My story is an ideal Bollywood film: Jeffrey Archer

Author Lord Jeffrey Archer doesn’t bat an eyelid wishing that one of his latest short stories be transformed into a Bollywood flick.

“I have written a short story called Caste-Off. I think my story is an ideal Bollywood film. It is set in Mumbai and it is a sad story with a happy ending. It’s a true story about a couple in Mumbai I met three years ago. I am meeting them for dinner tonight,” smiles Jeffrey, who is in Mumbai to launch his book and inaugurate Landmark’s latest bookstore in the city.

The book releases in India ahead of all other cities in the world.

So, who does he want to play his lead characters if his short story is made into a film? “Everybody tells me that Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha (Basu) are an ideal fit for the story. They are really great actors, that I know for sure,” he says.

Jeffrey admits that he was recently asked to write ‘the story of the Tatas’ but he had to turn that offer down. “I felt if anybody has to write about the illustrious
Tata dynasty, it has to be an Indian. I am not equipped enough to write about one of the best business families in India,” says Jeffrey.

He is returning to England day after tomorrow because the general elections are coming up there. He says, “But I plan to come back soon and then just set out on a trip (in India) with Mary (his wife). We have been talking about it for a long time. I would like to go to Goa first and then perhaps land in Kolkata because I have a bunch of friends there,” he says.

Jeffrey says every time he comes to Mumbai, his romance with the city just seems to grow. “The city is just changing so fast. The streets are becoming faster.”

Finally, the author wraps up this interview with a polite enquiry about the ‘book-sellers at traffic signals’. “They should stay. I saw them selling my book a couple of years ago. And that is still my greatest thrill about the city. Please ask the authorities not to remove them from the signals,” he ends with a pleading tone.