The author of Looking for the Big B: Bollywood, Bachchan and Me on the book, Bachchan and what she calls her ‘very Brit’ writing style. And, of course, bringing up her son Jaan as a single parent.

They say that the ‘Me’ in your book overshadows Big B himself, that your book is an exercise in exhibitionism.

It’s just my style of writing. There is a lot of things that people told me in confidence or intimated me and I gave it my voice so that I could get all the blame. It’s my way of filtering out information, in a singular voice, so that I get all the flak.

There is an irreverent note in the book on Bollywood and Bachchan. Was it intended?

I didn’t expect the reaction I got. In India people can’t handle irreverence, whereas I’ve just been very British in my style of writing. People have said to me that ‘you can’t say these things about Bachchan and be irreverent about him’. Some would say to me, ‘We can’t stand the man, but we can’t say anything against him.’ It’s a weird dichotomy. He is just a man like any other. I adore him and he can be overwhelming, but at the end of the day, he is just a man.

Everyone is curious about what happened between you and Bachchan. Why did he threaten to fight you to ‘the last drop of blood’ after he saw the first draft?

When we started out, neither of us had any idea how it would change the dynamics of our relationship. I never moved from being a friend to being a friend and biographer. We didn’t know how to handle it and we both got caught in the crossfire.

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