Mumbai, Maharashtra: Actor Emraan Hashmi had a special conversation with IANS. While talking to IANS, the actor spoke about what drew him to his upcoming film 'HAQ', which is about to release. During the conversation Emraan Hashmi opens up about the 'Awarapan 2'. He says, It very great. we have a fantastic script, we have shots some really intense scenes and shooting is still ongoing.
00:00Welcome to INS and congratulations for how that's about to be in the cinema.
00:05I want to start off by asking that while you were narrated this script and you were presented with the idea,
00:10what was your initial thought and what was it about the subject matter that appealed to the artist in you?
00:16I found it very intriguing because it was about a case that, inspired by a case that I have known about
00:22and probably just from a surface level, I didn't know the details of this case.
00:27I didn't know the emotional story beyond this case and this was something that the director and the writer have researched.
00:33But what really drew me in is it says so many things about so many different issues, keeping the core human drama intact.
00:42It has a piece on a woman's voice, truth, justice, betrayal, love.
00:52There's a piece and a tonality of personal faith and what that means for someone and how when these two things clash,
01:01someone's constitutional rights as a citizen and another one as their personal belief and their faith,
01:10when these two things clash, it gets very complicated. So that really hit home with me.
01:16And you mentioned that the film touches upon the rights of a woman, the legalities and faith and everything.
01:24Now, from what I remember, this is one incident which largely shaped the contours of what India is currently today
01:30in terms of the social fabric of our nation. I'm sure there was a sense of responsibility that kicked in after a point.
01:35It's a massive subject that I have to do complete justice to it.
01:39How did you navigate that path, that sense of responsibility, yet feeling that excitement as an artist?
01:46You know, sense of responsibility was very evident. I wouldn't take much credit for it.
01:51I would give credit to the writer and the director and the team.
01:54Because the subject itself was handled with a lot of care, sensitivity, the sense of responsibility.
02:01Because you're inspired by a certain case which was a landmark case.
02:05It really set the ball in motion for a lot of things to come after that.
02:10You know, politics, religion, it had so many tones to it and dimensions that it still resonates in conversations today.
02:23When you talk about things about women's rights, a woman's right to equality, it all stems from this woman's fight for justice
02:33and a basic thing where she wanted maintenance beyond the period which her religion, personal faith, law dictated.
02:42So, she didn't know what she was eventually fighting for in the larger scheme of things.
02:47She was just fighting for herself and her kids.
02:49But she became this torch bearer for something that was more than just her or more than just that problem in her life.
02:56So that, I mean that hit. You know.
02:59And also I think something that will stay with the audience for a long time.
03:03And I believe the major part of film also involves courtroom sequences.
03:08It does, yeah.
03:09No, it's that space wherein naturally a one-upmanship comes into play and you have to be very spontaneous with the way your co-enter is reacting and then accordingly you have to react to that.
03:19How was it for you exploring that space?
03:22Yeah, I mean, you know, there is a situation, there is also a dynamic in a courtroom in at least this film.
03:29I don't want to actually give too much away but, you see, he's a lawyer.
03:32And that's his space.
03:34And it's almost like the underdog where she, it's not, she's not used to this.
03:40She's never even stepped into a courtroom.
03:42So it's almost like she's on his turf.
03:45So it wasn't like this battle of equals.
03:48It's almost like David and Goliath.
03:50This man who is a towering figure in the field of law and justice.
03:55And this woman who didn't have basic education and didn't have avenues of understanding what the machinery or justice has to offer.
04:07But she still fought.
04:09So that dynamic was very interesting.
04:12And yeah, of course, you have a little bit of improv.
04:14But generally we stuck the script in the monologues that were given to us.
04:18And in all your performances, what I've seen is that you've become one with the character.
04:23Now there's been very famous lines that someone had said, I don't recollect the name.
04:27But they said something to the effect of that the actors, they don't have the luxury to judge the characters that they play.
04:33And it's very important for them to put 100% of themselves in that character.
04:38Now given that this character, or any character for that matter, could be way off from your personal beliefs or how you see the world, your perspective, your personal opinion.
04:49How do you, like, bridge that gap between your personal choices, your personal perspective or opinion and a character who's contrary to that?
05:00You don't play characters that are, you might play characters that are close to your ideology or your belief system.
05:08The whole idea of being an artist is also to play characters that you don't understand.
05:12Through the process of playing that character, you start understanding them better.
05:16When you read the script, when you re-read it, when you play those in-act the scenes emotionally, something happens where it was like,
05:22okay, this is what this character comes from, this is the truth of the character.
05:25So that's something that's exciting for all actors.
05:31And the more distant it is from your belief system, from your ideology, your world view, the more interesting it becomes.
05:41Because you understand yourself, when you're playing a character that's close to you, then what's the fun in that?
05:46You know exactly what that is.
05:47But then doing something that you don't understand, that's a challenge and that is also a certain awakening.
05:53And for the past few months, few weeks, this is barrage of that one clip from Beds of Bollywood that has taken over Instagram.
06:03And I want to say thank you to Aryan for putting out that sentiment of an entire generation that you know,
06:08Akka Bollywood Iktaraf and Imran Ashmeet.
06:10Now, of course you have massive blockbusters, super hits in your filmography, but then there are films like Shanghai.
06:16The other day I was talking to my friend about Tigers.
06:19You know, these are gems of films.
06:21They may not have been as big as hits as your other works may have been.
06:26But when people come up to you and talk about these films,
06:29Mere soar bhi log hoon hiya of course.
06:31Is there a thought that comes to you kiya?
06:33Kya minne maha tak bhi log tamali hai aur you are always aware about the impact of your work.
06:37See, you think every film has its own range.
06:40Understand one thing, when you have a commercial film, there are certain tropes that you have to tick,
06:45some boxes you have to tick.
06:47And the simpler the story, the more it itches out to more people.
06:52Right?
06:53There are certain complex films like Tigers that have that issue based and they, you know,
06:59Shanghai was an issue.
07:00So, you know, all the social, the fabric of our country.
07:05So, those have a limited range.
07:07You can't expect a Shanghai to do the business of a murder.
07:10Yeah, absolutely.
07:11Because they have two different films.
07:12Murder is a film that is driven to music, with this, you know, illicit affair and all those things.
07:18So, I know the range of this film.
07:20But it's very important for an actor to kind of do a whole range and variety of films.
07:25And present it to the audience so that they see it for what it is and see the versatility in a talent.
07:32Okay.
07:33And more than 20 years in the industry, 22 years, I remember, was 2003?
07:372003, yeah.
07:3822 years in the industry.
07:40You have done a lot.
07:42Of course, there's many things more that you look forward to in life.
07:46But as an artist who has been in the industry for 20, 25 years now, what is it that still fuels your passion and what is the kind of work that you crave to do?
07:55The process of filmmaking.
07:57Reading a script, getting excited about it, going on a film set, enacting those scenes, breathing life into a character, seeing it form on screen.
08:07Those are the things that still excite me.
08:09I mean, success, quest for success, you know, how a film does well, that is a by-product.
08:19That, the central thing is those 60 days or 100 days or whatever it takes to shoot a film for 50 days and play and serve that character.
08:32I think that for me is something that eventually I take back for me.
08:36And lastly, Awarapan, the first part, is a cult, you know, and entire generation, at least my generation lives by that film.
08:43The songs, your performance, Mohin Suri's direction, like everything is top notch.
08:47If you could give us some updates about Awarapan, what's going on, what's the current update like?
08:52It's going great, we have a fantastic script, we've shot some really intense scenes and yeah, the shooting is still ongoing.
09:01We're looking at an early release next year, the final, once the film shooting is complete, I think everyone will eventually come to know the shooting is complete.
09:12But yeah, this has got everything that people were expecting from Awarapan do, it's got love, angst, pain, redemption, great music, action.
09:21And I'm tempted to ask one last question, you mentioned great music, you're one of those superstars of our cinema, in addition to Rajesh Karna, who has, you know, massive artillery of super head songs, you know, chartbusters after chartbusters.
09:37But in the last decade or so, the music has completely changed, the sound of Bollywood has completely changed.
09:43Do you agree to that?
09:44Yeah, of course it has.
09:45Why do you think that has been happening?
09:48I mean, it's a change in taste of a new generation that comes, right?
09:52Youngsters come on the foray, their upbringing, their sound stage that they're used to, they get accustomed to something else.
10:03And every generation has its, has a different melody or a sound that they connect with or different frequencies that they kind of.
10:11And it becomes that whole mundane thing that every generation feels that their music is the best and the next generation is going down the dumps.
10:18Absolutely.
10:19So I don't really sit down and say that, although I do feel that sometimes, like the melodies were better in the early 2000s.
10:26But I think it's also become a little algorithm driven.
10:31It's become a little number crunching.
10:33I said, this song has done so many hundred million.
10:36These are the instruments used in this.
10:38So let's reverse engineer it and that's what's working.
10:41Creative arts don't function that way.
10:43You can't put a match to it.
10:44True.
10:45Either it hits you, it connects with your heart or it doesn't.
10:48And that's the way I've picked up music for my films.
10:50If it has that reaction, it gives you goosebumps.
10:54Either it makes you cry or give you goosebumps.
10:56That's a good song.
10:57Perfect.
10:58So with that we have reached the end of this conversation.
11:01If there's anything that I may have just asking or something that you would have to tell us.
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