-By Firdaus Ali In Toronto

“…you have to use your failures as stepping stones to success. You have to maintain a fine
balance between hope and despair. In the end it’s all a question of balance.”
The words from Rohinton Mistry’s epic novel, “A Fine Balance” echo in the background and the
30-odd years since you first savoured every line of the unputdownable novel seem to quickly
disappear, as you step into the JLF Toronto’s In-Conversation Session titled, “The Shape of a
Story.”
Guest speakers include playwright and novelist Anosh Irani along with internationally
best-selling author Alka Joshi. The conversation,moderated by Sanjoy K. Roy, managing
director of Teamwork Arts, turns out to be a literary treat at JLF Toronto.
Anosht who has become an overnight writing sensation with the successful adaptation, gave
attendees a first-hand reflection on what it takes to Shape a Story onto a different medium
altogether, while keeping the original flavour of the novel intact.
He spoke about his ambitious stage adaptation currently running at Toronto’s Crowe’s Theatre
and bringing contemporary literature’s most moving portraits of friendship, resilience, and
survival to a new medium while Alka discussed what it’s like to get published at the age 62!
“A Fine Balance has been one of my favourite novels for many years, and it has long been a
dream to bring it to the stage,” added the playwright whose first image of the play was the
closeness of the two characters Ishwar and Om hanging onto each other like people sticking
close when travelling on Bombay trains.
The session explored the many lives stories might inhabit and what is gained and lost in
transition. Alka, author of the Jaipur trilogy: The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and
The Perfumist of Paris, spoke about her journey as a writer and how her first novel took a good
10 years to hit the stands. In 2025, she released Six Days in Bombay, a historical mystery
loosely based on the life of Amria Sher Gill.
Her debut novel, The Henna Artist, which she started writing in 2010, was published in
2020 and is currently being made into a TV adaptation for Netflix, starring Freida Pinto.
“I was initially not invited to add or review the script and three years later I found the TV
screenplay was nothing like the book,” reveals Alka.
That version got shelved and today, there is a new set of producers who are involving her in the
creative process. “A movie is a show and not tell and a novel is a tell but not necessarily a show.

When you are a novelist you have the luxury of time and adding pages to your work. This is not
so for when you are writing a screenplay adaptation.” she added.
Alka, who is currently working on the world of kathak dancers in her historic fiction novel titled
“Daughters of the Pink City” with a release date of March 2027, also delved into the ancient
classical dance tradition, which was forbidden to girls in colonial India.
When adapting a novel to a play, the goal is to keep the momentum going through and centering
the story through its characters. “I did not want to get stuck in following the plot and tried hard
not to replicate the 700-odd pages. A play is like a shark moving through the waters. While
adaptation is about compression, it’s also about expansion. People don’t want a transcript of the
book when they see the play. They want it to be a surprise but to have a life of its own,” adds
Anosh.
And, does being a playwright benefit the novelist in them? For Anosh, it certainly does. Being a
playwright has taught him how to use his craft to keep moving the story forward, all the while
adding depth to the characters. He had access to Rohinton Mistry, for guidance and support
throughout the process, “which was an honour and great gift,” adds Anosh.
Mistry approved the script and was also present on the opening night.
While Anosh teaches fiction and playwriting in the School of Creative Writing at the University of
British Columbia, his work spans novels, short stories, and plays. It includes four bestselling
novels, including The Parcel (2016), which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary
Award for Fiction, and the Writers’ Trust Prize.
“The Parcel” is based on Kamathipura, the red light district of Bombay. Anosh, who lived in a
compound opposite the Kamathipura area, used to watch sex workers line up the wall of a
convent school in the area.”I wrote about things that haunted me and impacted my childhood
and youth. Once you see something, you cannot unsee it.”
And, is there any magic formula to being a successful writer? “It starts with a passion for telling
stories.” add Alka and Anosh unanimously
And, of course, always be ready when opportunity decides to knock your way!