RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LAW, PATIALA

PUNJAB
ENGLISH PROJECT WORK

 THE KISS OF MY LIFE- EMRAAN HASHMI AND BILAL

SIDDIQI

SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:

Abhinav Sharma Dr. Navleen Multani
Roll no- 18113 (Assistant Professor of English)
Group no- 17

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 Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................3
..........................................................................................................................................3
2. ASSESSMENT..................................................................................................................6
3. CONCLUSION................................................................................................................11

THE KISS OF LIFE-

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 BY EMRAAN HASHMI AND BILAL SIDDIQUI

1. INTRODUCTION

Emraan Anwar Hashmi is a well-known Bollywood actor who was born on 24 March 1979 in
Bombay, Maharashtra, India.1 Emraan made his debut in the Bollywood industry not as an
actor but as an assistant director through the movie Raaz that was released in the year 2002.
Hashmi’s career as an actor in the Bollywood industry began from the movie Footpath that
was released in the year 2003 and was directed by Vikram Bhatt and since then he has been
praised for his different works. Emraan’s most recent work is a web series known as Bard of
Blood and he is completely focused on it. Emraan’s career has been full of ups and downs
through various phases and with much varied reactions from the audiences at different places.

Not just Hashmi’s acting career but even his personal life has seen various phases and thus he
has led a very unstable life not just financially but even mentally he wasn’t in a stable
position. Emraan’s marriage took place in Dec. 2006 with his childhood girlfriend Parveen
Shahani and the couple were then gifted with a baby boy Ayaan in the year 2010. The
couple’s life changed drastically when they found out that Ayaan was suffering from a
disease named Wilms tumour in 2014 when he just a 4 year old kid. The diagnosis showed
that he was suffering from a 2nd stage cancer, though he was able to cope up and got
recovered from the overspreading tumour entirely. At a very young age he had to go through
so much of hardship and pain. Emraan also passed through a very difficult phase of his life,
he had to make his work suffer because of the treatment of his son that was being carried out
in Canada. Though the preliminary treatment took place in India itself but even then he was
not able to concentrate on his work properly because of the mental trauma and shock that he
experienced due to his son’s ailment. During this phase of his life he was drained not just
mentally and physically but even financially. Not just his social life but even his career
experienced a very low dip, many of his project were pending and they were kept on hold for
such a long period that he had to lose them in the end. His main task left was to maintain a
balance between his social and work professional life that made him go into a great
depression as a consequence. He was living a very strenuous and full of hardship phase of his
life despite being one of the stars of the Indian film Industry.
1
Editors, „Emraan Hashmi: A Biography‟, IMDB, available at-https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1431656/bio
(last accessed on 4th November 2019).

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Emraan Hashmi has been praised for his acting skills in the entire film industry and has been
nominated in various genres throughout his acting career but has not been able to succeed by
winning any of the awards so far. Still he is a well praised and respectful artist of the
Bollywood Industry. He is also known as a very versatile actor because of the roles he has
played in his career. Though Hashmi has not been able to win any of the awards but being
nominated for so many awards clearly shows his excellence in his professional life. Hasmi
has only been through one major controversy throughout his life that is the tag of being a
serial kisser that he has received because of the majority of the movies hasmi has acted in
include these kissing scenes, but it must be noted that it is just a single-sided perception that
people believe in and instead they must understand that its just a part of his professional
career that he has to fulfil. He has also on many occasions explained that not just the scenes
even his acting can be appreciated in his works.

The other author of the book is Bilal Siddiqui, who is an author by profession itself. He is one
of the most emerging writers of the nation and came to light after his novel Bard Of Blood
came on floors and was highly appreciated by the readers, this novel is also now a Netflix
original series wherein the lead actor is played by Emraan Hashmi. Bilal currently works at
Red Chillies Entertainment.2 He has played the role as a co-author in Emraan Hasmi’s
autobiography, The kiss of my life. Other major works of this aspiring author include, The
Stardust Affair (2017) and My Kind of Poison (2017).

This book The Kiss of my life is the autobiography of actor Emraan Hashmi. It has been co-
authored by Siddiqui and was published in 2016 in 3 different languages, Hindi, English and
Marathi and was a best seller of its own time. The book takes into account the personal and
professional aspects of the life of Hashmi. In personal life, Hashmi talks about the mental
trauma that he suffered after finding out the cancer of his son Ayaan and the after phase
which was the toughest period of his and his family’s lives. At the same time he also presents
gratitude towards the friends and family who were besides him the whole time.
Emraan further also talks about the life struggles that he went through his life not just the
struggles of making his place in the film industry but also the personal life struggles, coming
from a upper middle class family. Throughout the book he makes his point of being strong in

2
Editors, „Bilal Siddiqui‟, Penguin, Available at- https://penguin.co.in/author/bilal-siddiqi/ (last accessed on 4
November 2019)

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different phases of life and conveys that one must be full of hope and must not give up
whatever the case maybe and should keep on going until the bad times leave their lives. This
point of his life has been made through different parts of the book and his life which clearly
suggests the hardship which he went through in order to survive, in the film industry and in
his real life. His life has been portrayed in a way that gives a lesson to the readers of being
strong and powerful even in the hard times of life. Thus the book even after being revolved
around the lives of Emraan and the hardships clearly makes its own point. The beautifully
written book is one of the must-read piece for the reading enthusiasts out there.
The climax of the book is very elegantly portrayed by giving the superhero touch to the reel
life hero’s son, Ayaan. His recovery marks the end of the book and the transformation of
Ayaan into an Ayaan man. At a very young age he had to go through so much of hardship
and pain. Emraan also passed through a very difficult phase of his life, he had to make his
work suffer because of the treatment of his son that was being carried out in Canada. Though
the preliminary treatment took place in India itself but even then he was not able to
concentrate on his work properly because of the mental trauma and shock that he experienced
due to his son’s ailment. But despite all this in the end the lives of both Emraan and Ayaan
were back to normal and a happy one.

2. ASSESSMENT

The book emphasises upon the winning path of the life of Ayaan. The journey moves through
Emraan’s life and travels the whole way to Ayaan’s suffering and his healing and recovery.

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This being the personal aspect, the book also portrays the filmy journey of Emraan from
being a struggler to an established actor.
The first thing for assessment of the autobiography that we will be considering would be the
writing style of the book. The book has connected the past and present life of Emraan in a
very commendable manner that is very interesting to read. The past of Emraan’s life deals
with the hardships and struggles he had to go through in order to establish himself as an actor
in the industry and his present was dealing with his son’s cancer treatment and what all was
happening to him during those treatment days. The past and present is prevailing throughout
the book and is presented in alternative chapters of the book.
The beginning of the book takes place with a superhero (Batman) story and the end connects
the same story to Ayaan’s life transforming his character into the Ayaan man as a
consequence to the pain and suffering he went through to survive. The method where the
beginning story gets connected to the end is known as the call back method, this is generally
witnessed in the speeches of motivational speakers and influencers. The call back method is a
very great tool to be used by the authors it allows the readers to build a connection with the
author’s mindset that he was in while thinking of writing the plot. Therefore this method
allows the feelings of the authors to get conveyed till the readers minds. In the book this
method not just connects the feelings but also shows the faith that Emraan imbibes in his son
Ayaan.
The other two styles incorporated by the author in the book are the narrative and the
expository styles of writing while forming the connection in the past and the present. The
styles are clearly visible in the writings such as the narrative style can be pointed out in the
text as and when the author uses the first person perspective for presenting and writing down
the events in his entire life. The author tries to build a conversation with the readers while
depicting the different scenes of the events of his life and through these scenes he makes an
effort to connect the readers with his personal life. Narrative style plays the role of a medium
in order to make the readers feel the pain as he did in order to convey his message in a strong
way.
The book is informative too in various ways. The author has tried to impart basic knowledge
and information concerning cancer through his life experiences with Ayaan. Moving a step
further the author has also tried to bring down the general information regarding the
chemotherapy into focus, he has presented the pros and cons of the therapy and has also
focused his emphasis on the side effects and benefits of the same. This whole informative
portion is not just a page or two, but the author has devoted an entire chapter towards
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effectively making the general public more aware of the cancer treatment. Not only
chemotherapy the author has also tried to bring in picture other procedures and treatment
being followed while treating a cancer patient. And thus with this one can justify the
statement of calling the autobiography as an expository and informative piece of work too.
The main focus on these treatments such as chemotherapy is laid down in ch-5 “The first step
to becoming an Iron Man” and in ch-7 “Chemo in Canada”, wherein the emphasis is towards
imparting information regarding the care to be taken care of the patient. Also consideration to
different drugs such as the vincristine has been presented in these chapters. The pros-cons,
benefits and side-effects all are discussed in detail to give a personal to the work. Further
moving on, description of different equipment and devices has also been discussed in these
chapters. These basic facts and information concerning such a serious ailment were aimed
towards making the readers aware of the situation that Emraan went through and make the
readers form a personal connection with the life of Emraan.
Moving further there are some comic references along with the serious and intense scenes of
the book that author has introduced in order to lighten the mood of the readers whenever it
needs to be. Beginning from the 1st chapter and in between whenever there arose a need to
lighten the moments these comic lines and scenes have played their role. For example, in the
1st chapter when Emraan goes to a room in order to take a look at the tumour of Ayaan, he
mistakenly goes in the opposite direction and by mistake is made to look at a liver.

Emraan’s love and affection for his son is very much evident throughout the book. His
condition after getting to know that his son suffers from a serious cancer was pathetic, it was
so worse that he was not able to believe this fact in the first place. There are a number of
statements that clearly suggests the same. Like while being in the hospital he was unable to
take control over his anger and used to shout and yell at other if and when they used to do
something that was disturbing Ayaan or was not making him live in peace. He became so
possessive for his son that he didn’t think even twice before reacting angrily in different
situations this made his image vulnerable in the hospital and among others but Emraan was
totally unaffected with this fact and was just focusing upon his son and his recovery.

The struggles of the complete family are depicted in the book and Parveen was one of the
best contenders in that race. The support she provided to Emraan was immensely appreciable
and the qualities she possessed were evident through her acts. She was the one who made
Emraan work towards his professional life even after being tangled in such a dreadful
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situation. Parveen has been on Emraan’s side since the very beginning and has played a role
of a true friend as well as a wife in a very commendable manner. She accepted Emraan in all
phases of his life, whether when it comes to his professional flops or mental traumas, the one
who was always besides Emraan to back him down was none other than Parveen his beloved
wife. She was in such a position because of her love towards Emraan as a person and not
towards the Emraan who is a Bollywood star, thus he loved Emraan however he was from his
core and loved the person behind that actor instead of loving the reel actor. The situation that
these couple were going through has made them respect each other in a way that they
couldn’t have imagined. The level of understanding between the two reached new heights
during this phase and made their bond ever-lasting and much stronger than before.
If we go on further to find out the hero of the book, we would conclude that it is Ayaan who
has been portrayed as the hero of the story of his father and it is so because of the strength he
possessed in himself. The strength of great suffering through pain, the courage of accepting
himself however his situation was and the ray of hope that he spread, clearly depicts him as
the hero of the book, no matter what a reader believes in his life. The basic instinct of being
an optimistic person has made his suffering much more bearable than the readers ever
thought they would be while reading the book. The high level of maturity and
understandability shown by Ayaan wins the readers hearts in the first place itself.
The book emphasises upon the winning path of the life of Ayaan. The journey moves through
Emraan’s life and travels the whole way to Ayaan’s suffering and his healing and recovery.
This being the personal aspect, the book also portrays the filmy journey of Emraan from
being a struggler to an established actor and the life of Ayaan from being cancer patient at a
very young age to a healthy child thereafter the treatments and different processes. The use of
the superhero story can be understood very clearly through the traits of Ayaan which are
portrayed in the book, that is there is a reason why he was referred to as an Ayaan man.
The help from different knowns and other family members of Emraan came out to be of
immense help in the situation that they were suffering through. He mentions Mahesh Bhatt,
Akshay Kumar and other members of Parveen’s family while presenting his gratitude
towards them. The support was not just financial assistance but it also meant to be the mental
and moral support that made him feel like he was not at all alone in the struggle. Akshay had
a personal experience while dealing with a cancer patient, he lost his father due to prostate
cancer so he was to able to empathise with Emraan even in the toughest of the times. Akshay
was the one who suggested Emraan a hospital in Canada afet getting into touch with some of
his knowns back there. His daily calls always made Emraan feel like he was not less than his
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big brother. These instances of Emraan’s life mentioned in to book are the clear evidence of
the role of family members and the importance they hold in our lives in difficult times. The
story also portrays a bond and a connection between the nucleus family of Emraan and the
joint family of Parveen. This bond shared between them was the reason that all these people
collectively gave in their efforts towards the ailment of Ayaan. These family members were
also showing good examples of how people can balance their personal and professional life
while not making any of them suffer.
The other protagonist or hero of the book, Emraan also depicts an ideal situation of balancing
different spheres of life while suffering from such an arduous phase of life and still not
making any of them suffer in any major form. But even during this phase the support that was
presented by Ayaan was marvellous and made Emraan much more energetic and full of
strength. While Emraan being a muslim, his family was full of diversity from various
religions thus making it a complete secular family. The mixture of varied religions in the
family gave Ayaan complete liberty to choose any of the practices he wished to. Ayaan was
given the complete autonomy and opportunities as well to explore the traditions and customs
of different religions. The whole fmily was very supportive in case of secularity of the
family.
Usage of a motif is also depicted in the book which is the Batman. It acts like a push for
Ayaan to struggle against his odds of recovery. Batman makes him do all the works and tasks
that he had to during his course of therapy. The fictional character also eases out the works of
the parents making them relax for some time and the most important task is that batman lets
Ayaan be happy and makes him feel great even in such conditions. This character used as a
motif in the book has been a helping hand to Emraan which is why he considers it as much in
his autobiography. This autobiography does not just narrates the life story of Emraan Hashmi
but instead it is depicted as a story which portrays the instinct for survival in a 4 year old kid
and the hope that this kid gives to the family and knowns to Emraan. The points to be drawn
from the book must be focused on being a sufferer and that too with full patience. Never lose
hope is another thing to be taken after reading this book, all the characters mentioned are full
of optimism and are always supportive of whatever may be the consequences of what was
happening.
Never giving up attitude of Ayaan, Emraan and his family members has made possible the
positive outcome of the story that is Ayaan living his healthy life after all the struggles he and
his family went through. The book being written just after the treatment of Ayaan has the
recent wounds that weren’t filled of the Hashmi family. The validity of the conveyed facts
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and feelings reflects the society's realities. In addition, the book was written with fresh
memories and not when the memory died and if the truth were not present, the feelings and
suffering could not have been expressed so powerfully and accurately. The pain and
hardships described in the book are like tremors that are felt in almost every household when
any family member hears the "Big C." The book emphasises upon the winning path of the life
of Ayaan. The journey moves through Emraan’s life and travels the whole way to Ayaan’s
suffering and his healing and recovery. This being the personal aspect, the book also portrays
the filmy journey of Emraan from being a struggler to an established actor and the life of
Ayaan from being cancer patient at a very young age to a healthy child thereafter the
treatments and different processes that Ayaan had to go through in order to lead a normal
living.

3. CONCLUSION

This book came out to be a very readable piece of work which after its initial launch and
pretty decent advertisement became a best seller of its own time. The life of Emraan Hashmi

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has been portrayed in a beautiful manner such that one cannot imagine after forming an
image of Emraan after watching his work in the Bollywood Industry. The Kiss of Life tries to
present a kiss of modesty, love, comradeship and optimism to the readers and the society at
large. That life is not just the hard times or the easy ones, life is eternal and these are just the
circumstances. Being happy, sad, joyful, etc. all is a myth and the basic instinct of human
beings is modesty.
The ray of hope is something which can make anyone in this world fight with whatever the
circumstance they are in and however hard it is for them. It’s the power of optimism that
makes a person live a life one has dreamt of.

The book in none of its chapters or incidents tries to praise Emraan Hashmi inadvertently nor
does it focus upon only the great things he has achieved and done in his life, instead it lays
emphasis on being as realistic as it can to form a bond and connect to the readers. The
depiction of scenes has been done in such a sequential manner that the story connected itself
to the readers and vice-versa. Even the forward of the book written by Akshay Kumar
justifies the claims being made throughout the story. Though the book has not received any
literary recognition or award or any nomination or something but it did completely satisfy its
readers through its simple, easy and understandable language. Therefore, the book is one of
the best readings for those suffering from any kind of hardship in their lives and want a ray of
hope in order to bring them back to life. The struggle of Ayaan, Emraan, Parveen and all the
family members is clearly something on which someone looks up to and gets inspired by the
same. There is nothing more important than optimism which one needs to live a life, not just
surviving it and this optimism is greatly imbibed in the book, in fact in its each important
scene one would realise that there is some hope, modesty and optimism being transferred
from the authors life to the readers and that is what distinguishes this book from the
biographies of other great well- known figures and personalities. The book also teaches us the
importance of life which we don’t and cannot understand in our daily lives. How we don’t
respect it besides being very lucky about the same and thus it concludes to become a must
read for everyone out their surviving and leading their normal lives instead of living and
respecting it.

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