Picked out from the life of popular actor Emraan Hashmi, ‘The Kiss Of Life’ is an autobiographical account of being shaken up in life when career and family was all going on well. It begins around the time Hashmi’s acting career, after a long struggle, had stabilized and was on a high, when four year old son Ayaan was taken ill.
The harsh world of Bollywood is unsparing for lost opportunities and only acting skills backed by a lot of hard work had made the actor cut a successful acting career. A regular diagnostic scan on the young boy shattered Hashmi and his wife Praveen, when the doctors identified that a tennis ball sized tumour had invaded Ayaan’s kidney.
The book’s chapters constantly shuttle between the past and the present. On one account the story records the trails and trials of Hashmi’s rise as an actor and the second on, running in parallel chapters, reveals a caring fathers love for a child battling cancer.
The ups and downs at the beginning of his career, his doubts about being a successful actor, battling against the typecast of being a serial killer, presented alongside Hashmi’s constant delirium when his child would be given a chemotherapy dose, the claustrophobic hospital ward scenario’s that slowly do shatter ones faith make a contrast in the storyline.
Vivid memories of his childhood and his growth from a confused teenager to an unorthodox and successful actor is also brought to life in this book.
During the child’s illness, Hashmi did much research on cancer and the book records a lot of research material on the dreaded subject, right from elaborating on the guidelines for cancer patients and their caretakers, chalking out nutritional plans to the elaborate hospital procedures that one has to undergo, the book has them all.
More than the actor, the book reveals the real Emraan Hashmi. Away from all lights, camera, action scenes, he is just a caring father whose life was shattered when his son was diagnosed with cancer and who left no leaf unturned to get back his son.
Published by Penguin, The Kiss Of Life, an acclaimed book has been written in clear words and is an honest and personal account of a father.
About the Authors:
Famous Bollywood actor, Emraan Hashmi’s first film was Murder which made him one of the most sought-after actors in Bollywood and bestowed him with the title of serial kisser. Life was shaken when he and his wife Praveen learnt about Ayaan, their four year old son, being diagnosed with cancer. Bilal Siddiqui, co-author of this book, is a 21 year old man working as a screenplay writer with Red Chillies Entertainment. Siddiqui has earlier written a novel ‘The Bard of Blood’, which is set in Balochistan. He paired up with Hashmi to recount an authentic journey through stardom and a doting father’s traumatic experience of caring for a cancer stricken son.