It's very difficult to meet Rahman, so I would keep waiting at his studio. I got to know a lot of people while waiting for him, so my research continued. I met him about three-four times. With Rahman, when you interview him, you have to be very specific of what you're asking him

Rahman is such a shy person. Was he okay with the okay of his biography being written?

He wants us to call it an unauthorised biography although he knew I was writing a book on him and meeting people for it.

He does not open up. You have to try hard. But suddenly, Rahman opens up and starts talking, and then all of a sudden, restricts himself from saying more. But the times when he did open up, he would tell me good stories. Like he said, as Dileep, he was a big failure. Whatever he did before he embraced Islam failed. For instance, he did badly in school, his father died when he was nine and he had to drop out of school, he had to work from a young age even though he liked to play, his music bands flopped, his music albums flopped

How much time did it take you to write this book?

The process of writing the book started in 2003. It took me 10-11 months just to be able to meet Rahman and tell him that I was writing a biography on him. I met him next after six-seven months. In-between, I had a baby so the research took longer.

I made three drafts of the book, and finally sent the fourth to Penguin.