SSC
Who is the author of the novel 'The Zoya Factor'?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option D — Anuja Chauhan
Detailed Solution
"The Zoya Factor" is the debut novel of Anuja Chauhan, published in 2008.
About the novel:
- It tells the story of Zoya Singh Solanki, a young advertising executive born at the very moment India won the 1983 Cricket World Cup.
- During an advertising shoot with the Indian cricket team, the players come to believe that she brings them luck, and she is taken along as the team's "lucky charm" to the World Cup.
- The novel is a light-hearted romantic comedy, with a love story between Zoya and the Indian captain, Nikhil Khoda, and it gently satirises India's obsession with cricket and superstition.
- In 2019, it was made into a Hindi film, "The Zoya Factor", starring Sonam Kapoor and Dulquer Salmaan.
About Anuja Chauhan:
Before becoming a novelist, she worked for 17 years at the advertising agency JWT (J. Walter Thompson), where she created famous campaigns such as Pepsi's "Yeh Dil Maange More!" and "Nothing Official About It".
She is known for witty, humorous novels set in Indian middle-class families.
Her other novels include "Battle for Bittora" (2010), "Those Pricey Thakur Girls" (2013), "The House That BJ Built" (2015), "Baaz" (2017) and "Club You to Death" (2020).
Other popular Indian women writers:
- Shobhaa De: "Socialite Evenings", "Sultry Days", "Starry Nights".
- Preeti Shenoy: "Life Is What You Make It", "The One You Cannot Have".
- Twinkle Khanna: "Mrs Funnybones" and "The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad".
- Sudha Murty: "Dollar Bahu", "Wise and Otherwise", "Mahashweta".
Why not the other options?
- ✗Shobhaa De wrote "Socialite Evenings" and "Sultry Days".
- ✗Preeti Shenoy wrote "Life Is What You Make It".
- ✗Twinkle Khanna wrote "Mrs Funnybones" and "The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad".
Quick tip
Remember: "The Zoya Factor" = Anuja Chauhan (2008; film 2019); also "Battle for Bittora" and "Those Pricey Thakur Girls"; she created Pepsi's "Yeh Dil Maange More!".
💬 Discussions on this question
Ask a doubt ›Still stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students — answers appear here.
Ask a doubtMore Books & Authors Questions
View all ›More General Knowledge Questions
- Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
- Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
- Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
- Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
- Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms
Books & Authors — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Books & Authors, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers famous books and their authors, including ancient Indian texts, works of the freedom struggle, classic and modern literature, autobiographies of famous people, and recently published books by well-known personalities. Questions usually name a book and ask for its author, or the other way round. Ancient and historical books, such as Arthashastra (Kautilya), Indica (Megasthenes) and Gitanjali (Rabindranath Tagore), are tested most often. Autobiographies are another favourite, so learn titles such as 'My Experiments with Truth' (Mahatma Gandhi) and 'Wings of Fire' (A. P. J. Abdul Kalam). Practise the books and authors questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.