Pandit Jasraj biography not a spicy read: Sunita Budhiraja

New Delhi: Sunita Budhiraja says she is not trying to "sell" Pandit Jasraj's authorised biography by highlighting any scandalous anecdotes as she believes such stories have a "short shelf-life".

The author, who has penned "Rasraj: Pandit Jasraj", said she does not need cheap publicity for the book. "There are people who do such scandalous stories in their books, but those anecdotes have a really short shelf-life. 

I don't need cheap publicity and there is nothing cheap about Pandit Jasraj at all. I will not do it just for the sake of making it a racy, spicy read," she told PTI. 

"Someone might say, about the book, that there is hardly any criticism. As a biographer, I don't think I need to criticise or highlight anything in particular. It is for the readers to take away from it what they do," Budhiraja added. 

The writer shares that veteran Classical singer, 88, was open about his personal life and did not hold her back from asking "uncomfortable and difficult" questions. 

"I told him that I need to ask him all sorts of questions because of the book. I asked if he was okay with me adding those portions to the final draft. 

"He said, 'Whatever relationships and equations I have shared with people in this life have enhanced my music in one way or the other. So, there is no need to hide anything from anyone'." 

The writer said she interviewed over 200 people for the biography but did not find a single person who had something negative to say about the legend. 

"I had to find who would criticise him. If nobody said anything negative about him, it's not my business to write anything like that in the book."
 
The seed of penning the singer's authorised biography was sown 30 years ago, when Budhiraja's article on Jasraj was published in Saptahik Hindustan. 

Years of faith, affection and respect had Jasraj convinced that Budhiraja is the right person to pen his life story. 

The book has been published by Vani Prakashan.