Irani’s debut novel, Lal Salaam will be out shortly. It is 10:30 am on a week day, she offers an explanation—sits behind her favourite painting, Durga on a tiger. Every conceivable contemporary Indian master’s work — from Jamini Roy’s cat to Anjolie Ela Menon’s jewel—hang on her walls.

“I think life came full circle at a very young age. I was barely 36-37 when I became a cabinet minister”, she says. “I think there was a lot of reflection on the fact that there has been nothing that I have put my fingers on that I have not managed to do. I was an audacious child. I remember my mother giving me a tight whack when I was around ten. Because, I was absolutely confident that I was going to be somebody. It was a time when we were struggling financially.”

She did what she claimed—became a Union minister. It is this self assurance, with a little bit of defiance--- often too easily mistaken as brash by her opponents—that has become Irani’s signature. Irani, 45, has proven time and again, that she is a survivor. “I have had a political obituary written about me in 2016”, she says.

A natural story teller, Irani shares the childhood anecdote within minutes of an interview, ensuring one is hooked and rooting for her. Irani, the politician, is sharp, articulate and combative; Irani, the writer, is disarmingly chatty, sharers of Delhi insider trip on where to find a bargain. Her extended family includes actors Boman Irani and John Abraham, and writer Anosh Irani.

One other politician who dared to make the leap into fiction was former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao (not while he was in office). The Insider – complete with political treachery and steamy scenes—created more controversy than anything else. It was believed to be a loosely modelled on Rao’s political career.

Irani’s is not a thinly disguised version of her life in politics. There will be a few characters that are easy to distinguish, but none of them politicians. Lal Salaam is an all out thriller, very much in the Bollywood style. Vikram Pratap Singh, a young officer, is posted in the heart of Naxal land and is tasked with avenging the killing of 70 CRPF officer.

Written over two years, Irani’s slim book is a twisty page-turner. So much so that it kept her editor V K Karthika’s 80-year-old mother awake at night. “I write as the world sleeps”, says Irani. “The fact that I have insomnia helped”.

The book is born of a TV debate in 2011—high octane, emotional and, as always with Irani, immensely quotable. “One of the panelists said that security personnel know when they wear their uniforms that they are to die. I was furious. I said, ‘Imagine if somebody who loves them is watching us now.’ Can you imagine how thankless we seem?”

Irani paints a vivid picture of the Naxal areas, offering readers complexity of the situation—not preachy, but with masala. It is clear who the heroes are, and the villains; but there are shades of grey. There is even a young, fiery, honest journalist.

This may be her first book, but it is not her last. There are two others in the pipeline, completely different from her first. The second is almost halfway done. (IPA Service)