Emraan Hashmi captures the golden age of heists in Baadshaho

By Asjad Nazir

ACTOR Emraan Hashmi has been swimming against the tide for over decade, with grey shaded characters mostly rooted in reality. His out of the box brand of cinema has now filtered into the Bollywood mainstream and other heroes are now following in his experimental footsteps.

Hashmi is once again playing an unpredictable role in this week’s big Bollywood release Baadshaho. He stars alongside Ajay Devgn, Ileana D’Cruz and Esha Gupta in the 1970s-set heist thriller, which is directed by Milan Luthria. The twist-laden story is set during the state of emergency and inspired by a real life gold heist.

Eastern Eye caught up with Emraan to talk about Baadshaho, his unique approach to cinema, biggest motivating factor, acting, and the seventies.

The last time you, Ajay Devgn and director Milan Luthria teamed up, you made magic with 2010 gangster hit Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai. Why has it taken you so long to get back together?

We were very busy with our own films and it was important that if we came back after Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai it had to be good. We knew there would be big expectations because Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai was loved and kind of a cult film in that genre. We wanted to come up with something that didn’t have a semblance to that film and wanted a unique subject. Then Milan got busy on other films like The Dirty Picture. That is why it took so long. But we were very clear that it would definitely have to be very special and not something half-hearted that would just fizzle out. When we were happy with the script of Baadshaho that is when we all stepped in.

You are known to like out of the box subjects. What did you like about Baadshaho?

I like the genre of heists. It’s a kind of gritty, unpredictable genre with lots of style and substance. I got some offers before in that space, but the films lacked a certain gravitas, subject matter and script. Firstly placing this one in the state of emergency was a great move. It gives a very different visual texture to the film. The lead characters are very well written. In a heist film the basic law is that if these guys are on a mission and it is a cakewalk then the audience perceive it as such, and it won’t work. Here the odds are stacked against these characters. The script kept me guessing and on the edge. That is what got me into it.

It is always difficult to tell whether you are playing a good, bad or grey character. What is your character in Baadshaho?

I think that is true of all the characters in this film. They are all grey and very proud of it. They are all unapologetic and there is no squeaky clean character. Lets face it, if you are going to rob a truck full of gold, the law is after you and it is perceived to be immoral. But making some of these characters endearing was the trick. You realise how that will happen when you go on the journey with this film. So (my character) Dalia is grey. I believe he is the most twisted out of the six main characters. He is the edgiest and the most unpredictable. At the same time he is the funniest and most entertaining character I have ever played.

No one plays a grey character better than you. What keeps taking you to these roles?

I guess they fascinate me. More than classifying them as grey characters I think they are very real. There are these three-dimensional heroes our cinema is known for, which I frankly find very boring. So I find the space of thrillers and dark edgy dramas interesting.

But at the same time I want to make these characters endearing, which for me has been a challenge in each film. It is very easy to skip over and discredit them and the audience might not even like them after deeds they have done. I think that is what keeps me on my toes and thankfully I have got some well written characters.

That was the case in Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai. Yes very much so. In that film Sultan and Shoaib were both grey characters. My character might have been the darker of the two, but I tried making him endearing and found the root of his actions. Somewhere to him everything was justified. He shouldn’t come across as just a villain. He was a product of his environment and this was the path he was going to take. So there is an added thrill in each film I do.

How was the dynamic of working with director Milan Luthria again?

I think he has definitely evolved as a director. He has always been very calm and collected. He views things with a certain clarity, which is transferred on to the cast and crew. It becomes a very easy environment on his set. He has grown with each of the unique subjects he has done and is always up for a challenge. He brings something new to the table each time, but at the same time is as calm and collected as in my first film with him.

Like all of your films, this has blockbuster songs. Which is your favourite?

I would say Socha Hai. This released originally in Deewar in the 1970s and was an iconic track, which I loved and heard so many times. I felt it would be a great track for Baadshaho because of the era it is set in and we have made it contemporary at the same time.

What is your favourite moment in the movie?

There is an elaborate action portion, which you have seen a glimpse of in the promos. When they jump on the truck. It is a great death-defying stunt. I think that is a high adrenalin sequence. I enjoyed doing that.

Baadshaho is set in the seventies. What do you love about that decade?

The clothes. The kind of cinema they had at that time was unique. There was some great writing and there were some big blockbuster films at that point in time. There was also some great music.

Which movies from the seventies do you love?

Trishul and Sholay for sure. I really enjoyed Amitabh Bachchan and his rise as the angry young man through the seventies. I was born in 1979 and started consuming films in the mideighties. They were predominantly Bachchan’s movies from that 1970s era. All his hits.

What is your biggest motivation as an actor?

I think just to keep striving to play good characters, deliver good performances,

make good movies and carry on entertaining my fans.

You take more risks than other mainstream stars. Where does that come from?

I don’t know if they are risks. I just do things that I like doing. The kind of cinema I am used to seeing isn’t the traditional conformist kind of cinema prevalent in the Hindi film industry. So I get these unique subjects, which have become a kind of a stamp since my first few films.

You have blurred the lines.

Yes, actually at these times the line has become pretty blurred. You really don’t know what is out of the box or commercial, because, let’s face it, in the past few years all out of the box films have been commercial films, and the commercial films have been duds. That is a calling for our industry to get on to do something new and unique. Because the commercial films our industry has been doling out haven’t done anything at the box office, the audience is prepared to see more different stuff.

Is it fair to call you a rebel?

I would say that. I definitely like swimming against the tide and doing my own thing. I don’t like people telling me this is the trend and you should be following it. Then I would flip and do completely the opposite, what I want to do. I don’t like following trends and it has got nothing to do with just for effects. It genuinely is a fact that I don’t like certain stereotypes in cinema, music or anything.

Why should we watch Baadshaho?

I think it is a fantastic film. It’s a masala entertainer from an era that was the glory days of films. It has large action set pieces, dialogues, larger than life characters and is actually based on a real story of this gold that was transported and just disappeared on a journey in Rajasthan in the seventies. And no one to this day knows where it went. That is where this film semi-fictionalises it. It takes that story and places these fictional characters in. It is a take on what could have happened to the gold. So it is a very interesting film.

Why do you love cinema?

It has had a profound impact on me as a person. Imagination is something we all have and cinema tests the boundaries of that. It’s there purely for entertainment. I think if you are having a hard stressful day cinema is something that can hurl you into a different new world and you kind of forget about your stresses.

Baadshaho is in cinemas now