Manjul Bajaj on JCB Prize-longlisted book In Search of Heer: ‘Wished to explore society’s discomfort with romantic love’

Through the intense, all-consuming, spiritual love that Bajaj’s Heer and Ranjha share, she is reminding us of the inherent nature of romantic love, and raising questions about contemporary attitudes toward it. But on the other hand, from Heer-Ranjha to Romeo and Juliet and Laila-Majnu, tragic love stories also have an enduring, widespread appeal, allowing, in Bajaj’s opinion, for a “collective catharsis.” Through such stories, society “weeps its heart out for the dead lovers. “This Heer aspect of our female nature is what I went out in search of.” Through addressing the pressing issues of society, challenging accepted codes of morality, and giving her characters’ speech modern inflections, Bajaj’s retelling is contemporising the story to suit modern sensibilities. She’s allowing readers to reclaim the Heer-Ranjha story and make it their own, and offering her audience a way to “engage with the timeless core of the tale.” Bajaj strongly believes that each new generation should have such relatable retellings of folklore since “they mostly work around basic and raw emotions,” like lover, hate, anger, vanity, cunning, and gullibility.