Actor Emraan Hashmi got his big break in Anurag Basu’s 2006 erotic thriller Murder. Hashmi played an obsessive lover in the film, which had several kissing scenes.
After Murder, the actor continued doing lip-lock scenes in his other films, which led to him being labelled as the ‘serial kisser’ of Bollywood in the early 2000s.
Emraan Hashmi reacts to his ‘serial kisser’ tag
During a new podcast on journalist Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel, Emraan Hashmi opened up about being typecast as a serial kisser in Hindi films.
“I think with a lot of artistes, a patent thing happens, an image is created and it doesn’t leave them,” Hashmi said.
Referring to Shah Rukh Khan, the Showtime actor said the superstar has had a great career, however, he is mostly recognised for his signature open-arm pose.
Hashmi called it a “compliment” for Shah Rukh and said Salman Khan takes off his T-shirt in films and Anil Kapoor’s “jhakas” dialogue is his patent thing.
Emraan Hashmi opens up about selling his ‘serial kisser’ image in films
Emraan Hashmi further explained that an actor has a label which “makes it easier to identify him”. Giving his own example, Hashmi said he would be recognised as a serial kisser in many films in his career.
The actor said, “I don’t blame the audience. A major part of my career till 2009, for 7-8 years, was the image that the producers were selling. I was selling myself.”
Talking about the lip-lock scenes in Murder, Hashmi said it was a “disruption” in Hindi cinema, as audiences had not seen such a “bold quotient” and “unabashedly rebellious characters” at that time.
The actor said that his characters at that time were “tainted” and indulged in “immoral activities” unlike other heroes who were “righteous”.
Emraan Hashmi was last seen in a cameo role in Sara Ali Khan’s 2024 film Ae Watan Mere Watan. He has two Telugu films, OG and G2, in his kitty.
Also read: Emraan Hashmi addresses his infamous 20-year-old feud with Murder co-star Mallika Sherawat: ‘We were young and foolish’