Chandigarh, February 14
Success and failures, love and loss, actor, singer and songwriter Piyush Mishra opened up about life and its lessons in all honesty at the launch of “Tumhari Aukat Kya Hai”, an autobiography, at Punjab Kala Bhawan here today.
The auditorium was jam-packed as Mishra took the stage with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and Mitul Dixit, Chairman of Adab Foundation. Some poetry, few songs and lots of secrets tumbled out as the book became a topic of discussion.
Kashyap opened the session by comparing the book to James Joyce’s “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”. “It has that honesty and fills me with the same joy as when I read Joyce’s masterpiece!” said Kashyap. The event was organised by city-based Adab Foundation and Rajkamal Prakashan Samuh.
This autobiography is in the form of a novel. Mishra explains, “Writing about my life wasn’t easy. I just couldn’t do it but as I turned it into fiction, took a flight of fancy, all my ups and downs of life became part of the book and it worked as a wonderful therapy.” In the book, names have been changed, and the Maqbool and “Gangs of Wasseypur” actor maintained that it’s largely to protect others who became part of his journey. “Ninety per cent of the book is true,” he vouched. The talk touched on Mishra’s rise and fall as an artiste, struggle with alcoholism and idealism, eventually being replaced by an honest approach to work and life.
The evening also saw inventive Kashyap make Mishra promise to do music for his next, yet untitled film. Those present were treated to Mishra’s famous song “Husna”.
