Twinkle Khanna Turns 49: Celebrating Her Journey as a Bestselling Author

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TWINKLE KHANNA: Those growing up with Bollywood movies in the ‘90s would remember former actor Twinkle Khanna from films such as Barsaat and Baadshah. Daughter of movie stars, Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, and wife of Hindi Cinema superstar Akshay Kumar, film producer and interior designer Twinkle Khanna has also authored four books, namely, Mrs Funnybones, The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, Pyjamas Are Forgiving and the latest, Welcome to Paradise.

Twinkle Khanna is celebrating her 49th birthday today on December 29. On her special day, we take a brief look at her four published works.

Mrs Funnybones: She’s Just Like You and a Lot Like Me (2015)

Twinkle Khanna’s first book, the non-fiction, Mrs Funnybones, is about the life of a typical Indian mother of two, managing her everyday household activities with grace and a bit of fun. Even though Khanna belongs to an opulent, celebrity family, she chose to depict Indian urban women in general, rather than make it a complete autobiography. In her own words, the book is “a few facts, a little fiction.”

The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad (2016)

The book presents four stories focused on the dreams and desires of women of all ages and the social complexities of their lives. The fourth story, ‘The Sanitary Man of Sacred Land,’ is based on real-life social entrepreneur, Arunachalam Muruganantham. He is known as the inventor of the affordable sanitary pad-making machines to help rural women folk who were using unhygienic methods to clean menstrual blood. Khanna eventually produced the National Award-winning film Padman, based on Muruganantham’s historic achievement, starring her husband, Akshay Kumar.

Pyjamas Are Forgiving (2018)

Her third book deals with a divorced woman in her 40s, who spends 28 days at a spa in Kerala, to find a solution to a sleep disorder she suffers from. There, she has an awkward encounter with her former husband and his new wife. The story also deals with several other characters and exploration of feminism, discussions of religion-based violence and descriptions of the lives spent by people from opulent backgrounds.

Welcome to Paradise (2023)

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Launched on November 23, this year, is Twinkle Khanna’s latest book, Welcome to Paradise. It is a collection of stories that deal with themes such as death, heartbreaks, our bodies, our absurdities and deception among others.