Neesha Meminger on YA Romance
Posted by Neesha Meminger on Feb 14, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Guest Posts, Young Adult | 12 commentsI wrote Jazz in Love because I wanted to write a YA romance featuring South Asian teens. And, truthfully, it amazes me that there aren’t more like it in YA. South Asian teens grow up steeped in romance with Bollywood films and angsty love songs. For those not familiar, Bollywood is a combination of “Bombay” and “Hollywood” and is used to depict the thriving Hindi film industry in Bombay.
I started watching Bollywood films when I was about seven or eight years old. They were innocent, for the most part, since the no-kissing censors took care of any inappropriate sexuality entering my radar (not counting the deep tongue action on prime-time television on a regular basis on American and Canadian networks), and there was no real violence in any of them (plenty of fake fight scenes though). Over the years, Bollywood films have come far closer to the types of films Hollywood produces, but they will never lose that covert sexuality and innuendo and romantic angst that is Bollywood’s signature.
Would a YA romance featuring South Asian teens hit the kind of success that, say, Sarah Dessen’s novels have? Or Meg Cabot’s? *shrug* Who knows? But the few times those types of stories have made it onto the US market (for teens, especially), they’ve done remarkably well.
Let’s take Bend It Like Beckham, for instance. It was a quiet movie with a smallish production budget of $5 million. The film ended up grossing over $32 million at the US box office alone.
Born Confused, by Tanuja Desai Hidier, was a huge critical and commercial success, making it onto Larry King’s pick of the week. It was a Times of London book of the week, and it hit number five on the Independent Book Stores’ Best Sellers List for fiction in Canada.
Mississippi Masala, starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury (okay, admittedly, I’m stretching this one a bit — the main character is 24, but still), grossed $85 million at the box office.
And a few years ago, a publisher offered half a million dollars for a South Asian “chick lit” novel (How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life) that would later crash in flames and burn to smithereens amidst a plagiarism scandal, but still — it was a YA novel that a packager put together the concept for, and the publisher that acquired it put their full support and marketing dollars behind the concept. They must have believed it would sell, right?
So, the film industry is, at times, catering to this market and making a nice, tidy little profit. Let’s turn our attention now to music. In Britain, Canada, and the US, Bhangra music — a fusion of hip-hop, reggae and world beats, and Punjabi bhangra folk music — has hit the scene in a big way, and it is selling like crazy across racial, cultural, social and linguistic lines. The explosion began in Britain, with a few DJs and musicians experimenting, and has snowballed into international success. Here’s a bit from an online article that looks at why this fusion is so powerful for South Asian teens:
“Bhangra provides a sense of identity to many Punjabi (and other Indian) youth around the world. … It’s a logical success — the music is hip, pulsating and danceable, but provides linguistic and historical ties to their traditional culture. Many non-Punjabi people are also catching on to the sounds of bhangra, as it’s frequently used in film soundtracks and has even made forays into American hip-hop — Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On” is backed by a bhangra track, for example.”
My hunch is that South Asian teen romances would sell quite well if the teens were depicted as they truly are, with all the unique bits that make them clearly South Asian, and all the popular culture bits that make them a part of their larger society. So, why aren’t there more YA novels by South Asian writers, featuring South Asian teens — particularly romance novels? If romances featuring South Asians are selling well as adult novels, why not YA?
My guess is that taking risks is tough (in these economic times, especially), and most folks see publishing or promoting work that “may or may not sell” as a risk. What has been done (and sold well) is what’s being done, because everyone wants the sure bet — the safe bet. And what I’m hoping is that industry folks decide to take those chances in the interest of broader reading choices for young people. The biggest risk is often what yields the biggest reward — and the risk may not be as big as some folks think.
So far, the reception for Jazz in Love has been nothing short of exhilerating. Perhaps it will lead the way for more YA romances featuring characters of colour in general, and South Asian characters in particular … and more reading options for teens.
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I help a lot of adult customers who read the globe. But that reading diversity doesn’t always crossover to children’s and young adult literature. And I have yet to here a good answer has to why this is so. I wonder if this has been studied.
I had no idea as to all the success born Confused had! I wonder if it’s still trying to be made into a movie? That would be epic. And who know I do like some bhangra? I love Get Ur Freak On ;D
I hope Mississippi Masala is still on demand because I really want to watch it, sounds like a great movie. I truly, truly hope tht Jazz in Love has tons of success and paves the way for more romance featuring South Asian teens. I feel like if Bollywood films were watched by more Americans, that might help a little. They sound great
This is my first time here and just wanted to stop by and say hello all
Great post! I am happy to see the success of movies like Bend it Like Beckham and the crossover appeal of Bhangra. I hope to see more YA romance featuring South Asian characters and just more YA fiction with South Asian characters in general. I would have loved it if something like that had been around when I was a teen.
The theme for this year’s summer reading program for teens is “You Are Here” and it is about other cultures and countries. I plan to do a program at my library about Indian/South Asian culture (I’m Sri Lankan American) and hopefully we’ll have some great YA books to display with it to encourage teens to read POC books. Thanks for highlighting this topic. I can’t wait to read your book!
@ Doret: I agree. I don’t see the diversity of offerings for adults filtering down to children’s and YA lit. I’m sure if I sit down and think about it, I could come up with some theories as to why that might be, but right now I am just frustrated and hoping things are changing – especially with all this dialogue and discussion going on in the blogosphere!
@ Ari: Mississippi Masala was SO fun. But I am a Denzel fan and will watch anything with him in it. *hee*
@ Sarah S: Hi! Thanks for stopping by, and welcome to Diversity in YA
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@ Christina T: So nice to e-meet you! Your summer reading program sounds wonderful, and I hope it is a rousing success. What a beautiful way to introduce readers to work they may not otherwise be exposed to!
I’m curious why there aren’t (m)any Bollywood films about teens. I guess there aren’t teen stars so they wouldn’t be able to bank on the star power element and it would seem inappropriate to have sexy/suggestive dance numbers with teen stars, but it seems like a little YA Bollywood film could be quite popular with teens and kids. And I suspect the same would be the case with YA lit.
Em, what’s funny is that a lot of the older, “A list” actors in Hindi films play teens or college students in films. And the films do appeal to young people especially because they are tame enough to be played in family settings. But you’re right – there aren’t many films that are *marketed* specifically toward teens and young adults. Would be interesting to see how such a film would fare.
Actually Mera Pehla Pehla Hain is a Bollywood movie about teenagers. I think the actors are also closer to being teenagers too. Not sure how it did in the box office, but it was a cute film with teenage love and angst.
Thrilled to see that South Asian teenagers are being potrayed and these books are seeing book shelfs.
Hi, Varsha! Agreed. Even if those bookshelves are only virtual at times, it is, as you say, absolutely thrilling to see these stories make it out into the world!
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