Director, dancer, goodwill advocate for the United Nations: Aishwaryaa Rajinikanth Dhanush is so much more than the daughter of a legendary actor, or the wife of southern cinema s biggest star. Growing up in Bangalore and then Madras, in a household that resolutely kept out any hint of her father s superstardom, she was a quiet, introverted child whose greatest pleasure was a visit to Marina Beach and an occasional meal out. It was not cinema but law that became a preoccupation when she started thinking about college and career but fate, and her mother, had other plans for her. Aishwaryaa writes with disarming honesty about life as Rajinikanth s daughter, of falling in love and raising two boys with Dhanush, of fighting her own demons and finding satisfaction in a career of her choice. She reflects on the many roles a woman has to juggle at home and outside in her case, under the watchful gaze of cameras and celebrity-watchers. Intensely personal, but also inspirational, Aishwaryaa s memoir is an unusually frank insight into growing up in cinema-land. A playful meditation on the joys and difficulties of being a woman in this age, Standing on an Apple Box is as much a celebration of individual fulfilment as it is of family.