Meet Kanika Dhillion: A First Time Author

First-time author Kanika Dhillon has portrayed her own life trajectory in her book Bombay Duck Is a Fish, that was recently launched in the city.

An out-and-out satire, the content of her book ‘ Bombay Duck Is a Fish’, starting from the fundamental concept to the quoted incidents, is borrowed from Kanika’s own experience in the city as a newcomer. The protagonist Neki Brar is an outsider in Mumbai, and so was Kanika till a few years back when she first moved into the city from Amritsar.

“Very often, the facts and nuances about the city come to your knowledge only through funny encounters,” says Kanika.

The book is easy to relate to for everyone who has migrated to Mumbai. “When you come to the city, you have to start on your own and go through the pain of finding a place to live in... from sharing pigeon hole apartments in Mumbai to added expenditures — the maid, the cook, etc,” reasons Kanika. “It is like a ritual you have to go through while settling in,” she adds.

And if you wonder where the name came from, Kanika has a justified answer. “You get to learn the little secrets and rules of the city only with time. So if a stranger in the city goes to a restaurant and sees Bombay duck on the menu, he’s very likely to assume that it is a duck not a fish.”

Kanika had assisted filmmaker Farah Khan on her second film Om Shanti Om and is a huge fan actor Shah Rukh Khan. And so is the protagonist of her book Rukh Khan She reacts, “I believe that the ’90s belonged to SRK. He’s not an actor or star any more… he’s become a fable. He’s like a Santa Claus!”

Kanika also plans to make a film on the book. “But I want to first see how people react to the book, before turning it into a film script,” she says.