"Indian chick lit" is the Indian sub-genre of chick lit

Chick lit

Chick lit is genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly. The genre sold well during the 1990s and 2000s, with chick lit titles topping bestseller lists and the creation of imprints devoted entirely to chick lit...

, a genre of fiction

Genre fiction

Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre....

 written for and marketed to young women, especially single, working women in their twenties and thirties. Chick lit features hip

Hip (slang)

Hip is a slang term meaning fashionably current and in the know. Hip is the opposite of square or prude.Hip, like cool, does not refer to one specific quality. What is considered hip is continuously changing. The term hip is said to have originated in African American Vernacular English in the...

, stylish female protagonists (usually in their twenties and thirties and living in urban

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

 settings) and follows their love lives and struggles for professional success (often in the publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

, advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

, public relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

, fashion

Fashion

Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...

 or film industry

Film industry

The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...

). The books usually feature an airy, irreverent tone and frank sexual

Human sexuality

Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...

 themes.

Rajashree

Rajashree

Rajashree is an Indian novelist and film-maker. She has been working in the Bombay film industry after studying film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India. She has written and directed a film, The Rebel, which won a National Award and was screened at many film festivals. She has...

's Trust Me

Trust Me (novel)

Trust Me is the biggest-selling Indian chick lit novel. Written by Rajashree, it is set in Bollywood, the Bombay film industry and uses the narrative structure of a 'masala' Bollywood film...

is the biggest-selling Indian chick lit novel. The popularity of novels like Trust Me

Trust Me (novel)

Trust Me is the biggest-selling Indian chick lit novel. Written by Rajashree, it is set in Bollywood, the Bombay film industry and uses the narrative structure of a 'masala' Bollywood film...

, Swati Kaushal's Piece of Cake can be seen in the context of the rise of regional varieties of chick-lit. In an interview to the New York Times, Helen Fielding

Helen Fielding

Helen Fielding is an English novelist and screenwriter, best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones, a sequence of novels and films that chronicle the life of a thirtysomething single woman in London as she tries to make sense of life and love.Her novels Bridget Jones's...

 said, 'I think it had far more to do with zeitgeist than imitation.' If the chick lit explosion has 'led to great new female writers emerging from Eastern Europe and India, then it's worth any number of feeble bandwagon jumpers.' Sunaina Kumar wrote in the Indian Express, 'Ten years after the publication of Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones's Diary is a 1996 novel by Helen Fielding. Written in the form of a personal diary, the novel chronicles a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a thirty-something single working woman living in London. She writes about her career, self-image, vices, family, friends, and romantic...

, the genre of fiction most recognisable for its pink cover art of stilettos, martini glasses and lipsticks, is now being colourfully infused with bindis, saris, and bangles. ' Sometimes referred to as 'ladki-lit', Indian chick-lit seems to be coming of age. The Zoya Factor

The Zoya Factor

The Zoya Factor is a novel written by Anuja Chauhan, published by HarperCollins India in 2008. It is about a Rajput girl named Zoya Singh Solanki who meets the Indian Cricket Team through her job as an executive in an advertising agency and ends up becoming a lucky charm for the team for the 2010...

 by Anuja Chauhan

Anuja Chauhan

Anuja Chauhan is an Indian author and advertiser. She worked in the advertising agency, JWT India, for over 17 years, eventually becoming vice president and executive creative director, before resigning in 2010 to pursue a full-time literary career...

is another chik lit novel which has got commendable praise