Banungi main Miss Mills & Boon

Want a total Mills & Boon guy and are ready to wait all your life for one? Chew on this century old romantic fiction and stand a chance to be a Miss M&Bu00a0u00a0

You've secretly read them in your teens, hidden them in your history textbooks or covered their salacious jackets with regular brown paper. Mills & Boon has been a friend for many in their growing up years. The 100-year-old fictional world of ageless hero, timeless romance and passionate fantasy was part of a fun chat recently for a select city audience for an afternoon called 'Friends for Life'.



Mills & Boons books have been friends of women from early teenage years through various phases and stages of their lives, from a quick daily bedside read, to being a vacation buddy, confidant or an imaginary friend. At the launch of the contest that's inviting readers to share how Mills & Boon has been their friend for life, few avid M&B women readers shared their experiences on how it has been a friend through their lives.

Milan Vohra, India's first writer for Mills & Boon, said, "The experience of writing for Mills & Boon with an Indian context and setting has been as much fun as reconnecting with an old friend who I share a sense of growing up with."

Anshu Vyas Seetharaman, Body Conditioning Trainer reiterated the fact that love has the power to bring many positive changes in you and the world around and got nostalgic remembering her first read as a school girl called Chateau Flowers. Anshu is an out and out romantic and believes when two people meet, there's bound to be chemistry.

Artist, Geetanjali Kapoor said these books for her were an escape from the rigours of life, where the ending is always happy and love always triumphs. She added that doing the forbidden was always fun.Kinnary Patel, HR Consultant said, "I had once given up on romance, but these books instilled those feelings again. Life is partly what we make of it and partly what is made by friends whom we choose."

Manish Singh, Country Manger, Harlequin Mills & Boon India avers, "People want to have friends and be friends so this is a way for readers to express their friendship connection with Mills & Boon. Friends for Life is being launched from Bangalore and we have many more titles coming up to make this lasting connection even more special."

We had a quick chat with 45-year-old copywriter Milan Vohra, the first Indian M&B author, on her foray into fiction.

When did you pick your first M&B?
I found it at home and asked my dad and he was fine with it. For me it wasn't an issue like many who have read it secretly, although we grew up in a closed environment. But now that I'm part of the writing group, I feel it's all about being comfortable with yourself.

The archetypal tall, dark, handsome hero, his girl and their longing for each other, are there such guys out there?" It's about instilling hope. But then there are ups and downs, highs and lows in an M&B romance too, just like in real life. You have to hang in there and many times happy endings do happen.

How are the plots changing now?
Women are more independent. Lovemaking is more explicit now. Earlier red heads used to be at the beck and call of men, now men are actually working for these women who are calling the shots. Today's M&Bs are more reflective of our times. The Indian series pattern is more specific to Indian readers but in an exotic setting, as everyone wants that.

What's your target age category like and are there any male readers yet?
Mostly single working women in the age group of 20 to 29 years. But largely from 16 to say 60 year olds. Just to make it more rounded; our narrative sometimes revolves from a man's point of view too, but men don't really pick one on their own.

When is the Indian writer series going to hit the stands?
In three to four months.