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Hashmi honestly

As the boy turns a man with "Gangster", Anuj Kumar tries to figure out what makes Emraan Hashmi tick

NOW ON A POSITIVE ROLE Emraan Hashmi says doing intimate scenes on screen is not the only factor for his rise in Bollywood

Emraan Hashmi's rise at the turnstiles is a case study in the making of a common man's star. Once panned as `the monkey-faced serial kisser', the brash boy is making the cash registers ring with films that make money. Is it just the kiss, or the irreverence he exudes, or it's a combination of the two where public feels he is one among them and claps when he suddenly goes up there and shows the chutzpah to kiss the dream girls?

Says Emraan, "When Murder happened people criticised that it won't appeal to the sensibilities of the common man. It did. Youngsters no longer take kiss as a taboo and my character represented the irreverence and rebellious attitude that is setting in, in urban youth today. But to say that kiss was the only factor for my rise is not right. I believe a film has to have more than one USP to work."

Different position

Emraan holds from his first film Footpath he has positioned himself differently.

"I didn't want to be another chocolate hero. I picked on characters, which were grey but not villains. One might not agree with them, but each character had its strong point of view. Without sounding immodest, I must say that the industry is full of insecure actors. Nobody would agree to play a second fiddle to a rank newcomer, which I did in Kalyug." Something he has done again in Gangster, released this past week, where again Shiny Ahuja is playing the title role. "Yes, but here for a change I am playing a positive role." He says till date he has played young, fast and furious. "Here Akash is mature, slowed down and mellowed. The film is a triangle but the gangster angle provides the thrill element, which takes the subject to a new high."

He has sported spectacles too in the film. "Every time I get tired of my face, I wear them," he smiles.

One of the USPs that has worked in Emraan's favour is the music. Irrespective of the box office result, the music of his each and every film has been a chartbuster. "It is a happy coincidence. Gangster also has great music by Pritam. My personal favourite is `Ya Ali'."

The promos show Akash moving to the song. Earlier he played Ali in Kalyug. "Yes, I am looking for a Muslim audience base. In the past all the three Khans have utilised it to their advantage." The film has allegedly his last kiss scene as well. "Yes, I have enough of it. I didn't want to do it but Anurag Basu explained that it's integral to the script. It is an underwater scene that took us an entire night to shoot, but it would last for hardly a few seconds on the screen."

Image change

He denies his engagement has made him change his image. "I know Parveen from childhood. She was always averse to such scenes. In fact, now she has learnt that we have to cater to the public what it wants. I am 26, I want to play characters that are closer to my age."

He continues, "This doesn't mean I would deny my fans what they expect of me."

Up next is Good Boy Bad Boy, a Subhash Ghai production, where Emraan is obviously the bad boy. "There are Killer and Awarapan in the pipeline too."

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