Frontlist | Actor Tisca Chopra launches Natasha Malpani Oswal’s book

Frontlist | Actor Tisca Chopra launches Natasha Malpani Oswal’s book
on Jan 29, 2021

Post the success of her anthology of poems Boundless, Natasha Malpani Oswal launched her new book Reinvention on Instagram with actor Tisca Chopra. Published by Bloomsbury, her new book explores the darker side of growing up in a raw and evocative manner. The Mumbai-based writer and producer whose production house Boundless Media makes genre-bending and experimental shows and films for a new India take us through her new read. Excerpts: What encouraged you to pen down your second book? My first collection of poems, Boundless, captured my search for my own identity in my twenties as I built my career as an immunologist and investor in London and then moved to California to do an MBA at Stanford. I wrote Reinvention after moving back to India after ten years of living abroad. The transition has been both difficult and rewarding. I wrote these poems as I grappled with the idea of coming ‘home’ and ‘coming of age’.  Reinvention is my personal diary- it explores the darker side of love, family and ambition. It attempts to answer questions like Can we preserve our identity while being part of multiple families? What sacrifices do we have to make for success? Can we have it all and keep it? Any anecdotes that you will like to share from your journey of being a poet? Poetry is the most honest and raw form of self-expression. I write poems to both express and understand my own thoughts and feelings. Writing down how I feel helps me see my own life from different perspectives. I write poems as notes to myself on my phone, because I want to keep the words as sharp and vulnerable as possible. I try to edit myself as little as possible-poetry needs to capture your darkest thoughts and feelings. I put myself out there completely. I wrote Princess, Starry Night and Girl while I was trying to come to terms with how much more my looks, clothing and appearance seemed to matter than my work or thoughts. We’re too often expected to ‘smile’, look pretty, and ‘be nice’, rather than say and do what we really think or want to as women. These poems are a tongue in cheek response to society’s expectations, and a call for us to speak up. It’s time we celebrated being bold and colourful and independent. I think my favourite poem might be Sparkle because I only started discovering my own power when I stopped trying to fit in- and embraced standing out instead. And you choose Tisca Chopra to launch Reinvention… I am so excited and happy that Tisca Chopra agreed to launch the book. I couldn’t think of a more powerful voice that fits the themes of this book so perfectly. Tisca has continually reinvented herself as an actor, producer and writer. She goes from strength to strength and is a great reminder of the power of embracing change and growing bolder and better, instead of settling, with time. I hope readers are inspired to make their own path and take risks: your life expands or shrinks in proportion to your mindset.   Source: The New Indian Express