“The Turning Point In My Career Was Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai” – Emraan Hashmi

From being tagged as just another serial kisser doing all but intimate scenes in films, Emraan Hashmi has definitely come a long way. Though the kissing tag is yet to leave him, his career choices have shunned away his critics accepting full fledged meaty roles with an opportunity to deliver.

Ask him about the entire metamorphosis and he will be all smiles about it. “Well, of course there have been decisions in choosing films but they haven’t been conscious decisions. I have always wanted to play versatile characters but I just got slotted because of the films that were offered to me. An actor can only do the films that are offered to him. It’s just that when filmmakers start taking that risk seeing your versatility becomes the ultimate turning point. The turning point in my career being Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai where people started to see beyond the image and started believing that Emraan can do things beyond the typical no-art cinema that I was known for in the 2008. Things have changed from there on wards and I have had a rebirth of kinds in my career after 2009-2010. Now, thankfully am doing films like Ghanchakkar, Ek Thi Daayan and I am also doing an international film. So today, I have the liberty to choose because I am in a certain stable space in my career and now, I just want to do the kind of work I have always wished to do. You just reach a point in your career when you can steer it in any direction. You have to slightly be cautious but at the same time, you cannot be over cautious. You have to take risks because in my career, risks have really paid off well.”

But a thriller comedy like Ghanchakkar could only add to his triumphs, he feels. With money, money everywhere, Emraan opened up to us about he total money-chakkar from the film. “Most of my films that have had a reference to money have thankfully been very successful at the box office. But this time, there is a very funny incident which happens in the film. There is a man who robs the bank and he suffers from amnesia. So he has forgotten where he has kept the money. This film is about yearning of people becoming crorepatis overnight which I think, Sanju in the film does. But this is not someone you want to be, after keeping 10-15 crores somewhere and not recollecting where you kept it!”

So, while his and Vidya’s first outing, The Dirty Picture was all about, ‘Entertainment, entertainment and entertainment’, Emraan tells us what Ghaanchakkar is all about. “Well Ghanchakkar is all that and more. It is double the entertainment that The Dirty Picture had,” he signs off in style with a flash of hiss disarming smile.