Emraan Hashmi’s Next Is A Documentary On Cancer

He said the documentary is at its initial stage.

“Work on a docu on cancer has begun. It’s in its initial stages. It’s important to create awareness about the C word,” Emraan tweeted on Sunday.

“A book, with all the best intentions, is limited in its reach so I wanted to go down the visual path and a documentary seemed the best option to take this effort further,” the actor said in an interview.

Hashmi’s project, for which he plans to travel the length and breadth of the country, hopes to eliminate the stigma attached to the condition which keeps many from being diagnosed early. “A lot of women from villages and even cities ignore the symptoms of breast cancer. They don’t even want to engage in a conversation about it as it is a part of the anatomy they feel ashamed to talk about. This resistance in getting oneself examined leads to a delay in diagnosis and thus in getting treated at an early stage,” he said, adding that opting for late stage treatment could be expensive and offers low prognosis.

Apart from reporting, Hashmi’s film will also make a plea to the government to extend additional resources to take on the disease which is slated to become the biggest killer, surpassing heart ailments, in the years to come. “If you get down to statistics, India contributes 1-1.5 per cent of its GDP to public healthcare, which is miniscule. Even a populous country like China invests three times more,” says Hashmi, adding that initiatives such metronomics or affordable medication offer a promising start.

Born in February 2010, Ayaan, the first child of Emraan and wife Parveen Shahani, was diagnosed with first stage cancer at the age of four in early 2014.

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To help raise awareness about the disease and share their story, Emraan came out with a book titled “The Kiss of Life: How A Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer” last year. It chronicles his career, family, the birth of his son, cancer and treatment thereafter.

According to reports, the documentary is tentatively titled “The C Word” and will be written, researched and produced in collaboration with Manish Hariprasad of Owlet Films (former creative head of UTV and Red Chillies) and Bilal Siddiqi, the co-author of Hashmi’s book.