JOIN USFrom playing the person who lusts for a woman to being offered roles where he needs to romance the heroine, actor Emraan Hashmi has breached many a boundary. For him, it is just a ‘progression’ of an actor, but for his fans there is much more to this transition.
Currently at a stage where he is getting tailor-made roles, Hashmi admits, “I am very happy that now I have got my kind of cinema – parallel, mainstream, commercial cinema, monopolising a certain kind of film genre that only I can play. So I am happy that directors find that as a genre and create characters which I can play well. I should say, hopefully play well and make it interesting on screen.” The twinkle in his eyes explains the rest.
He deserves to be credited for having proved his “credentials as a lead” and make “films work at the box office” with his name. This has allow-ed him to “depart from a film where you play a supporting character and come back to your strong point. If you do well and the film is made well, the audience will accept you,” he says.
“Whenever I get a script where I feel OK not playing the protagonist, I take it up. I generally do films and things that I am uncomfortable doing because if you are comfortable then you won’t be a good actor! You have to test and challenge yourself every now and then. And you don’t always get those kind of films,” he discloses proudly.
Undoubtedly, he has proved his calibre with the films and characters that he has chosen but the choices weren’t as easy as they appeared to be. Yet, he delivered them with flair because “What you see is what you get,” he says about his off-screen presence.
“I am a very real person and don’t wear a mask. So when I play characters on screen, I try to portray them as real as possible. I don’t get over-theatrical or over-dramatic when it’s not needed and let the story do most of the talking.”
No wonder he is being eyed by some of the top directors and producers in the industry today. And the performer doesn’t shy away from mentioning that the characters he has played have been largely immoral, unethical and “have connect with a certain side of me. These are ‘taboo emotions’ just like jealousy, envy, lust – which the world tells you are wrong! They might be, because people always consider emotions like love.”
“For some reasons I get the immoral, unethical things to do on screen, but they are characters, they are flawed and eventually find redemption in the film. They do devious things but at the same time are moralistic too. Like Raja Natwarlal (his character in his upcoming film) is a 420 but has morals and will never con a woman or a child. He will only con a dishonest person. He is almost like a Robin Hood, but somewhere grows up in the film. So my films are also about maturing and coming of age,” says the actor who has made a smooth transition from essaying lust to love.
As a matter-of-fact, he has been signed for Unglee (produced by Karan Johar) and Hamari Adhuri Kahaani where he will be romancing Vidya Balan.
“I have played a romantic hero earlier but not a traditional romantic hero. This will be my first romantic film.” His fans should gear up to see him in a new avatar.