Emraan Hashmi: Box office pressure makes actors jittery

Actor Emraan Hashmi feels Bollywood today is so obsessed with trade collections that it not only takes away the thrill of working, but also makes the actors jittery.

Emraan has featured in several blockbuster films like ‘Murder’, ‘Gangster’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai’, apart from starring in relatively smaller movies like ‘Shanghai’ and ‘Ek Thi Daayan’.

“Obsession with numbers gets the thrill out of working in films. Everything can’t be equated only with numbers. Sometimes, it is a small film and you crush the spirit of the film because it may not do the kind of numbers,” Emraan told PTI in an interview.

“But it is appreciated to a certain extent and people need to understand that. They need to understand what the film tries to do. And not equate everything with the box office numbers,” he said.

The 37-year-old actor has tried to strike a balance between commercial and off-beat movies with films like ‘The Dirty Picture’ and dark-comedy ‘Ghanchakkar’.

His recent films, however, did not perform well at the box office, including ‘Hamari Adhuri Kahani’, ‘Mr. X’ and ‘Raja Natwarlal’.

When asked if the box office pressure dictates an actor’s choice of films, Emraan said, “In some films it does, in some films you like to take a risk. But I think the more you have news articles coming out, the media talking about these terms, then it also gets the actors jittery. They are afraid of trying something new.”

The ‘Jannat’ star feels either an actor will be afraid to move out of his comfort zone or will be forced to try new things as that is something, which the industry dictates.

“Either that or the actors are pushed to try something new. Because the industry dictates, ‘Ok he is not doing anything new, so he should do something new’. But no one really knows what works or doesn’t work,” he said.

The actor, whose latest ‘Azhar’ released on Friday, swears he never gets “swayed” by the numbers and feels the talk about film business is annoying.

“I have never been swayed by the numbers. It is a bit annoying because everyone has become a trade pundit. You go to the street and your watchman is telling you how much your film has collected, it has come down to that,” Emraan said.

“Your driver knows about the trade collections. I say, ‘Just watch the film and enjoy, why are you telling me numbers’. Even my family, friends who are not from the industry, know how much weekend business a movie has done,” he said.

Emraan also has an issue with audience judging a film just by the ‘star ratings’.

For the ‘Awarapan’ actor, constructive criticism is fine, but not the kind of reviews, which he thinks, try to pull a film down unnecessarily.

“Star ratings are another thing. Some will say ‘this film is not good as it got only two stars’ and then that becomes a benchmark… I am comfortable with constructive criticism.

“I am not okay with if you, for no reason, try to pull down an actor or a film, personal biases and all that. You can see through those kind of reviews. When you have done something wrong, you know it,” the actor said.

Inputs from PTI

Also Read: EMRAAN HASHMI’S ‘AZHAR’ EARNS RS. 6.50 CR ON ITS SECOND DAY

Amod Pandit

Quiet, resonant, and creative, he can be seen immersed in his own world, and puts in his heart and soul into the one passion that he has, Bollywood. His line for survival? Feel happy to be a part of it.