Does ‘superstar’ Emraan Hashmi need to try something different?

Article by Film critic and trade analyst Joginder Tuteja

‘Raaz 3’ has done it. The film, after taking a 36 crore opening weekend, has sustained magnificently during the weekdays as well. While this has pretty much indicated that the film has been accepted, what is totally amazing is the fact that this Vikram Bhatt directed flick is now all set to cross the 75 crores mark. Fantastic, since none of Emraan’s closest contemporaries – Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan or Shahid Kapoor – have managed such a feat for their solo starrers.

While Ranbir and Imran have still managed to cross the 60 crore mark, Shahid hasn’t scored even a half century yet.

With a consistent run of commercially successful films behind him (Jannat 2, The Dirty Picture, Murder 2, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji), a critically acclaimed performance (Shanghai) and ‘Crook’ being his only flop in a very long time, Emraan has clearly moved on from the dark period of his career when he delivered a hat trick of flops in ‘The Train’, ‘Good Boy Bad Boy’ and ‘Awarapan’ (ironically one of his best films and performances till date).

The ’75 crore rupees question’ though is – what next? Fair enough, so Emraan is gathering steam with his fan base, he is delivering one hits after another and he is being wooed by the best in the business. Still, many in the industry have a question to ask – ‘Till when would he continue to do similar roles? Isn’t it about time that he changes tracks?’

My question is – ‘At this stage of his career, does he really have to enforce change in perception?’

After all, if one looks into the history, be it Shahrukh Khan (Raj/Rahul), Salman Khan (Prem), Ajay Devgn (bring-on-the-goons-and-I-will-fight) or the ‘baap’ of them all, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan (Vijay, Vijay and more of Vijay), they have all revelled in playing by their image for 7-8 years at the least before they began reinventing themselves with various characterisation.

The formula remained same, the components changed a little.

Not that Emraan hasn’t started working in this direction. He has films like ‘Unglee’ (expected to be a dramatic thriller), ‘Ghanchakkar’ (a comedy with Vidya Balan), ‘Daayan’ (a supernatural thriller), an untitled Akshay Roy film with Deepika Padukone (since Karan Johar and Ekta are coming together, this has to be different) and ‘Rush’ (a delayed film but miles away from the likes of ‘Raaz 3’ and ‘Jannat 2’) all set to arrive in quick succession.

These may or may not have the sex element. They may or may not be suited for ‘family audiences’. However on paper they look good. While the superstar status seems to be pretty much secured for next couple of years at the least, the ‘perception change’ may well have to wait.