So far, Bhawana Somaaya has written about other people’s lives. The award-winning film critic’s literary oeuvre shines with biographies of Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini, and other books on Bollywood, including On Camera Off Camera: Pages from the Past, Salam Bollywood, The Story So Far, and many more. With her new book, Farewell Karachi: A Partition Memoir, she reflects on her past and tells a story that was not widely known. A deeply personal account — the book’s launch at Daga Nikunj was organised by Ahava Readers’ and Writers’ Club — talks about displacement, familial connection and being affected by the Partition.

The book and its themes were discussed with great passion and talking about writing the memoir, Somaaya said: “So much time was spent in chronicling superstars and cinema that I now look back and wonder whether it was really worth it. Because my time, attention, detailing, sensitivity is focussed on documenting all that whereas I had a fabulous story at home and I was not giving it any attention.” She added that she has not written the book with the intention of it being read by a large number of readers but as a cathartic exercise.

Filmmaker Karan Johar has summed up the book as a 70mm film, and the moderator of the panel discussion, Oindrila Dutt, threw more light on Johar’s comment. “The book is an earnest and introspective story of ethics, valour and integrity, etched out in fascinating detail. All the residents move from house to house at various points, and the detailing of the houses fascinates me. The descriptions of the passages, verandah, kitchen... is like a moving film,” said Dutt.

Taking up from Dutt, filmmaker Sudeshna Roy, in a very passionate tone, added, “This book has more than one 70mm film seeded in it. It evokes nostalgia and people of the post-Partition era will relate to it more.”

Aparna Sen called Bhawana courageous. She said, “She is a courageous woman, and now we get to know where she draws the courage from.” Farewell Karachi reminded her of Russian novels, and elaborating on it, she added: “This book, an easy read, reminds me of Russian novels. Somehow, within this slim volume, you get a sense of vastness; of a large family travelling at a difficult time in India. You get many characters who are written in brief but well etched. You felt that you knew this family. In cinema and in books, it’s difficult to make the readers care about the characters. I was deeply moved.”