Emraan Hashmi talks with DNA about his Tiger 3 character Aatish Rehman and the YRF Spy Universe.
The latest YRF Spy Universe film Tiger 3 took a strong opening at the box office, and has grossed over Rs 400 crore worldwide in its first two weeks. The film brought back Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif’s super spies Tiger and Zoya where they faced off against a new threat – former ISI officer Aatish Rehman, played by Emraan Hashmi. The actor is getting a lot of praise for his portrayal of the film’s villain. In an exclusive chat with DNA recently, Emraan opened up about the appeal of vilains, playing grey characters all his life, and whether we will see Aatish again on screen.
Aatish is the proverbial villain but he is much more than that. The film, like other YRF Spy Universe films, shows the villain’s human side, throwing some light on his motivations and back story too. Talking about taking up negative roles, Emraan says, “I have always had a fascination for antagonists, not just as an actor but as a viewer too. I have played a handful of them in my career earlier. I see the appeal and I understand it’s lot to do with the unpredictability of the character. There is an intrigue in that on how someone can go that far because generally in our lives, we tend to play safe.”
But Emraan’s antagonists – and even protagonists – are seldom black or white. In a two-decade-long career, he has made a name for himself by playing morally grey characters. He admits there is a reason for that. “I have always played grey characters because I feel we all somewhere function in areas of grey. Like they always say that it’s not good to be too nice because the world will trample on you. I think the ethos today is that you have to be a little bad sometimes. There lies an area of grey. I’m sure we have all done things in our lives that we are not proud of. That is a reflection of how my characters are portrayed on screen. Even with Aatish, from his perspective, there is justification to why he is doing what he is. He is not a unidimensional villain,” explains the actor.
It’s only been two weeks since the release of Tiger 3 but a few fans have already called for an Aatish-based spinoff withi the YRF Spy Universe. “I think it’s flattering,” says Emraan. But will that happen? The actor doesn’t quite answer that but he does admit it would be an interesting opportunity. “Why not? You can always have a prequel or see his life the way it was because he wanted to avenge and go against Tiger. It could be somewhere down the line he intercepts other protagonists. This is the beauty of a cinematic universe, the spy universe. You have different characters merging into stories with their back stories stemming prequels and sequels. It’s a new experiment for our audience and so far so good. It’s worked in Hollywood with Marvel,” he says.
Tiger 3, directed by Maneesh Sharma, is currently running in theatres.
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 "Emraan Hashmi in Tiger 3")
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