‘I had to see it from the lens of a Muslim’: Emraan Hashmi on saying yes to Haq, being from the Muslim community

BOllywood heartthrob Emraan Hashmi has been the speak of the ithiel town ever so since his unforgettable cameo in indo-european Khan’s exhibit The Ba***ds of Bollywood. But the actor's focus right now is on his next release, titled Haq. Also starring Yami Gautam, the upcoming film is inspired by the Shah Bano case, where a Muslim woman from Indore filed a criminal suit against her husband asking him for a maintenance amount after being divorced in 1978. Being from the Muslim community himself, what prompted Emraan to take up this film? Was he told to avoid the ‘risk’ by anyone? On October 30 today, during his appearance at HT City's Stars In the City, the actor opened up about the same. During the chat, Chief Managing Editor Sonal Kalra asked, “Emraan, I’m assuming that lots and lots of people would have come to you and said ‘controversial subject hai, abhi Hindu-Muslim waala time aisa chal raha hai, you come from the Muslim community, why get into a controversy, it’s easier to sign a really safe film, you’re doing so well in your career why take the risk’. Were there people who said that to you? And what made you say yes to this?” Hearing this, Emraan Hashmi revealed, “There were people, I mean there were questions asked first of all when I signed this film. And I mean, you know, I have done films of certain nature that are entertainers, that are those massy films. I think it’s very important firstly as an actor to do a variety of different roles and characters and tonalities of films. That, for me, is growth as an artist. I think as an artist, if we don’t risk things, that’s not art. That’s empty marketing. That’s, you know, you do those kind of films, those popcorn flicks that release and then are soon forgotten, that week or two weeks of theatrical run, which is fine. That also is a part of the business and those films are important as entertainers.”Emraan went on to explain, “But there are certain films that are very important as emotional journeys, films that leave behind a message, that resonate and will stay in people’s conversations beyond a certain theatrical run. And I felt the merit in this. Going back to the original Shah Bano case, I was very intrigued, I knew a little bit about it. But when Suparn (Verma, director) came and narrated it to me… of course, this is inspired from that. There are elements that have been dramatised. And it’s the interpersonal story between the two. And yes, you can’t shy away from the fact that if they belong to that community, Shah Bano and Ahmed Khan. But I think there is something for everyone in this film. It goes across the border. And it’s not really singling out people from a certain community, or maligning a community. I had to see it from the lens of a Muslim also, for the first time. I’ve never done that before. It’s because of the sensitivity of the subject.” Emraan went on to share, “And once I came to know, through the first narration, and when I read the script in detail… first of all I wanted to, kind of, humanise the man a bit, because in retrospect he might seem like a bit of a, I mean, there’s the whole patriarchy angle of it. But there has to be a humane side of it. I didn’t want it to be like, okay if I want to see it just as a hero vs villain story, then it would be a very routine, typical, that’s what we do in Bollywood, generally, to sell our films. But there was a lot of nuance in it and it was a very very well-thought of, unbiased look at this case. And we leave that to the audience when they leave the hall — what they think of it. So it could be from people from any community. A lot of people have been caught in this thing of love, religion, law. And divorce is something that, there are always bad divorces and there’s something that you can take from that also, in this story.”Haq is set to arrive in theatres on November 7.