In her daughter's words

Flame: The Story Of My MotherNelofar CurrimbhoyHachette2012, pp 276295

This one is the story of a woman who is now a familiar face to most of us who have, at some point or the other, seen her products or used some of them. The biography of Shahnaz Husain, written by her daughter, Nelofar Currimbhoy, is a breezy read.

Born into a well-to-do and accomplished family, Shahnaz is the daughter of Nasirullah Beg, the son of the Chief Justice of Hyderabad, and Sayeeda Begum, the daughter of the Commander-in-Chief of the erstwhile Hyderabad Army.

Shahnaz's childhood is eventful. After her growing up years in Lucknow with her sister Malika and brother Wally, the children are sent off to a boarding school. Shahnaz's mother falls severely ill, but recovers miraculously, and later, the whole family shifts to Allahabad.

Currimbhoy writes of Shahnaz's brother Wally, who is the classmate of a tall, lanky boy who later goes on to become one of Hindi cinema's biggest names — Amitabh Bachchan.

Even as Shahnaz steps into her teens, a young man called Nasir Husain is smitten by her. She is engaged to him at 14, and goes on to marry him at 16, much to the disappointment of her liberal father, who wants her to go to Cambridge and study further. It is much later that Shahnaz fulfills her father's dreams, by becoming an entrepreneur and even doing a course at Harvard.

Shahnaz and her husband move to Lucknow, where she finds herself a job as a designer at Nari Kala Mandir, a small centre where women stitched children's clothes. Because the biographer is Shahnaz's own daughter, she is probably in the best position to write about her mother's personal life. It shows, because the author has portrayed a very warm picture of her mother's childhood and her marriage. On the flip side, the biographer may not be in a position to be objective. For instance, her mother is born into a family of considerable clout, with names such as Pt Nehru's and other famous people peppering the book. Yet, her career is portrayed as a huge struggle. Of course, this is not to take away from her achievements.

The seeds of Shahnaz's career are sown in Delhi, when she enrols herself into a beauty therapy course. A posting in Tehran for Nasir opens more doors for her. A course at Helena Rubinstein's Institute in London makes a huge difference.

One interesting anecdote is that of late prime minister Indira Gandhi asking Shahnaz for an Ayurvedic version of a French moisturiser. The biographer also recounts paying a visit to "India's most lively representative in Parliament. A complete rustic, with a son-of-the-soil appeal and a natural sense of humour, he pointed at his face: 'kuch chehre ke liye deejiye na.' "

It is these small anecdotes that bring flavour to the biography. Shahnaz's losses, that of her husband and son, and her ability to pick up the threads and move on, and her second marriage to Raj Puri, are all parts that are well written and moving. It is when the author starts to write about the business bits, about the company's product profile, that it gets boring. Also, it would have been more interesting if the author had gotten more people to speak about her mother, so we could understand Shahnaz, the person, better. Yet, as a daughter's tribute to her mother, this one is a good read.