Readers can scan the codes in the book and this will lead to a particular scene or song from the film concerned. Perhaps for the first time, QR codes are provided in a book for enhanced reader experience. It has a foreword by A R Rahman and an afterword by Aamir Khan. The book features first person accounts of some of the most prolific names of Indian cinema and the advertising world - Waheeda Rahman, AR Rahman, Manoj Bajpayee, Abhishek Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Ronnie Screwvala, Atul Kulkarni, R Madhavan, Divya Dutta and Prahlad Kakar. The Stranger in the Mirror, co-written by marketer-author Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta and published by Rupa, is peppered with anecdotes from Mehra's life - from the 'chai-biscuit'-hostel days to the popping of the proverbial champagne. "The music of RDB was the soul of the film the songs AR created became de facto national anthems," he says. He also writes how he had almost finalised Peter Gabriel, one of the founding members of the British rock band Genesis, to work on Rang De Basanti, but something inside him said that A R Rahman should be doing it. The rest, as they say, is history," says the director of critically acclaimed films like Rang De Basanti, Delhi-6 and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. "Daniel Craig was my first choice but he requested if we could allow some time as he was also being considered to be the next James Bond. "I remember vividly that one of the people who auditioned for the part of James McKinley, the young jailor who walks Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev to be hanged, was none other than current James Bond, Daniel Craig," recalls Mehra in his autobiography The Stranger in the Mirror. "They were responsible for casting Alice Patten and Steven Mackintosh for the parts of Sue and James McKinley, respectively. The London-based duo loved the script of Rang De Basanti, gave up their homes on rent and shifted to India to set up the film, says Mehra.
He was able to rope in David Reid and Adam Bowling, who had two cult classics behind them as executive producers - Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000). Mehra, previously an ad filmmaker, says he wanted to create world cinema and wanted the backend to be managed with perfection and discipline.