Now romance in Indian languages

Love. Romance. Fairytale endings. Handsome hunks. Pretty damsel in distresses. Happy ending ever-after. The typical storyline concepts of Mills and Boons sells 130 million books every year worldwide. The endless affair with Mills and Boons which has won the hearts of teenagers and women, is translated into 31 globally popular languages.

Now, in a global first, Harlequin, the publishers of M&B are entering the Indian regional market, with novels being released in Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam and Tamil. By this month end, two of its bestselling books will be released in Hindi, ‘Raaste Pyaar Ke’and ‘Punar Milan.’ The Indian publishing industry is estimated to be over 10,000 crores, growing 30% every year.

Pulp fiction has always been popular in vernacular languages; M&B can exploit this genre with its scenic locations, fairytale stories and sizzling plots. In Tamil, these books will be sold in magazine format at an introductory price of Rs.10 while in Hindi they will be priced at Rs.75. This is globalizing romance or rather the notion of romance. There are many who are of the opinion that it books like Mills & Boons which raises unrealistic expectations of romance in life and when reality hits, many are unable to deal with the non-Mills & Boons way of life. Others feel that it keeps optimism about life alive. Well, the jury is still out on this one but obviously Mills & Boons is having a whale of a time!