Emraan Hashmi and Prachi Desai now Neha Sharma
He kept everyone in suspense but eventually didn’t kiss Prachi Desai in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai. But Emraan Hashmi is back to locking lips in his new film, Crook—It’s Good To Be Bad, that opens on October 8. “As the title suggests, I’m this mischievous, rebellious, devious boy from India who deals in piracy and in Australia, plays with the lives of two women simultaneously,” Hashmi explains.“So some amount of intimacy is justified. I’ve done it in my usual uninhibited, unapologetic way. I guess, because of my liberal, somewhat westernised upbringing, I’ve never been leery about kissing. It’s not as if I was the first actor to do it, but for some reason, it’s become a part of my brand identity. Now, even when I don’t kiss, it raises as many questions as when I do.”
Emraan HashmiIt’s said that his co-star Neha Sharma refused to kiss him on screen, so the Aussie was brought in to add the necessary sizzle. “You’ll have to ask Neha that,” says Hashmi.
“As far as I know, the kiss was always in the script to trigger off a string of events that takes the story forward. My relationship with Neha’s character is more romantic while the affair with the Australian girl is pretty steamy.”
How does his wife react to such scenes? “I don’t expect Parveen to be understanding about it but she understands that it’s a professional decision that I have to live with,” he shrugs.
And how does he plan to explain his “professional decision” to son Ayaan when he grows up? “I’ll figure it out when I get there. Today, 10 year olds say things that shock me so I guess, Ayaan will be the one explaining things to me,” the actor grins.
On a more serious note, Hashmi adds that the film is not only about kisses and misses: “It focuses on a serious issue without getting judgemental about it. What happened in Australia happens in the US, the UK and in India too. It doesn’t make the country racist.”