Soha and Kunal to co-author children’s books
TKunal and I make a great team, in life as well as in writing.
SOHA ALI KHAN, Actor
hey have shared space in reel life as actors, and in real life, as partners and parents. Now, Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu are soon going to share credits as authors! The couple is compiling a series of children’s books, titled Inni and Bobo. The character of the protagonist, Inni, is based on their threeyear-old daughter Inaaya, whose love for stories inspired the two to explore a young child’s love for animals, especially puppies, in the upcoming book.
Khan, who earlier wrote her memoir, The Perils of Being Moderately Famous, informs that though the book will be “descriptive and evocative”, she has “consciously tried to avoid being metaphorical”. She believes that for children’s books, “the writing style needs to be more literal to be understood”. And though this book marks Kemmu’s debut as an author, he “never really felt any pressure”.
As a kid, Kemmu reveals, he “wasn’t much of a reader”, and loved hearing and visualising stories more. “My family used to tell me a lot of stories in different ways, which would add to how I’d imagine it... Soha reads a lot of stories to Inaaya, but I like to make up stories for her... That is how this book happened. This one story that I made up for her, she really liked it and then Soha helped put it together.”
Ask Khan whether it has been easy or difficult to work with Kemmu as a co-author, and she quips, “Kunal and I make a great team, in life as well as in writing.”
Talking about the books, she shares, “The idea and the storyline for the first two books came from Kunal. He wrote the one-liner, as we call it for scripts in film industry, and I fleshed it out, dressed it up, and made it pleasing to the eye! It is open to debate — and we often do debate — who has contributed more, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the both of us.”
So are there plans to write more books? “Maybe,” says Kemmu, revealing how he’s close to animals and works for the cause of strays. “As a kid, I was scared of dogs and never thought I would want one. But, as I grew up, my fondness for them really grew... Masti is the first pet I have; she’s more like a daughter to me,” he shares.
On the occasion of International Dog Day, he urges people to adopt strays. “We have also adopted and fostered strays in the past. Even now we have them in Delhi. It’s an emotional experience to see an injured or an orphaned animal. So, I’m glad to be in a position where I can help.”
I ask Inaaya to give me a few characters and where she wants them, and I then build a story for her... That’s how this book happened. KUNAL KEMMU, Actor