Sunaina, a cancer survivor, says it was when she worked with her father as an assistant director for Krrish 3 that the idea of a book on the actor-filmmaker struck her.

“I saw a different side of him at work.

I felt this man needs to be written about to inspire people,” Sunaina, the elder of the Roshans’ children, said Monday night. The book’s foreword is written by Hrithik, and their mother Pinkie played a key role in putting the whole idea together.

Sunaina says it is his never-say-die spirit which inspires her the most, and it is his philosophy of “tough times don’t last, tough people do”, which kept her going when she was ill. So, once Sunaina decided to embark on the journey of penning a book, based on a gamut of photographs from Rakesh’s childhood to teenage days as well as his days as a young handsome actor, when he turned a husband, father, director and on his journey till now, she touched base with his extended family and friends secretly to get the project going.

There are about 30 people, including names like Shatrughan Sinha, Jeetendra and Rishi Kapoor, to whom Sunaina spoke to get the most candid information out about her father. Sunaina said amongst all, Hrithik was the toughest to get hold of to write the foreword for the book, but when he did, he did it with all his heart.