It is 1:30 in the afternoon and we are at Le Sutra, a boutique hotel in the fashionable Mumbai suburb of Bandra. We are here to meet actor Emraan Hashmi, who has just returned from dubbing for his latest film, Azhar, directed by Tony D’Souza. The movie (release date 13 May) is loosely based on the life of controversial former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin. The 37-year-old actor also recently turned author with his first book, The Kiss of Life: How a Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer—an account mainly of the actor’s shock at finding out his four-year-old son has cancer, and their story of battle and survival.
Dressed in blue jeans, an off-white cotton T-shirt and white sports shoes, Hashmi takes us through his reel and real life. And whenever the conversation turns towards money, a point he stresses throughout is that money can’t lessen your grief but it can help you to handle it better. “I am bad with business and money. People at home follow and keep up with stuff related to the investment portfolio,” says Hashmi. “But I have a team whom we constantly consult with. They tell us where we should invest to make it more lucrative for us. All of us take a call. Sometimes, I am so busy that the decision is taken by my family—my father (Anwar Hashmi) and my wife (Parveen Shahani).” He hears out his financial advisers, friends and family, and then takes the safest call. “My wife is a sound money manager. She takes care of a lot of things that need to be done,” says Hashmi.
