Amitabh Bachchan to launch Priyanka Sinha Jha's debut book Supertraits of Superstars

Ever wondered what makes Amitabh, Salman, Shah Rukh, Ranbir and many other superstars of our country super successful. Want to know what places them ahead of the rest in the race to superstardom and unparalleled success? If yes, then get hold of Priyanka Sinha Jha’s debut book Supertraits of Superstars which promises to throw light on eleven superstars of Bollywood and their single defining super trait that makes them tick like no one else in showbiz. Priyanka, who has been a film journalist of great repute for the last 18 years and is currently the Editor of film weekly Screen, dug deep into her own experiences and journalistic interactions while writing this book. Divulging on how the foundation of the book was laid, Priyanka says, “One day while I was going through Mr. Bachchan’s blog, I came across this beautiful quote of Harivansh Rai Bachchan which read ‘Mann ka ho toh acha, Na ho toh aur accha!’ This thought inspired me and I decided to look at the positive aspects of life rather than its negatives. It also set me thinking about Mr. Bachchan and the way he has overcome so many impediments in his life and emerged triumphant. Everything about him right from way he conducts himself to his dedication towards cinema is absolutely impeccable. But that one defining super trait about him for me would be his admirable control and discipline. In the same manner, I started thinking about other superstars who are inspiring in different ways. For instance, you think of Salman and you think of generosity. That for me is his stand out quality. No matter what else is said or written about him, you can’t deny his generosity. Likewise, I started identifying a stand out super trait of all the other superstars I knew well and all these finally came together to form my book Supertraits of Superstars.” Priyanka’s book covers a total of eleven Bollywood superstars as opposed to the usual even number of 10. When asked about this anomaly, Priyanka explains, “I had thought of 10 stars but ended writing one extra chapter and left it to my publisher to choose the best 10. But they liked it all eleven and retained it.” Though there are eleven stars and their traits discussed, Priyanka would have also liked to include Farhan Akhtar, Ekta Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone. “I wanted to include these four as well but couldn’t because I felt I didn’t have enough material to write about their super traits unlike the other eleven,” says Priyanka. Wasn’t identifying that defining super trait difficult? “Not really,” says Priyanka and proceeds to explain. “The difficult part for me was that I had a lot of information at my disposal. For instance, Mr. Bachchan has so many good qualities and traits that you are tempted to put in all. It was a tad difficult therefore to choose that one super special defining quality in the initial stages especially with stars like Mr. Bachchan and SRK.” The debutant author also credits her author husband Piyush Jha for supporting and encouraging her in her endeavour. “He is my Rock of Gibraltar. I was procrastinating and he made sure that I got down to writing the book. He sat me down and explained that I need to work on it in a structured way and not like the way I write my interviews. He shared his own experience of writing as well. He was also supportive and understanding because writing after work meant that there was not family time as such. Had it not been for him, I would have taken a few more years to finish writing this book,’ says a proud Priyanka. Supertraits of Superstars will be launched tomorrow (25 February 2014) in the august presence of legendary superstar Amitabh Bachchan.