Characters in A Suitable Boy
The four main families mentioned in the novel are:
- The Mehras - Mrs. Rupa Mehra, a mother searching for a suitable boy for her daughter. Arun, Savita, Varun and Lata - Mrs. Mehra's four children.
- Arun is married to Meenakshi Chatterji, Savita to Pran Kapoor.
- Lata is Mrs. Rupa Mehra's youngest child. A large portion of the novel as well as the title describes her mother's determination to marry Lata off to "a suitable boy."
- The Kapoors - Mr. Mahesh Kapoor, Mrs. Mahesh Kapoor and their 3 children Veena, Pran (married to Savita Mehra) and Maan.
- The Khans - Nawab Sahib of Baitar and his 3 children Zainab, Imtiaz and Firoz.
- The Chatterjis - Mr. Justice Chatterji and Mrs. Chatterji and their children Amit, Meenakshi (married to Arun Mehra), Dipankar, Kakoli and Tapan
Kabir- is portrayed as a love interest of Lata, he attends college with her and his father is a maths teacher at the college. He also played cricket for the college cricket team, Lata and Kabir have a brief courtship if one may call it that.
Amit- is Justice Chatterji's eldest son and a self proclaimed poet. He expresses a deep affection for Lata.
Four family trees are provided in the beginning of the novel to help readers keep up with the complicated interwoven family networks.
Some of the characters, not mentioned above, include:
- Nehru
- Malati, best friend of Lata
- Aparna, daughter of Meenakshi and Arun
- Kedarnath Tandon, married to Veena (née Kapoor)
- Mrs Tandon
- Bhashkar Tandon, son of Veena and Kedarnath
- Haresh Khanna, shoe businessman
- Hashim Durrani, Kabir's brother
- Dr Durrani, mathematician
- Saeeda Bai
- Tasneem, sister of Saeeda Bai
- Bibbo, servant at Saeeda Bai's
- Rasheed, student at Brahmpur University, Tasneem's Arabic teacher
- Ishaq, sarangi player
- S S Sharma
- Agarwal, home minister
- Priya, his daughter
- Simran, a Sikh girl
- Kalpana Gaur, friend of the Mehra family
- Billy Irani, friend of Arun Mehra
- Shireen, his girlfriend
- Bishwanath Bhaduri
- Abdus Salam
- Raja of Marh
- Rajkumar of Marh
- Dr Bilgrami
- Professor Mishra, an English professor
- Dr Ila Chattopadhay, an English professor
- Hans, an Austrian diplomat
- Begum Abida Khan, politician
- The Guppi, inhabitant of Salimpur
- Netaji, Rasheed's uncle
- Sahgal
- Makhijani, indulgent poet
- Sandeep Lahiri
- Waris, servant at the Baitar Fort
- Jagat Ram
- Tandon
- The Munshi, in charge of the Baitar Fort
- Uma Kapoor, daughter of Savita and Pran
- Badrinath
- Nowrojee
- Sunil Patwardhan, mathematician at Brahmpur University
- Parvati, Mrs Rupa Mehra's stepmother
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