Your weekend reading list

Rajesh Ramaswamy, branch creative director, Lowe Lintas tells Campaign India about the books that are currently catching his attention.

Lights action masala by Sheena Sippy and Naman Ramachandran is a spectacular presentation of Bollywood. I particularly liked ‘Talking Films’ and ‘Talking Songs’ by Javed Akthar. It’s an interview with him by Nasreen Munni Kabeer. His articulation is brilliant. He points out the difference between pyar, ishq and mohabbat. And where to use what.

I liked that. Al Pacino - a biography by Lawrence Grobel is a fantastic read. Again it’s just a conversation between the two.

Also, I follow this crazy madman’s blog called ‘Doing Jalsa and Showing Jilpa’ by Krish Ashok (krishashok.wordpress.com) who mostly writes about topics that are of no importance to anyone. I have no clue who he is, but he insanely funny. Absolutely different style of writing. In fiction, I only read Indian authors.

And I still think Chetan Bhagat rocks. In my circle, most of them think he’s bullshit and I have spent a good part of my life arguing that. And the one book I keep returning to is ‘Swami and Friends”. I have equated RK Narayan to God in my head. I feel the book captures every single emotion that a person goes through in his entire lifetime. And in such a simple and insightful manner. It’s certainly not a book for kids, by any standard. I have just started reading ‘The five dollar smile and other stories’ by Shashi Tharoor."