EXCLUSIVE: “Sequels Make It Easy to Get Lazy”: Emraan Hashmi Speaks Out

Actor Emraan Hashmi found himself being a viral sensation out of nowhere recently when the Netflix series, The Ba***ds of Bollywood released last year. And now, it is only fitting that his next project is his own led Netflix series, Taskaree - The Smuggler's Web, created and co-directed by Neeraj Pandey.

For the same, Emraan sat down for an exclusive conversation with India Forums. And in a free-flowing conversation, we went on to ask him about the greed towards banking on nostalgia.

Q. When one has a prolific career like you do, nostalgia and legacy is a prominent factor. You just got the reaps of it from The Ba***ds of Bollywood where people went bonkers over you courtesy the love you have garnered over the years. I want to know, if you ever fall into the pit of banking on this nostalgia when something new is offered to you ever or you stay clear about it?

Emraan: "No no of course, you have to go down that route of letting the past be the past and moving further and beyond the stuff that you have done. That's why it becomes so tricky after spending about 25 years in the industry. The challenge always is to keep it new when you have done certain kinds of characters. Genres and stories and what you can bring as something new to the table keeps differing from what the director offers you becomes the challenge."

It is the easiest thing in a sequel to get complacent because you have the benefit of it being a sequel. But I think now, that our industry and the price that we have had to pay theatrically and so many films haven't been working well for the longest time post COVID-19, I think it's time for everyone to pull up their socks and put their best foot forward and then ultimately and obviously what works and what doesn't work is beyond one's control.

- Emraan Hashmi (as told to India Forums)

But he also went on to highlight, "Sometimes, you can go down the route of nostalgia that's why there are sequels as we see. But I think it's most important to constantly surprise the audience, where even the sequels should surprise the audience, and that's a lot trickier. It shouldn't be taken as a clutch where you can say that okay, it's a sequel and there's nostalgia so the actor shouldn't have that been-there-done-that situation. You should be giving them something new and they shouldn't feel like they have already seen this."

We further probed him and wondered asking him-

Q. And it would be easy to get complacent as well when you're doing it?

Emraan: "It is the easiest thing in a sequel to get complacent because you have the benefit of it being a sequel. But I think now, that our industry and the price that we have had to pay theatrically and so many films haven't been working well for the longest time post COVID-19, I think it's time for everyone to pull up their socks and put their best foot forward and then ultimately and obviously what works and what doesn't work is beyond one's control."

Emraan Hashmi's career has been one to witness, one that has been a roller-coaster but having spawned almost two plus decades, it has been about longevity and that he has managed to achieve, not only being more relevant now than ever but also having some of the most exciting films and shows under his belt. Sure, his recent box-office run as a leading man hasn't gotten returns but there has never been a singular doubt about his acting chops, and in fact, it only continues to get better.