Bilal Siddiqi The Bard Of Bollywood

It is not every day that a 19-year-old becomes a published author.

- Ananya Ghosh

And it is even rarer that the book would get adapted into a series starring an A-list actor. Meet Bilal Siddiqi. Now 31, he is the co-creator and co-writer of 2025's most popular Hindi series helmed by Red Chillies Entertainment and is credited for the screenplay of Vishesh Films' upcoming movie Awarapan 2-the much-anticipated sequel to the 2007 hit starring Emraan Hashmi. But who is this guy? How does he have this much access?

From getting a book written, published, and turned into an OTT series that Emraan Hashmi picked up for his OTT debut, at the age of just 19, to now turning a full-time screenwriter for the sequel to one of Hashmi's 2007 blockbusters, Awarapan, Bilal Siddiqi has scripted his journey with the same panache and precision as he writes his dramas. His novels include The Bard of Blood (2015), The Stardust Affair (2017), The Phoenix (2020), and The Kiss of Life: How a Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer (2016)—the nonfiction book he coauthored with Emraan Hashmi chronicling Hashmi's experience with his young son's cancer diagnosis and treatment. And with the goodwill he seemed to have already built in the industry, he is now on the path of turning his big Bollywood dream into reality.

A talented rank outsider, whose parent worked in the advertising agency, he turned his internship at Kolkata Knight Riders into a lifechanging opportunity. It was Shah Rukh Khan who advised him to pitch his debut book for an OTT series and subsequently produced it through Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment. And when his son made his debut, Bilal was one of the co-creators and writers for the show, alongside Aryan Khan and Manav Chauhan.