EXCLUSIVE: Emraan Hashmi opens up about battling the serial kisser tag: I was getting sick of it

Emraan Hashmi is currently gearing up for the release of his upcoming film Chehre that also stars Amitabh Bachchan and Rhea Chakraborty. In a recent interview with Bollywood Bubble, Hashmi opened up about battling the serial kisser tag stereotyped him and why people tend to overlook the other gritty films he takes up while trying to suit their narratives. In his early career, the actor had a reputation for kissing on screen. When asked if he has been able to change that perception or run away from that tag, Emraan said, “In the first 10 years of my career, I was doing these films and unfortunately have done it to myself because this tag was given to me by myself as a joke and then this blow-up and media started talking about it. They kind of superseded everything and became a priority. That tag overpowered everything be it any news article or film review. It was sprinkled on everything to make it look interesting and readable and you have a country that is obsessive about this; sexuality and portraying it on screen. Back then, when I started in 2003, it was this ‘aha’ moment to see a guy who’s kissing all his heroines. That became a talking point.”

He added, “But as time went on, I realised that I was getting sick of it.  I reached a saturation point, even though those films were doing very well at the box office. I felt that there’s an actor in me who wants more. I am maturing as an actor, but I am forced to choose these scripts because this is what’s working, and in our industry, we want Xerox copies of everything. But I’m not getting any creative fulfilment. Then I started doing films like Shanghai, Tigers, and others. And I think people who have noticed them, I get a lot of love from them on social media. That also has benefitted me in a big way. I am constantly striving to do something different with my films.”

You can watch the entire interview here.

Chehre is releasing on August 27 in theatres.

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