Emraan Hashmi reveals Mahesh Bhatt had advised him not to play the anti-hero in Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

Emraan Hashmi recently revealed in an interview that he was advised by his uncle and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt on not playing the character in the 2010 crime-drama, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai. The film, directed by Milan Luthria, also starred Ajay Devgn, Kangana Ranaut, Prachi Desai and Randeep Hooda.

Emraan played the role of Shoaib Khan in the film, which was inspired from the real-life gangster Dawood Ibrahim. In an interview with Lallantop, Emraan recalled, “He(Mahesh Bhatt) warned me, ‘While some characters with grey shades are able to redeem themselves, this character will change people’s perception of you overnight. If you play this character, your career will be over.”

However, Emraan went on to do the role and the film turned out to be a success. After this, Mahesh had apologised to Milan as Emraan said, “When the film released and became a massive success, he called Milan and said, ‘I am sorry. I was wrong.’ He admitted that the film, contrary to his initial thoughts, was entertaining rather than dark.”

Emraan also talked about the climax of the film and added, “The hero of the film is killed and Shoaib begins to rule the city. It was quite different from other films. Ajay died and my character was an anti-hero. Bhatt saab was sceptical about the ending too. He was not sure if the audience would like it. But in our industry, only when you take a risk, you see success. Formula seldom works in our industry.”

Emraan was seen recently in the second part of his web-series Showtime on Disney+ Hotstar. His last theatrical release was the Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif starrer Tiger 3, where he played the antagonist.