Where the pandemic had everyone home-bound for a better part of 2020, former media baron Peter Mukerjea has had little to complain. It’s been nearly a year since he was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in the Sheena Bora murder case, where his former wife Indrani Mukerjea is main accused. Incarcerated for over four years for his alleged involvement in the high-profile murder of Indrani’s 25-year-old daughter over a possible property dispute, Mukerjea is now looking at life with new meaning and better purpose—writing books. “Time is in short supply these days as there’s so much catching up to do and simply not enough hours in the day,” shares Mukerjea, in his first interview since being released on bail.

He has agreed to speak with mid-day, albeit reluctantly. The last time he gave an interview to a news channel in 2015, the issue had escalated quickly. The resistance, hence, is evident, when Mukerjea says he will respond to our questions over email. If he has agreed to come out of his shell, it’s because he is making a fresh start with his book, Star Struck: Confessions of a TV Executive (Westland Business), which releases this week. The book is a “personal recollection” of his experiences at the “coalface in the formative years of the satellite television industry in India” and his own journey to becoming the CEO of Star India Network.