Interview with Leena Dhingra
/“The first piece I wrote was called ‘The girl who couldn’t see herself’.”
We spoke to author and actor Leena Dhingra ahead of the book launch of her novel ‘Exhumation: The Life and Death of Madan Lal Dhingra’.
What three words best describe you?
I don’t know. In fact the first piece I wrote was called ‘ The girl who couldn’t see herself’.
What do you most enjoy about being a writer?
The quiet safe space I can create in which to find and listen to my voice and the magic of the images and words that reveal themselves.
Your novel, Exhumation: The Life and Death of Madan Lal Dhingra has just been published. What was the most challenging aspect of making it happen?
Everything about it was challenging. The research, the structure, rejections, the theme...
How was it to combine aspects of history and memoir to write this novel? Was it difficult/easy?
It was difficult but it felt the only way to approach it. Some people said it didn’t work, others said it did, so that too was confusing.
Do you find that there are any similarities between your career as an actor and a writer? Any differences?
Both as an actor and writer I feel ‘marginal’. At the same time both have had moments of pure transcendence; My role in Dr Who unexpectedly released me from a trauma enabling me to revisit and steer EXHUMATION to publication.
Tell us about an upcoming project that excites you.
I have written part of a monologue in my mothers voice and quirky humour , surfing through her life–of growing up in Lahore, colonial rule, partition, loss, dislocation, being a refugee and ‘getting a house without any money’ . It would be exciting to find a platform for it.
