To be or not to be (written about)?that is the question. Public figures and personalities attract tremendous attention and interest. Their stories are splashed across bookshelves, theatre stages and celluloid, often pleasing the subjects of such works. But then there are those who might not be amused. Heated exchanges between Madrid-based writer Javier Moro and Congress party spokesperson and lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi over a book on Sonia Gandhi, directly and through the media, have been in the spotlight for sometime now. Allegations and counter-allegations have been flying in all directions about the content of the book and some of its portions. The book in question, El Sari Rojo (The Red Sari), according to Moro, is a novel based on Sonia Gandhi?s life, weaved through his own interpretation, what may be called a ?fictionalised biography?. One would ask, what is a fictionalised biography and what does this genre, seemingly an oxymoron, seeks to bring to the fore?
In a fictionalised biography, materials are freely invented and scenes and conversations are imagined. These books are often not authorised by the subject of the book and depend almost entirely upon secondary sources and cursory research, while the authors try to enhance the book?s appeal through dramatisation. While such materials usually employ hard facts of a person?s life and reflect the author?s interpretative eye around them, this hybrid of fact and fiction can be a two-faced sword. Such materials have existed in popular culture for a long time now. Through books, biopics and theatre, storytellers have shared their interpretative versions of the lives and times of many a public figure.
Biopics on the silver screen have for long been inspired by life stories of public figures. Though not establishing it openly in most instances, directors have taken leaves out people’s lives and weaved them with the help of their imagination to churn our reel-life stories of real people. Films like Aandhi, Sarkar and Guru, have all been watched and talked about as fictionalised biopics. And films like Jodhaa Akbar and Asoka have been termed by many a critic as highly dramatised and highly fictionalised. Then, of course, there are a number of flicks based on lives of personalities of India’s freedom struggle?from Bhagat Singh to Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel to even Savarkar. And, all these celluloid depictions, while directly or indirectly establishing and identifying their subjects, have dramatised and fictionalised portions in varying degree s.
But what is the extent of such fictionalisation? How will the reader differentiate between fact and fiction entangled together? Is fictionalisation of a living public figure?s life right? These are the many questions that have surfaced because of the controversy.
?A fictionalised biography to me is a silly term. It contradicts itself and toys with the definition of a biography. Mostly a ploy to give yourself a licence to mix fact and fiction,? says Nandita Aggarwal, editorial director, Hachette India. While she dismisses the recent controversy as a non-issue, she feels that the extent of fictionalisation of a person?s life story should be relative to certain factors. ?The acceptable extent of fictionalisation would really vary from book to book and subject to subject. It?s all relative and must be seen in context. Things like which portions of the book are being fictionalised, what inferences does the author make in those areas about the subject and what is the degree of fantasy that is being inserted should be looked at,? she says. And the problems with such material? ?It can be hard to figure out what?s the truth and what?s not. One doesn?t even know the reader?s perception while reading the book? on differentiation between fact and fiction,? she says.
For Prem Singh, editor-in-chief, Penguin India, facts are sacred for a biography. ?If the book is being pitched as a biography, you can only dramatise things using dialogue, etc, but all of it has to be based on fact. It isn’t necessary to check everything with the subject of the biography, but you should be able to substantiate what you write. If you can’t, then that person has every right to challenge you and even take legal action,? he says.
On the larger issue of legality of the so called fictionalised biographies, Singh feels if such books carry a disclaimer that it?s a novel and not everything in it is true, then it?s safe. Javier Moro himself has made public statements that his book carries the disclaimer: ?This is a novel based on the story of Sonia Gandhi and the Nehru family. Neither Sonia Gandhi nor any member of her family has provided information or has collaborated in this book. Dialogues, conversations and situations found therein are the product of the author?s own interpretation and do not necessarily reflect authenticity.? While legal experts believe that a strong case against Moro would be unlikely, things would only be clear if and when the translated English version of the book is released in India, slated for later this year. ?The disclaimer doesn?t absolve the author of all liability. If one is writing a public figure?s life, it is covered by the freedom of speech and expression as a fundamental right. However, if the subject still finds portions in the material libellous, he can surely take legal options, which then of course would leave it to the court of law to decide on the merit of the case,? says Hemant Singh, a leading intellectual property rights (IPR) lawyer. He adds that anyone has complete freedom to write about another person, as long as it can be backed by plausible evidence. ?You have all the right to write about a public figure and express your views about the person, as long as you can substantiate what you write,?he says.
Moro himself says as long as it is mentioned, there is no problem with fictionalised biographies and that the author can choose the manner in which he wants to tell the story. ?The tools, the techniques, the vision remains the writer’s essence, choice and privilege. Some subjects call for fiction in order to be fully understood by the public. As we know fiction can sometime bring the essence of truth, much better than dry facts and scholarly writing,? he says.
Jaishree Misra, author of Rani, a fictionalised biography based on Rani Lakshmibai’s life, says in her book, fiction gave her the freedom to write a balanced and fair account. ?It sounds ironic, but it was because of fictionalising the story that I was able to write the book more sensibly. The only available records in that case were British and relying only on them would have presented a very lopsided and perhaps factually incorrect biography. It’s very important to get the facts spot on. But the author can certainly use some creativity around those facts to tell a story,? she says.
Moro has stated that he had to take the fictionalised and dramatised approach to the book due to lack of direct access to Sonia Gandhi and her family. Also, he claims that whatever interpretations he has produced in the book, are well within the purview of an author’s creative liberty. While it seems probable that the book proposes nothing terribly libellous or defamatory, as it has sold more than 2,00,000 copies in various European languages and nothing objectionable has been reported by the readers anywhere, many believe that it’s time that our politicians start taking a mature view of such issues.
?He (Moro) had to fill in the blanks in the story somehow, as he did not have access to the family. It is about the freedom of speech and expression in a democracy and about the creative freedom of an author,? says ad guru Prahlad Kakkar. He further believes that India presents a picture of an intolerant society. ?We behave in a very intolerant manner on such issues. If someone has written something, let him write. He is free to do that. And if something is wrong with the material, let a court of law decide. Banning things and deciding issues on the street is not the way,? he says.
Suhel Seth, managing partner of marketing consultancy Counselage India, believes that public figures need to realise that they can’t avoid curiosity and public scrutiny. ?If you are in public life, you just can’t wish away all this. People should be mature enough to understand this fact. It’s always better to allow such issues to die down rather than creating a controversy,? he says.
While the debate can go on forever regarding fictionalised biographies, why such books are aplenty can also be attributed to lack of balanced and objective authorised material available. While there are authorised biographies available, many don’t prefer them as these books are infamous for being perceived as hagiographies, maybe as much fictional as any other book on the shelf. ?In an authorised biography, the readers will have the perception that this is what the subject wants me to know about his life. In that way, authorised biographies can also be termed as fictional as the complete truth might be very different from what is presented. So I as a reader would prefer to read an unauthorised biography as the author appears to be a lot more free and unbiased,? says Jaishree Misra
Author Jerry Pinto aptly describes the fact and fiction conflict with regard to the issue. Putting into perspective the realities of so called facts and their attributes, he says, ?When I read The Blue Hand, I asked Deborah Baker whether she thought people lied in their diaries. For instance, if Alan Ginsberg said, ?I thought to myself when I was in the train to Benaras…?, what do we make of that? The act of diary-writing is a public act. It is performative. In it, we take what we did and what we thought and we give these things coherent shape and narrative structure. And yet a diary is taken as factual material. Then someone working on a non-fiction work assumes this to be fact. So the waters are very muddy, but I think it is best to try and keep the two as far apart as possible. For the sake of convenience. For the sake of clarity.? What awaits The Red Sari in India would be an interesting thing to watch out for and as we prepare ourselves to pass a judgment over the book, the author and those against the book, and maybe further deliberate on the fact-fiction quotient of a biography, a quote by Mark Twain succinctly sums it up: ?Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of a man himself cannot be written.?
?With inputs from Suman Tarafdar