Shobhaa De
{{Short description|Indian novelist, columnist (born 1948)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Shobha De
| image = Shobhaa Rajadhyaksha De - Kolkata 2015-02-06 5715.JPG
| caption = De at an event in 2015
| nationality =
| birth_name = Shobha Rajadhyaksha
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|1|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Satara District, Province of Bombay, Dominion of India
(present-day Maharashtra, India)
| spouse = Sudhir Vrajlal Kilachand
Dilip De
| children = 6
| occupation = {{hlist|Author|columnist|novelist}}
| website =
}}
Shobha De (née Rajadhyaksha, formerly Kilachand; born 7 January 1948) is an Indian novelist and columnist. She is best known for her depiction of socialites and sex in her works of fiction,{{cite news |last1=Khan |first1=Urmee |title=Hooray for Bollywood |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/may/04/india.gender |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=4 May 2007}} for which she has been referred to as the "Jackie Collins of India."{{cite news |last1=Betigeri |first1=Aarti |title=Meet India's Jackie Collins, Shobhaa De |url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/booksandarts/meet-india27s-jackie-collins2c-shohba-de/4524476 |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=ABC Australia |date=18 February 2013}}
Early life and education
Shobhaa De was born on 7 January 1948{{cite news |last1=Dasgupta |first1=Shougat |title=That Shobhaa De show: Godmother of Indian chatterati embraces her 70s with new book |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/leisure/story/20180122-shobhaa-de-new-book-seventy-and-to-hell-with-it-1131363-2018-01-10 |access-date=8 February 2020 |work=India Today |date=10 January 2018 |language=en}} in Satara district, Maharashtra and brought up in Bombay (now Mumbai).{{cite news |title=70-year-old Shobhaa De's age-defying pictures will leave you stunned! |url=https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai-guide/famous-personalities/photo/70-year-old-Shobhaa-De-s-age-defying-pictures-will-leave-you-stunned--15639 |work=Mid Day |date=6 November 2018 |access-date=13 August 2019}} in a Marathi family.{{cite news |last1=Nandgaonkar |first1=Satish |last2=Rashid |first2=Omar |date=14 April 2015 |title=My DNA is 100% Maharashtrian, says Shobhaa De |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/shobhaa-de-interview-on-shiv-sena-scandal/article7099528.ece |work=The Hindu |access-date=13 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250126184946/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/Shobhaa-De-interview-on-Shiv-Sena-scandal/article60329118.ece |archive-date=26 January 2025}} Her father was a district court judge, and her mother was a home-maker. The youngest of four siblings, she has two sisters and a brother.{{cite news |last1=Fineman |first1=Mark |title='The Jackie Collins of India' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-01-vw-221-story.html |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=1 April 1992}}
Shobha grew up in Mumbai, where she attended Queen Mary School. She graduated from Saint Xavier's College.{{cite news |last1=Sen |first1=Debarati S. |title=My days in Xavier's were the defining years for me: Shobhaa De {{!}} Mumbai News |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/My-days-in-Xaviers-were-the-defining-years-for-me-ShobhaaDe/articleshow/49320836.cms |access-date=12 September 2020 |work=The Times of India |date=12 October 2015 |language=en}}
Career
At age 17, she began her career as a model, which lasted for five years.{{cite news |last1=Sarmmah |first1=Surupasree |title=Editing script of my life was important: Shobhaa De |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/metrolife/editing-script-my-own-life-was-700335.html |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=Deccan Herald |date=30 October 2018}} At age 20, she began her career as a journalist, writing "agony aunt" advice columns and features for society magazines. She was the editor of the magazine Stardust from 1995, which included Bollywood interviews, gossip, and photographs.
In the 1980s, she contributed to the Sunday magazine section of The Times of India. She has since been a regular columnist for several newspapers. She has also written several popular soaps on television.
Ankita Shukla wrote for The Times of India, in 2016, that "unignorable has been Shobhaa De's unabashed description of the womenfolk in her novels. De's women range from traditional, subjugated and marginalized to the extremely modern and liberated women. De's novels take a leaf the urban life and represent realistically an intimate side of urban woman's life, also revealing her plight in the present day society."{{cite news |last1=Shukla |first1=Ankita |title=Depiction of women in literature through ages |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/depiction-of-women-in-literature-through-ages/articleshow/56084665.cms |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=The Times of India |date=21 December 2016}} In 1992, Mark Fineman of the Los Angeles Times described her as "India's hottest-selling English-language novelist," and how her second novel, Starry Nights (1991), had "a drawing of a nude woman on the front cover," and according to De, "they said it was the first time they’d broken through the ‘F’ barrier, the first time they’d run the F-word without asterisks." Urmee Khan writes for The Guardian in 2007, "Her books are steeped in a lifetime's observation of Bollywood," and "They describe a side of the country that western audiences rarely encounter, her central themes being power, greed, lust and sex."
In 2010, De and Penguin Books created the publishing imprint Shobhaa De Books.{{cite news |title=Shobhaa De, Penguin script new chapter |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Shobhaa-De-Penguin-script-new-chapter/articleshow/5775981.cms |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=The Times of India |agency=TNN |date=9 April 2010}}
De has also participated in several literary festivals, including the Bangalore Literature Festival, having been part of it since its first edition.{{Cite web|url=https://svetlanalasrado.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/soak-in-the-cultural-extravaganza-thats-the-bangalore-lit-fest/|title=Soak in the cultural extravaganza that's the Bangalore Lit Fest|date=27 September 2014|access-date=20 December 2019}}{{better source needed|date=August 2016}}
Personal life
De has married twice, is mother of six children and has six grandchildren.{{cite magazine |last1=De |first1=Shobhaa |date=14 May 2020 |title=Shobhaa De on the ups and downs of lockdown-grandparenting |url=https://www.vogue.in/culture-and-living/content/shobhaa-de-ups-and-downs-covid-19-lockdown-grandparenting |magazine=Vogue India |access-date=18 February 2025}}
After graduation, Shobha married Sudhir Vrajlal Kilachand of the Kilachand Marwari business family, with whom she has a son and a daughter. The marriage ended in divorce.
Shobha then married Dilip De, a Bengali businessman in the shipping industry, with whom she has two daughters. Dilip also has two children from his previous marriage.{{cite news |last1=Bobb |first1=Dilip |title=Shobhaa De's 'Spouse' takes a hard look at Indian marriages |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/story/20050228-shobhaa-de-takes-a-hard-look-at-indian-marriages-in-spouse-787976-2005-02-28 |access-date=10 September 2019 |work=India Today |date=28 February 2005 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Daniel |first1=Vaihayasi P |date=16 February 2005 |title='Marriage is becoming like the dinosaur' |url=https://www.rediff.com/getahead/2005/feb/14de1.htm?zcc=rl |work=Rediff |access-date=31 December 2020}}
Books
- Srilaaji – Diary of a Marwari Matriarch, Simon & Schuster (2020){{cite news |last1=Salim |first1=Lubna |title=The tales of two women |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/the-tales-of-two-women/story-DgC6rxGyE9PloBmUywX8xI.html |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=Hindustan Times |date=25 October 2020}}
- Lockdown Laisons (2020){{cite news |last1=Kumar |first1=Surya Praphulla |title=Shobhaa De on her latest book, Lockdown Liasons |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/shobhaa-de-on-her-latest-book-lockdown-liasons/article32240464.ece |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=The Hindu |date=31 July 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Ghoshal |first1=Somak |title=Sex, lies and job loss: Shobhaa De on her weekly lockdown stories |url=https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/sex-lies-and-job-loss-shobhaa-de-on-her-weekly-lockdown-stories-11592220094527.html |access-date=23 June 2021 |work=Mint |date=15 June 2020}}
- Small Betrayals − Hay House India, New Delhi, 2014
- Seventy And to Hell with It (2017){{cite news |last1=Khandelwal |first1=Tara |title=70 And To Hell With It, Says Shobhaa De |url=https://www.shethepeople.tv/news/70-hell-says-shobhaa-de/ |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=SheThePeople.TV |date=9 November 2017}}
- Shobhaa: Never a Dull De − Hay House India, New Delhi, 2013
- Shethji −2012
- Shobhaa at Sixty −Hay House India, New Delhi, 2010
- Sandhya's secret −2009
- Superstar India – From Incredible to Unstoppable
- Strange Obsession
- Snapshots
- Spouse: The truth about marriage (2005){{cite news |last1=Bobb |first1=Dilip |title=Shobhaa De's 'Spouse' takes a hard look at Indian marriages |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/story/20050228-shobhaa-de-takes-a-hard-look-at-indian-marriages-in-spouse-787976-2005-02-28 |access-date=22 June 2021 |work=India Today |date=28 February 2005 |quote=UPDATED: March 22, 2012}}
- Speedpost – Penguin, New Delhi. 1999.
- Surviving Men – Penguin, New Delhi, 1998
- Selective Memory – Penguin, New Delhi. 1998.
- Second Thoughts – Penguin, New Delhi. 1996.
- Small betrayals – UBS Publishers' Distributors, 1995
- Shooting from the hip – UBS, Delhi, 1994.
- Sultry Days – Penguin, New Delhi. 1994.
- Sisters – Penguin, New Delhi. 1992.
- Starry Nights – 1989, India, Penguin, New Delhi {{ISBN|0-14-012267-2}}, Pub date ? ? 1989, paperback
- Socialite Evenings – 1989, India, Penguin, New Delhi {{ISBN|0-14-012267-2}}, Pub date ? ?
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{Twitter}}
- [http://shobhaade.blogspot.com Shobhaade blogspot]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20130103095011/http://latestbookreviews.net/sethji-by-shobhaa-de-book-review-release-date/ Book Review of Shobhaa De's new book titled Sethji]
- [http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/08/13/interview-with-shobhaa-de Interview with Shobhaa De]
- [http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/politically-incorrect/ Times of India Blog]
- {{Cite web|last=De|first=Shobhaa|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/politically-incorrect/how-i-became-india-ki-lady-kamasutra/|title=How I became India Ki Lady Kamasutra|date=3 December 2017|website=Times of India Blog|access-date=20 December 2019}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20091027095851/http://geocities.com/chinthacn/authors/De-shobha.htm Bhushan's Scholarly Literature Resources - Shobha De]
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Category:Female models from Maharashtra
Category:Indian women novelists
Category:21st-century Indian women writers
Category:21st-century Indian writers
Category:St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni
Category:Indian women columnists
Category:20th-century Indian women writers
Category:20th-century Indian novelists
Category:20th-century Indian journalists
Category:21st-century Indian journalists
Category:21st-century Indian novelists
Category:Journalists from Maharashtra
Category:Women writers from Maharashtra
Category:People from Satara district