Darcy was impressed and intrigued that the young woman before him could pull herself together so quickly. He wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth, but he remembered how her arms felt around him.
How her hair had lain like ribbons on the pillows at dawn, as he had silently dressed, and left her. Even if she was lying, she was only a reporter. He could make her sorry that she ever tried to manipulate him. It would be a diversion to test her, he thought. It would be fun…
Rings a bell? Let’s take a trip down memory lane and dig up fond memories of sitting by the window, reading our beloved Mills & Boon for hours. A girl hasn’t really grown up till she has read at least a dozen MB novels, they say.
Now, how about reading Raaste Pyaar Ke or Punar Milan? Wait, these are not some old Bollywood films; they are the titles of your favourite MBs, in a new, regional avatar. As Mills & Boon forays into the Indian regional publishing market, brace yourself to read romance in Malayalam, Tamil and Marathi!
Elaborating on the same, Manish Singh, country manager, Harlequin India — the publishers Mills & Boon — says, “Our brand is 108 years old and we have been importing Mills & Boon in India from the UK for more than six decades. We decided to go regional because we want people from all regions of India to read our product. We have considered factors such as the economy, literacy late, per capita income and the local-language speaking population of every region before zeroing in on them.”
{{/usCountry}}Elaborating on the same, Manish Singh, country manager, Harlequin India — the publishers Mills & Boon — says, “Our brand is 108 years old and we have been importing Mills & Boon in India from the UK for more than six decades. We decided to go regional because we want people from all regions of India to read our product. We have considered factors such as the economy, literacy late, per capita income and the local-language speaking population of every region before zeroing in on them.”
{{/usCountry}}All regional MBs will be priced differently, he adds — Hindi R75, Marathi R125, Malayalam R99 and Tamil for just R10.
“We have tied up with six Indian authors, including Milan Vohra and Shoma Narayanan, to pen these regional MBs. To begin with, with we are just translating popular titles by famous authors like Penny Jordan. In fact local models have also been roped in to feature on cover pages. We also have tie-ups with Bollywood films like Lootera, the cover photo for which is already out,” adds Manish.
So, will the content be mellowed down for regional markets? “Not at all! We have different series such as Cherish (emotional romance) and Modern (passionate romance); it is the Modern series that sells like hot cakes in India.”
About launching the romance fiction in Punjabi, Manish says, “We are considering Punjabi as the next vernacular language to launch MBs, because Punjab falls in line with the factors we consider before making the novels regional — be it the growing Punjabi entertainment industry, Bollywood’s affinity with Punjab, literacy level or the per capita income.”