The Reluctant Actor

But when the Bhatt brothers,known to make budget films with new actors and directors,decided to nurture the older of the two into an actor,Emraan Hashmi’s first instinct was to decline the offer. “I had neither the inclination nor the talent. I merely gave in to the thought of living a good life and being famous,” the actor says.

Hashmi’s persona makes his claim believable — he speaks in a perpetual drawl,his gestures are slow and deliberate,and he wears a half-smile that makes him appear contemptuous of the world around him. But the contradiction is offered by his own resume. The actor,who has spent a large part of his career working with the Bhatts,is now being courted by several prominent directors and producers. After a nuanced performance in Dibakar Banerjee’s 2012 political thriller Shanghai,Vishal Bhardwaj signed him up for his production Ek Thi Daayan. In the recently-released film,he played the role of a magician who grapples with demons from his childhood. Although the film had average box-office collections,Hashmi earned praise for the role.

His next film,Raj Kumar Gupta’s Ghanchakkar,in which he plays a conman,is ready for release in June,and he is currently acting in Ungli,directed by Rensil D’Silva and produced by Karan Johar. The latter’s Dharma Productions has also announced a romantic comedy with Hashmi opposite Deepika Padukone.

The actor is far from an overnight success. He debuted as an anti-hero a decade ago,playing a local goon in Footpath. In the films that followed — Murder (2004),Kalyug (2005),Gangster (2006),and Awaarapan (2007) — his roles had a strong shade of grey.

Hashmi deliberately chose this unusual course. Having grown up watching Hollywood films,he felt a certain degree of contempt towards formulaic heroes. “I had relented to my uncles’ wishes,but as far as characters were concerned,I had to have my way,” says Hashmi,who sought a bit of crookedness or twist in the roles he played. “Emraan wasn’t your swashbuckling hero. He was as real as his audience,” says filmmaker Anurag Basu who worked with him in Tumsa Nahin Dekha (2004),Murder and Gangster.

The music of Hashmi’s films contributed to his popularity. The Bhatts were always known for their melodious music,and the audience lapped up their Sufi-inspired melancholic numbers,often shot on Hashmi.

Yet,the industry refused to acknowledge him as a promising actor,partly because of his association with Vishesh Films,a banner known to attract audiences through “bold themes” and skin show. It didn’t help that he had also earned the “serial kisser” tag.

But such trivialisation didn’t bog him down. Hashmi says his career is built on “sheer stubbornness”. “That I didn’t want to act in the first place perhaps showed in my early performances. By the time I was getting weary of the underwhelming response,I had already been an actor for several years and it was too late to look for another job. So I just decided to fight for survival,” he says.

To make up for what he calls his “lack of talent”,Hashmi worked hard. “I am not a natural. I need material to work on and the director to guide me. I realised over time that my approach of viewing each scene independently was wrong,that I needed to view them as part of a character’s graph over the span of the film,” he says. This realisation marked the beginning of Hashmi’s romance with his craft.

It also made him hungry for more. While films such as Jannat (2008) and Raaz: The Mystery Continues (2009) helped bring food to the table,they also whetted his appetite for more nuanced characters. But Hashmi knew that before he experimented,he needed to consolidate his popularity among the masses.

Milan Luthria’s offer to him to play a parallel lead to Ajay Devgn in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai (2010),produced by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures,gave him that opportunity. The film,in which he played a character based on underworld don Dawood Ibrahim while Devgn’s was inspired by Haji Mastan,became his first step into the big league. “I needed someone with spunk who could hold his own when put in the same frame as Ajay. Emraan has an inherent streak of defiance,which ignited the screen when he became first a protégé and then his antagonist,” says Luthria.

The film was a blockbuster and the director then cast him in a supporting role opposite Vidya Balan in The Dirty Picture (2011),which won him critical acclaim. The industry elite could not afford to ignore him any more. They truly welcomed Hashmi,though,when Banerjee cast him in Shanghai as the lead alongside Indian indie cinema’s poster boy Abhay Deol.

For Kannan Iyer,who directed him in the supernatural thriller Ek Thi Daayan,Hashmi was his first and only choice. “Emraan has a brooding quality to his persona,an aspect that was integral to the character of Bobo,the magician,” he says. He also dismisses the actor’s claim that he isn’t a natural as modesty. “The role needed him to portray various degrees of intensity as Bobo gets increasingly obsessive. The shoot wasn’t linear but Emraan got the required expressions just right,” he says.

Hashmi has already leaped into the ‘A’ league,bagging Academy Award-winning Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic’s crossover movie being co-produced by Anurag Kashyap. But from here on,it is a tightrope walk for Hashmi,says Iyer,given that his first two experiments with the multiplex audience have elicited a lukewarm response. “Hopefully,Ghanchakkar will bring him his due,” he says.

Suri,however,is confident. Having directed Hashmi in six films,including Zeher,Kalyug and Raaz: The Mystery Continues,he says the actor’s strength lies in his intelligence. “He has his shortcomings and works around them. He started out with a limited range and has little dancing or fighting skills even today. When early on in his career,people advised him to take lessons in these,he refused,focussing instead on improving his performance by working around what he lacks,” he says.

The actor,adds Suri,is also aware of his unpopular looks. “He was once asked by a photographer if his right profile is better or left. Emraan told him that it doesn’t matter as both are equally bad. He believes that a good performance can make up for looks but a poor show can make even a good-looking actor look bad.”

His strengths have also been his weak points,causing him to stop short of becoming a star or a brand. While newcomers like Sushant Singh Rajput,Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan are endorsing brands and enjoying star status,the same eludes the 34-year-old. “He isn’t a mainstream actor,who can be instantly recognised. So big brands are unlikely to find him bankable. Nor does he have a strong association with a specific genre like action or comedy. With his unconventional looks,he may perhaps work for an ad where the story is more important than the face presenting the product,like the mobile phone ads with R Madhavan,” says brand consultant Ramanujan Sridhar.

But the actor is nonchalant about it. “You can call me a ‘Z’ league actor if you will,” he says with a smirk,adding,“The box office shouldn’t be the only barometer of success in the industry. Everything adds up. Shanghai didn’t do well but it got me Danis’ film. Ek Thi Daayan didn’t do as well as the Raaz sequel but it has increased my base among the multiplex audience.”

Even as he attempts to gain a grip on this new audience,Hashmi is unwilling to let go of his loyal fan base. “While I will do films such as Shanghai for myself,I will keep doing films for the masses as well,as they are the ones who have made me successful,” says Hashmi who is doing a movie with Vishesh Films,belying rumours of a rift.