New Delhi: Being Ritu by Sathya Saran tells the story of how Ritu Nanda, renowned Bollywood star Raj Kapoor’s daughter, went on to carve an identity for herself as an entrepreneur, far from the world of films and touched the lives of everyone she met in immeasurable ways.
Published by HarperCollins India, Being Ritu: The Unforgettable Story of Ritu Nanda, will be released on 30 October on ‘SoftCover’, ThePrint’s online venue to release select non-fiction books.
The book looks beyond her more commonly-known identity — as Raj Kapoor’s daughter, or the wife of Rajan Nanda of the Escorts Group, or both — and allows us to meet the lesser-known Ritu, who shed her shyness and stepped into the limelight, taking on a variety of roles — entrepreneur, insurance advisor, author, negotiator and pioneer.
She lived each role with elan — as an insurance advisor, she put her name in the Guinness Book of World Records. Even when battling a dreaded disease, Ritu lived with determination, grace, and courage, touching the lives of everyone around her.
As her sister Rima Jain states in the foreword of the book, “Ritu was the goalpost I aspired to. Her nature, her pristine calm, her all-encompassing love and her talent to rise above every hurdle are aspects of her life that anyone reading this book will be inspired by.”
From putting on a brave face despite her illness to becoming a symbol for women who need to be their own person, the book shows why Ritu was a woman like no other.
Her brother actor Randhir Kapoor recalls in the foreword: “We went along with her to support her with our ‘star’ presence at events, but in reality, she was the crowd-puller. Her charisma reached out to embrace everyone she interacted with, and it was genuine. There was nothing false about her.”
The book’s author, Sathya Saran, is currently consulting editor for Penguin Random House India. Sathya is best known for her long association with Femina, which she edited for 12 years.
From The Dark Side, which reflected her love of the short story, to critically acclaimed biographies such as Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey, and Breath of Gold: Hariprasad Chaurasia, she is the author of many books.
Sun Mere Bandhu Re: The Musical World of S.D. Burman and Baat Niklegi Toh Phir: The Life and Music of Jagjit Singh further bear testimony of Sathya’s love for cinema and music.
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