Author | Anuja Chauhan |
---|---|
Country | India |
Language | English |
Genre | Chick lit |
Publisher | HarperCollins Westland (2016) |
Publication date | 2008 |
Media type | Paperback |
ISBN | 978-9385724831 |
The Zoya Factor is a novel written by Anuja Chauhan, published by HarperCollins India in 2008. It is about a Rajput woman named Zoya Singh Solanki who meets the Indian Cricket Team through her job as an executive in an advertising agency and ends up becoming a lucky charm for the team for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Chauhan started working on her debut novel in 2006, writing during her spare time. Her work on the Pepsi brand for 13 years at JWT Delhi, where she was Vice President and closely associated with cricket advertising, eventually led to cricket becoming the setting of her novel. [1]
Zoya Solanki is a client service rep with an advertising agency, who loves everything about her job, especially the brand she has been put in charge of – Zing Cola (Pepsi in a fictional avatar). But when she's made to leave an ad film shoot, featuring none other than Shah Rukh Khan, and has to go to Dhaka to shoot an ad with the Indian cricket team she begins to experience her first pangs of irritation towards the brand. Making matters somewhat worse, the team captain Nikhil Khoda insists on discipline as a norm and cuts her important shoot short. This causes her to stay back a few more days than anticipated and miss the Shah Rukh Khan film shoot. [2] When the men in blue realise that Zoya was born at the very moment India won the first and the only cricket World Cup in 1983, they are startled. What intrigues them more was when they realised that having breakfast with her is followed by victories on the field, and not eating with her results in defeat. They decide she is a lucky charm.
As luck would have it, the rag tag team has a sudden spurt of victories and soon the cricket-crazy nation declares her a goddess. Soon, Zoya is invited by the eccentric president of IBCC (Indian Board of Cricket Control, a spoof of BCCI Board of Control for Cricket in India), to accompany the team to the ICC World Cup in Australia.
Pursued by international cricket boards on the one hand, and wooed by cola majors on the other, Zoya struggles to stay grounded in the thick of the World Cup action.
And it doesn't help that she keeps clashing with the erratically brilliant new Indian skipper, who tells her flatly that he doesn't believe in luck. What follows is a love-hate relationship; attraction and antagonism. Zoya is luck-personified and she never ceases to be the lucky charm for the men-in-blue.
The book was well received by the media. It constantly features in the Top 5 of many newspapers in India. The Asian Age ranked it No. 1 for 3 weeks when it was released. According to The Times Of India , "it is a fun read which takes the Indian chick-lit way beyond mush and smut, right to freakily naughty. Her writing is very young, very now and very funny. Her themes of cricket, love and politics are smartly topical." [4] Apart from the novel's subject matter, cricket, that India is obsessed with, what makes the book unique in Indian publishing history is the whopping print run of 20,000 copies at the launch. "It is very unusual for any publisher in India to go in for such a huge print run for a commercial debut novel, but we were confident of The Zoya Factor right at the first time we read hero's[ sic?] manuscript," said Hero Heeralal [ sic?], editor and publisher, HarperCollins Publishers India. [5]
The novel was optioned for a film by Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment production company, for a period of three years. [6] As it didn't take off after three years, the rights were acquired by Pooja Shetty. The film is set to be released on 20 September 2019. [7] It is directed by Abhishek Sharma and starring Dulquer Salmaan and Sonam Kapoor. [8]
Juhi Chawla is an Indian actress, film producer and entrepreneur. After winning the 1984 Miss India beauty pageant, she established herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. Recognised for her comic timing and vivacious on-screen persona, she is the recipient of several accolades, including two Filmfare Awards.
Karol Bagh is a neighbourhood in Central District of Delhi, India. It is a mixed residential-cum-commercial neighborhood known for its shopping streets, like the Ghaffar Market and Ajmal Khan Road.
Zoya Akhtar is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. After completing a diploma in filmmaking from NYU, she assisted directors such as Mira Nair, Tony Gerber and Dev Benegal, before becoming a writer and director herself. Her family's Akhtar clique is famous in Bollywood. Akhtar is the recipient of several accolades, including 6 Filmfare Awards. Zoya, along with Reema Kagti founded Tiger Baby Films, a film and web studio, in October 2015.
The Rajasthan cricket team is a cricket team which represents the Indian state of Rajasthan. The team won the Ranji Trophy in the 2010–11 and 2011-12 seasons, having finished runners-up eight times between 1960–61 and 1973-74. It is currently in the Ranji Trophy Elite group. It is run by the Rajasthan Cricket Association and is popularly known as "Team Rajasthan".
Sonam Kapoor Ahuja is an Indian actress who works in Hindi cinema (Bollywood). She has won a National Film Award and a Filmfare Award, and from 2012 to 2016, she appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list based on her income and popularity.
Luck by Chance is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Zoya Akhtar in her directorial debut. Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, it stars Farhan Akhtar and Konkana Sen Sharma in lead roles. Rishi Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Dimple Kapadia, Hrithik Roshan, Isha Sharvani, Sanjay Kapoor, Alyy Khan and Sheeba Chaddha feature in supporting roles. Guest stars and industry folk starring as themselves included Sunny Deol, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Rani Mukerji, Karan Johar, Manish Malhotra, Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi, Rajkumar Hirani, Boman Irani and Anurag Kashyap in cameos.
Kismat Konnection is an Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Aziz Mirza who previously directed films including Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992), Yes Boss (1997), Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) and Chalte Chalte (2003). The film stars Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan in the lead roles with Juhi Chawla in a guest appearance. Shah Rukh Khan is the narrator. Produced by Ramesh S. Taurani under the banner of Tips Industries, Kismat Konnection was released on July 18th, 2008. The Film was declared a "Semi-Hit" at the box office.
Sikandar Kher is an Indian actor. He made his acting debut with the film, Woodstock Villa (2008). In the subsequent years, Kher went to be a part of multi-starrers such as Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, Players, Aurangzeb, Tere Bin Laden: Dead or Alive and The Zoya Factor.
Prashanti Singh is a shooting guard for the Indian national women's basketball team. She is first basketball player in India conferred with National Civilian Award Padma Shri in 2019. She has been honoured with the Arjuna Award by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India in 2017. She has also been awarded with the prestigious Rani Laxmi Bai Bravery Award 2016–17 in the field of sports byGovernment of Uttar Pradesh.
Anuja Chauhan is an Indian author, advertiser and screenwriter. As a writer, she is known for The Zoya Factor (2008), Battle For Bittora (2010), Those Pricey Thakur Girls (2013), The House That BJ Built (2015),Baaz (2017), and Club You To Death (2021). She worked at the JWT advertising agency in India for over 17 years, becoming vice-president and executive creative director before resigning in 2010 to pursue a full-time literary career.
Yeh Dil Maange More! is an advertising slogan coined for Pepsi at JWT by Anuja Chauhan in 1998. It combines Hindi and English, literally meaning This Heart Desires More, which later became a popular slogan. The slogan and its derivatives have been used in multiple contexts in India. The worldwide Pepsi commercial featuring the song, Ask for More, written by Janet Jackson was released in November 2007, later released a single in January 2008.
Ira Dubey is an Indian actress who has appeared on TV, in theatre and in Bollywood films.
Niret Alva is an Indian television producer who is the co-founder and chairman of television production company Miditech.
Raanjhanaa is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Aanand L. Rai and written by Himanshu Sharma. The film is produced by Krishika Lulla under the banner of Eros International. It stars Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Abhay Deol. It marks the Hindi film debut for Dhanush. The film was released on 21 June 2013 worldwide, while the Tamil version titled Ambikapathy was released a week later.
Sonampreet Bajwa is an Indian model and actress who predominantly appears in Punjabi language films, alongside few Hindi films. She participated in the Femina Miss India contest in 2012. Sonam Bajwa started her acting career in 2013 with the Punjabi film Best Of Luck. She played the leading female role in the 2014 film Punjab 1984. She won the PTC Punjabi Film Awards for Best Actress in 2020 for Ardab Mutiyaran.
Battle for Bittora is a novel by Indian writer and advertiser Anuja Chauhan. It is her second novel after The Zoya Factor.
Tamanna is an Indian Hindi television soap opera which aired on Star Plus from 1 February 2016 to 26 June 2016.
The Zoya Factor is a 2019 Indian romantic comedy sports film directed by Abhishek Sharma and produced by Fox Star Studios, Pooja Shetty and Aarrti Shetty, with Shah Rukh Khan serving as narrator. Starring Dulquer Salmaan and Sonam Kapoor. The film is a light adaptation of Anuja Chauhan's 2008 novel of the same name, which follows the story of a girl, Zoya Solanki, who becomes a lucky charm for the Indian Cricket team during the 2011 Cricket World Cup, and the team captain Nikhil Khoda who doesn't believe in luck and superstitions.
Marjaavaan is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action romance film written and directed by Milap Milan Zaveri and produced by T-Series and Emmay Entertainment. Marjaavaan stars Sidharth Malhotra, Riteish Deshmukh, Tara Sutaria, and Rakul Preet Singh. It was described by co-producer Bhushan Kumar as a violent and dramatic love story.
Ardab Mutiyaran is a 2019 Indian Punjabi-language romantic comedy drama film directed by Manav Shah. The film is produced by Gunbir Singh Sidhu and Manmord Sidhu Minhas under banner White Hill Studios. Starring Sonam Bajwa, Mehreen Pirzada, Ajay Sarkaria and Ninja, the story of the film revolves around Babbu Bains, who fights evils of the society in her own style. She represents all the women, who fight for their own identity.