Emraan Hashmi currently enjoys the remarkable success of his cameo appearance in last year's hit show 'The Ba***ds of Bollywood'. This brief role dramatically elevated his stardom across the industry. Fans passionately celebrated his electric chemistry with co-star Raghav Juyal, sparking a massive social media frenzy. Their enthusiasm grew so strong that they started calling him 'Emraan Paglu' as a term of endearment.
Role Impact Over Length
In a recent conversation with India Today, Emraan reflected on the show's transformative effect on his career. He highlighted his talent for embracing varied characters with genuine delight. The actor expressed deep appreciation for the massive affection and vital recognition he received. He stated clearly, "Even though it was just a cameo, and I always say, it's never the length of the role. It's always the impact that you leave. Even in a few scenes, it's about how the character performs. And it was a cameo, which was just two days' work, and I really didn't expect this."
Emraan recalled the filming process with fond memories. "I mean, when you are shooting it with everyone, it's all a great scene. We did have a couple of laughs while we were shooting it, because of how the scene was written, but we didn't know it was going to blow up this way. It's good that the acknowledgement and that love have come my way."
Fanbase Evolution
When asked about the noticeable change in his fanbase following the show, Emraan observed an interesting shift. His audience now draws more men alongside the young women who have long supported him. He explained with a loud laugh, "I think in the first 10 years, men used to hate me a lot. I don't know the reasons... I guess the stuff that I used to do on screen. Men thought I was in a kind of privileged position. So yes, it's interesting that this has kind of garnered that."
Avoiding The Typecasting Trap
During the conversation, Emraan discussed how actors commonly get trapped in a single image within Bollywood. That familiar image often brings in box office earnings, prompting others to try copying it. He views typecasting as a safety net but personally prefers choosing diverse roles as a true artist.
"Even in the same mould of characters, I added my own variety. And I did that in the initial first 10-12 years of my career. But everything reaches a saturation point. Audiences change, their tastes change. And then you have to be... You can't be a victim of that. You can't become like this caricature of yourself. Because then it's a very limited run for you. So if you want to run the marathon here, you have to be able to surprise the audience every now and then," he added emphatically.
OTT's Audience Shift
Emraan noted that shifts in movies and streaming services have significantly sharpened audience tastes. This change comes thanks to the global content variety now available. This evolution excites him but also increases the challenge for creators. After 25 years and nearly 50 films, selecting scripts becomes trickier as many feel stale. Turning down routine projects is essential unless they deliver true novelty and quality.
The actor elaborated, "We live for this... the more the variety, the better it is. As far as roles, it's very important to keep the kind of stuff that you explore. Back in the day, yes, I used to play a lot of characters. I was heroic, but they had no grey shades. Now, with the shift that came with OTT, it's great that you are getting to play the same thing over the course of multiple episodes."
He continued, "As actors, you have that greed, you get more scenes to flesh it out and present that character to the audience. In a consolidated film, it's just two-three hours. But in this, you get more scenes to play it out. I like that... the whole thing of playing out things in a show."
About 'Taskaree'
Directed by Neeraj Pandey, the series 'Taskaree' is currently streaming on Netflix. The show also stars Sharad Kelkar, Zoya Afroz, Nandish Singh Sandhu and Anurag Sinha among other talented performers.
