Arundhati Roy shot to the limelight when she won the Man Booker Prize for fiction for her first novel, The God of Small Things. She is now returning with her second novel; The Ministry of Utmost Happiness which will be released sometime in 2017. Arundhati Roy has published some papers and articles on issues close to her heart, been in jail, been reviled and threatened, called everything from liberal to radical to downright unhinged in the interregnum so it will be interesting to see what we get to see next year.
The book took four years to complete and is thought of as something as a path-breaker for the issues that it dared to discuss; such as forbidden love, social discrimination, class relations and cultural tensions.
The book received great acclaim after winning the Booker Prize in 1997 and rights were sold in 21 countries. Roy had received 5 lakh pounds in advance for her book.
In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones (1989) is a TV film that didn’t even see a theatre release, but which acquired a cult status and received two national awards.
This was a semi autobiographical story about Roy's own experiences while at Architecture College. Roy wrote the screenplay and acted in the film as well.
Yes that is Shah Rukh Khan of nearly three decades ago with the oily parted hair and the unmentionable clothes. He played a college senior and had a few minutes of screen time in the film.
Outspoken on issues such as social injustice, Maoism, Kashmir and the environment, Arundhati Roy has earned herself a lot of censure and even went to jail for her activism.
It was announced that Hamish Hamilton will publish Roy's second fiction book in 2017. “I am glad to report that the mad souls (even the wicked ones) in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness have found a way into the world, and that I have found my publishers,” said Roy.
David Godwin, her literary agent had this to say about the book “Only Arundhati could have written this novel. Utterly original. It has been 20 years in the making. And well worth the wait.”
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