break soon, but before that he has to do an interview and attend an award ceremony. Getting locked up in his hotel bedroom with a haughty journalist wasn’t the part of the plan. Over the next few days, the paths of these polar opposites cross over and over again and they always seem to rub each other the wrong way.
What happens to them is what this story is all about. The storyline is simple and predictable. I mean after reading the back of the book, you know how it is going to end. But reading the story and following Sitara and Nasser’s journey to finding each other was quite an experience. The ups and downs and the misunderstandings made me feel elated and frustrated over the time. And there were couple of ‘Seriously, Sitara?’ moments too. The characters of the story are well developed. Besides Sitara, there are a few characters I really liked. For instance, Naeem , Shiv and Maya often cracked me up. I also liked Ayesha and Bashir, Nasser’s parents.
I have to admit though. Following the tested formula for love stories, the plot may not have much to offer. There are few clichéd moments and dialogues and the number of coincidences is a bit too much. But the author’s writing style and the quirks of the characters keep it interesting and fun.
Let’s start this review with something that is unusual for my reviews - he book cover. Yep! By now you guys know that book covers hardly matter to me. You can give me a book without its cover or a disgusting one, and I’d gobble it up all the same. The cover of the book hardly ever reflects the quality of the story inside. But in this case, when I opened the package, the brightly coloured cover and the fun fonts used on the back, had my attention. Like I said, after the week I have had, the quirky cover immediately put a smile on my face and sealed the deal for the weekend. Sitara’s hair and what I assumed were the contents of her purse is what takes up the cover and coupled with its title makes you feel that it will be a light read. I was ready to say ‘Seriously, Sitara?’ over the weekend in an instant.
Sitara Gopalasundaram hails from a typical middleclass family from Chennai. Her working as an Arts Editor Homme Magazine and living alone in Mumbai had raised quite a few eyebrows. Yet she is an independent woman who is still single at thirty something and she knows what she wants. Well, most of the times. What she doesn’t want is to be set up with innumerable ‘eligible’ bachelors by her parents and Aunt and what she wants is to land up an interview with a leading artist for her magazine. So when her boss sets her up to do the cover story by interviewing the ‘leading’ Khan of Bollywood she is less than thrilled. Nasser Khan is the leading but reclusive star of Bollywood. His recent break up with one of his leading ladies has been the topic of the town. He plans to take a break soon, but before that he has to do an interview and attend an award ceremony. Getting locked up in his hotel bedroom with a haughty journalist wasn’t the part of the plan. Over the next few days, the paths of these polar opposites cross over and over again and they always seem to rub each other the wrong way.
What happens to them is what this story is all about. The storyline is simple and predictable. I mean after reading the back of the book, you know how it is going to end. But reading the story and following Sitara and Nasser’s journey to finding each other was quite an experience. The ups and downs and the misunderstandings made me feel elated and frustrated over the time. And there were couple of ‘Seriously, Sitara?’ moments too. The characters of the story are well developed. Besides Sitara, there are a few characters I really liked. For instance, Naeem , Shiv and Maya often cracked me up. I also liked Ayesha and Bashir, Nasser’s parents.
I have to admit though. Following the tested formula for love stories, the plot may not have much to offer. There are few clichéd moments and dialogues and the number of coincidences is a bit too much. But the author’s writing style and the quirks of the characters keep it interesting and fun.
July 1, 2013
This book is a time pass read. What works for the book
Sharp writing
Quick Witted dialogues
Charming & sassy characters (I would love to read more stories about them)
Generous does of humour
Ample romance (apt reading for the rainy days)
Ample mush moments
Shows a Bollywood hero as a normal human being. As someone who can cook, be quick witted, have a normal family life & can fall in love that too with a commoner.
What doesn’t work? Nothing really especially if you love this genre of books i.e. romance & candy floss. Though the angle of a Bollywood star falling in love with a commoner is a tad unbelievable but compared to a science fiction (where everything described is impossible) this is still realistic.
A must read for people who love this genre. A perfect read for a romantic rainy day. Go for it.
Sharp writing
Quick Witted dialogues
Charming & sassy characters (I would love to read more stories about them)
Generous does of humour
Ample romance (apt reading for the rainy days)
Ample mush moments
Shows a Bollywood hero as a normal human being. As someone who can cook, be quick witted, have a normal family life & can fall in love that too with a commoner.
What doesn’t work? Nothing really especially if you love this genre of books i.e. romance & candy floss. Though the angle of a Bollywood star falling in love with a commoner is a tad unbelievable but compared to a science fiction (where everything described is impossible) this is still realistic.
A must read for people who love this genre. A perfect read for a romantic rainy day. Go for it.
August 31, 2013
I laughed throughout the book. Oh my goodness it was funny. I would have probably laughed more if I had gotten all of the jokes and the modes of speech that was used. Ms. Fatima did a great job mixing romance and comedy, which is not an easy thing to do.
The spunky yet intelligent Sitara made a wonderful, believable, if accident prone heroine. Nasser was a hottie (Bollywood would have nothing less), even though his arrogance was a little overbearing at times, but he ended up having a huge heart.
My only issue with this book was that I didn’t get all of the references, and sometimes the way Ms. Fatima presented something was lost on me, but it didn’t take me too far out of the book.
If you are looking for a novel that will have you chuckling, but make you sigh at the end, then Seriously, Sitara? is for you.
The spunky yet intelligent Sitara made a wonderful, believable, if accident prone heroine. Nasser was a hottie (Bollywood would have nothing less), even though his arrogance was a little overbearing at times, but he ended up having a huge heart.
My only issue with this book was that I didn’t get all of the references, and sometimes the way Ms. Fatima presented something was lost on me, but it didn’t take me too far out of the book.
If you are looking for a novel that will have you chuckling, but make you sigh at the end, then Seriously, Sitara? is for you.
June 23, 2016
When i was half way through this book, i took a pause and searched about the author. I wanted to know what other books she has written. Sadly, i haven't found any. I really liked the way she has written this book, which is in a never-boring way. I didn't just read this book when i had the time, but i did squeeze the time out of my traveling and work so as to read few pages of this book. A nice, light, enjoyable read...
July 1, 2013
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visit www.bookgeeks.in today and check out the review at the Indian authors page.
visit www.bookgeeks.in today and check out the review at the Indian authors page.
February 1, 2014
I really enjoyed it. Didn't see it coming from an Indian author. It was damn funny in the beginning. I liked the way of writing. I usually don't like Indian write ups but this one was refreshing.
November 22, 2016
Read at least three times in a month and just loved it!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews