have an interesting story about how Hema Malini’s biography came about. I had gone to watch her new ballet Draupadi and written a thought-provoking editorial on it, a few days later after the editorial was published, Hema Malini called me and said that she wanted to meet me. We met a few days later and she asked me if I was open to the idea of doing a book on her.
At that time, she wanted the book only on the dancer, I convinced her that unless the book includes the woman and the actor her fans will not be attracted to the idea, she was convinced and we began to chart a plan of how we should go about it.
We decided to meet in the evenings and discuss beforehand the topic of conversations. I would tell her to make bullet points of memories she wanted to elaborate and I discovered she was extremely disciplined.
I would leave Screen office at 6pm and arrive at her Goregaon bungalow (the Juhu home was under construction at that time) at 7pm and after a hot snack and filter coffee we got down to uninterrupted chatting till 10 pm.
This continued day after day till we had exhausted the final chapter and, in the process, blossomed a trusted friendship that lasted long after the book was over.
#HemaMaliniAuthorizedBiography was published by @rolibooks in the year 2006
To be continued