With five flops on the trot, Emraan Hashmi confesses he feels stereotyped
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 2, 2016)

Emraan Hashmi’s irreverent attitude could be dangerous for an actor who has delivered five duds back-to-back. But, he says he is naturally defiant. When hitlist meets him, his droopy-eyed gaze says it all. “You never get used to the exhaustion of promotions,” he adds quickly. But the man, who has lost his mojo, has no other option. He shirks off the weariness and opens up about why he isn’t the massy actor he is made out to be and plans to foray into production. Edited excerpts from the chat:

Success has eluded you in your last few outings.
When things fail, we all live in the hope that going back to basics can revive the magic. As actors, we have to remain unattached to the failure and success of our films; at least make that effort. You have given your best and then the ball is in the audience’s court.

Your taste in films as a viewer is different from the kind you act in.
I always knew what I didn’t want to do. Typical rom-coms were an absolute no-no for me. I am a bit of a freak when it comes to films. I like these immoral, unethical characters I play. They are the likeable wrong men, irreverent and yet they have a certain charm about them. I love dark roles and doing genres like horror that actors don’t touch easily. So far, I have done what I believe in.

Are you at peace with your choices?
I feel stereotyped. Sometimes it is tiring to live up to the image I had carved as a youngster. The industry allows you limited bandwidth to function within. You cannot easily tip over and start doing something else. This problem is not peculiar to India or Bollywood alone. But, at least, Hollywood allows you more breathing space to try your hand at different things. We cater to the the taste of the audience that still wants heroes to rescue damsels-in-distress. How much of that can you do? After a point, it gets repetitive, hence, pushing the audience into a Catch-55 situation. Over time, actors learn what tricks to use, which buttons to press and what reactions to evoke from people.

Every actor has his share of regrets. What are yours?
I am stuck with the wrong target audience. For the first six years of my career, the kind of films I was doing was the exact opposite of what I liked watching. People perceived me as an entirely different person. I was looked upon as this actor, who talks only in Hindi, cannot utter a word of English. People were surprised when they met me because I didn’t fit their expectations. I did films that pitched to the front-row audience, because that was my base. But I ended up getting stuck in the rut and could not come out of it. I saw different kinds of cinema and could not do those films for a living. When I tried that, a lot of them didn’t do well. Most of my successful films are for the mass audience. God forbid, if they ever meet me, they will feel I am a cheat. Something doesn’t add up in that equation. I am waiting for a script that caters to every segment of the audience.

When you tried to break out of your serial kisser image, the films didn’t work.
Maybe, if a Ghanchakkar were made today, it would have worked. Failure always hurts. It throws you into self-doubt that probably you should have done a film differently or it shouldn’t have been done at all. But we are all in for a gamble. I don’t mind failing, but I do mind not taking risks.

What’s next?
I am focussing on Baadshaho. I am also starting a production house. We haven’t locked the script yet, but we plan to kick off our first project next year. It has to be something I believe in and my reputation precedes me in this case. When I get what I want, I will know.