Interview: Emraan Hashmi
By: Simran Mody, India Correspondent
Emraan Hashmi is widely known in Bollywood for his unique nickname: “Serial Kisser.” Yet, as his filmography would suggest, the 31-year-old Bollywood actor is not all fun and games, as he had balanced his flirtatious persona with several meaty and dark roles. After taking on intense roles in films such as Kalyug, Gangster, The Killer, and Raaz – The Mystery Continues, the Serial Kisser is now taking on an equally dark and intense role in Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, which is directed by Milan Luthria and co-stars Ajay Devgn and Kangana Ranaut.
A film about the expansion of the Mumbai underworld and its connection to international terrorism, Emraan hoped audiences would find his role in the film as substantive as it is qualitative.
“I agree when you say that I have been playing a lot of grey characters. I think I have that kind of face that people approach me with such roles,” he pondered as he talked to the press this week during his promotional tour of Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. “Until I don’t get clean shaven, filmmakers are bound to exploit the grey side of my personality.”
The actor-dubbed-“Serial Kisser” said he had no problem with the “grey side” of his personality being exploited by filmmakers.
“Most of my characters have dark tones and are anti-establishment. They rebel. They have similar traits,” he observed. “There is something always so interesting about playing a guy who is living on the edge and is involved in something which is unethical or illegal but is still not totally black.”
In playing an interesting and edgy character whose personality features several shades of grey, Emraan thinks Once Upon A Time In Mumbai is the ideal setting for a role that is substantively dark.
“Once Upon A Time In Mumbai is about an era that has gone by where gangsters and criminals ruled from an underworld,” he observed to the press about the film, which is set in 1970s Mumbai. “The way we perceive them right now is not the way we did then. It was a different world then.”
As different a world as Mumbai may have been more than four decades ago, Emraan also observed that the universe that is Bollywood is also ever-changing. While he seems to enjoy this “bad boy” persona balanced by a flirtatious moniker, the actor known as Serial Kisser also noticed that comedy films have dominated the industry a bit too much recently…and he had some choice words to share with the press about that issue.
“If one comedy works, everyone starts doing it. This has been a trend for the last couple of years,” he opined to the press. “But then think about a viewer who has been bombarded with slapstick comedies month after month. After some time, due to all the overdose, he is bound to get bored. That’s how Bollywood functions. Whenever there is a trend, everyone jumps and tries to capitalize on it.”
Promoting diversity of cinema in one breath, he followed up by stating that he hopes to change things up in his own career, yet he also feels that there is nothing wrong with consistently portraying a dark and intense character.
“It would be typecasting if I do one role again and again. Shah Rukh Khan plays a lover boy in every film. That doesn’t typecast him,” Emraan said. “He plays an eternal romantic character on screen. If I play an angry young man or a hot-blooded criminal in every film … that might typecast me, but not these.
“Nobody asks this question to Shah Rukh Khan while, for the past 20 years, he has been doing romantic roles on the screen. However, these questions make no difference since he is successful in his field and people adore him.”
Of course, Emraan is not lacking for adoration or success, as he has done several great projects throughout his career, including the much-anticipated flick Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. The only question now is whether he can continue maintaining a balance between an actor known for his dark roles and a person known for his smooching skills.
As Bollywood fans around the world watch Emraan’s career unfold, many of them hope to be pleased with his performance in Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, which hits screens this weekend.
