Ask him if the 'serial kisser' tag has helped him or damaged his reputation, Emraan say’s "I don't know if it is still helping me or damaging my career right now. Something is working...because my films are working. Eventually no one gives a damn about what someone writes or thinks about the onscreen image. As long as your products like The Dirty Picture, Murder 2 are good no one really thinks of the image."
The 32-year-old actor, who married his long time girl friend Parveen Shahani in 2006 and has a son named Ayaan, does not share details of his films with his wife "I do tell her about the films I do but she doesn't go into the details about it otherwise she would never let me do it," Chuckles Emraan.
He usually prefer solo projects but in Dirty Picture Vidya Balan has taken away the maximum limelight does it worried him getting sidelined for the first time in a project “I am usually a very selfish actor I don’t like sharing screen space with anyone. While signing this film it did crossed my mind that generally I like playing the protagonist. The screen footage for Vidya was just too much. But somewhere I knew that if I don’t do this film then come December when it releases I am going to regret not being a part of such a great project. It wasn’t the role as big as Murder 2, or Jannat or even Raaz 2 but I wanted to be a part of this film.”
The boldness quotient that he initiated with his films is finally getting some amount of acceptance does he consider himself a potent part of the change “Recently after the huge responce to Dirty picture I recevied this message (Hi Emraan, you have one more successful film. May you spread even more dirt over the years. Cheers! ) I actually cracked up when I read this. I started a trend others might follow it but it took lot of courage to take a road less travelled.”
But the itch to "be different" continues to drive him. His brand of films aside, Emraan say’s he feels no pressure to tone down his act even though his son is growing up, for he makes films for his fans "Maybe, a few years down the line I may act in films which I can watch with my son, but no, I don't see the necessity to restrict my act in films fearing my son will view me in a certain light."
Emraan who is playing a porn director in his next film Dibakar Banerjee's Shanghai hopes to take on Khans, at least numerically. He is very clear that as far as the business and trade goes, he would want to be compared to the Khans and not to new people.
Emraan has set eyes in the top league aiming to reach the magical three digit figure of 100 crore in the next three years. And he talks straight statistics. "I do not want to use Khans as the benchmark, I would use it in terms of the number game, the magical number of three digits. Murder 2 has done 60 crore plus business, further I am looking at the three digit number," says Emraan.
Currently, Emraan definitely has a monopoly when it comes to such bold subjects. But will he ever do a family-oriented, clean, commercial film "I will do films for the universal audience only if it is a different subject, a different film. But at the same time films like Murder are my strong points. The bold elements are synonymous with me and down the line if I get a commercial entertainer I will do those too," he says.
At present, Emraan is basking in the glory of The Dirty Picture success feels "I don't want to run race with anyone, the others can race with each other. I have conviction in doing something different and I am not using other actors or any other successful film as the benchmark. I don't compete with anyone, I walk my own path, there is no one ahead of me, and there is no one behind me. There is no one in this industry who does films like I do. And as far as the revenue goes I will keep churning out hits. I will get that figure up to where these magical numbers are. These three digit numbers in the next three years," he avers before signing off. |
