I had once committed the mother of all f**k-ups - Aarya Babbar

Life’s been on a positive upswing for Aarya Babbar post his stint in Bigg Boss 8. Apart from being busy with his movies, his debut novel and its promotional activities are keeping him on his toes. With an interesting albeit quirky title like My Fiancée, Me & # I F**edup, the yet-to-be-released book has already been creating a buzz in the market. We caught up with the handsome actor for a quick tete-a-tete to know more about the cerebral doings that went behind writing this novel.

Is this an autobiography of sorts?

(Laughs) No brother. I’m too young to write an autobiography. I need more experiences in life and more heartbreaks to pen down an autobiography. But as the first line of the book reads, this book is inspired from real people and their real big f**k-ups. I believe that it is a satire on today’s relationships. People say that there are love stories, thrillers, tragedies but a fantastic genre that has never been tapped is a fuck-up genre. No one enters this genre. So I have in a humble way written a f**k-up story and not a love story.

How much of the novel is inspired from your real life?

It is not 100 percent inspired from my real life nor is not inspired from my real life. This is my first book and I feel blessed that Penguin has believed in it. A first book is usually very close to the author’s real life. So it is connected to some incidents from my life as well.

How did writing happen in your life?

I think I started at a young age. Infact, I wrote my first poem when I was eight and also won a prize for it. I was involved in my mother’s theater group where I would write scenes and other things. But then writing took a backseat because somewhere down the line being a starson you are always shown the road of acting. Even if you don’t want to sit in a Jaguar it is given to you. Not that you mind sitting in one! That’s what happened with me too. Thankfully, I used to read a lot and kept developing scripts. So eventually this idea about My Fiancée, Me & # I F**edup was born in January 2012 but I couldn’t write it for an entire year. I wrote it last year when I was on bed rest due to jaundice which came as a blessing in disguise. When people ask me now as to when I would be writing my second book, I say that I am waiting for malaria or something else to happen.

What age group are you targeting with you debut novel?

I never wrote this book keeping a specific age group or target audience in mind. I wrote it for anyone who can understand the SMS language. My book is written in two styles. 50 percent of the book is in SMS language and the other 50 percent is in the language you read in novels. I look at the generation today and the next generation as the ‘mobile generation’. I have written a book for the mobile generation. Also, usually a book is a first or second person narrative. But my book has the first and second person’s narratives going parallel to each other and both the narratives talk to each other.

Tell us about the biggest f**k-up that you have committed in your life?

I proposed a girl to get married. Three or four months before marriage, it didn’t work out. If I had been a normal guy not from the film industry, her family wouldn’t have been bothered but because I am film industry it bothered her and her family which made me and still makes me feel really bad. That is like the mother of all f**k-ups that happened and that is why I decided I will never ever commit such a f**k- up.

But how can you decide. Doesn’t luck too have a role to play in it?

Luck doesn’t have any role to play in a f**-up. F**k-ups happens because of a brain that decides to not look at a f**k-up that has happened. We always know when a f**k-up is happening. It’s just that we don’t want to see it.

How has your family reacted to your book?

My mother is the only one who knew I was writing something. But when she asked what it was about, I just told her to let me write. I couldn’t tell her then what it was about or else she would have censored it right then and there. A friend of mine connected me to Penguin and I send them the manuscript. A week later they sent me a response saying they liked it and signed me. I then broke the news and everyone in my house was shocked. Then I told them about the concept and everyone’s face was like Okayyyy. But they loved the book. My father says as far as the title is concerned it is none of his concern but he loved reading the book.

Any plans of making the book into a film?

It’s too early to say if it can be made into a film. But I have grown up in the film industry. I have written it in a style of a screenplay. It can be called a screen novel. The book has dialogues mixed with prose mixed. You will get a visual while you read.

Finally we hear there is a special someone in your life. Tell us more about her?

Someone special is someone special. Already so much has been written about it.

So marriage on cards anytime soon?

All I will say is no comments because I have already committed the mother of all f**k-ups and I don’t want a father of all f**k-ups to happen now.