I DON'T HAVE ANY REGRETS. WHAT I'M TODAY IS BECAUSE OF CERTAIN FILMS - EMRAAN HASHMI

Little did Emraan Hashmi know that doing Footpath as a summer job in 2003 would lead him to the showbiz corridors.

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He went on to carve his niche with erotic thrillers Murder, Zeher, Gangster and Jannat. Dramas like The Dirty Picture, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, Shanghai and Why Cheat India marked his move beyond the amatory towards sociopolitical complexities. His young son, Ayaan Hashmi’s tryst with and triumph over cancer not only changed his perspective towards life but also resulted in him co-writing the book, The Kiss of Life, with Bilal Siddiqi. Celebrating his bond with Siddiqui further, Emraan has now ventured into the OTT platform with the series, Bard Of Blood (Netflix), based on the book by the writer. Directed by Ribhu Dasgupta and produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, it has Emraan playing an expelled spy. Reassured with the buzz around it, Emraan gets into a reflective conversation with Filmfare…

How different was it shooting for a web series (Bard Of Blood) as compared to shooting a film?

We shot for seven episodes. Each episode is 45-minute long. That is double the time you take to shoot a film. The rules are the same. But the work load is more. You dwell in your character for long and can bring more nuances into play.

What was the toughest part of playing a spy?

I guess it was understanding the psychological aspects of the character. What a spy goes through, the fear he experiences, his state of mind in an enemy state. Physical fitness is essential too. The body language had to be right. It was challenging to shoot in Ladakh at a height of 13,000 feet. You have to add dimensions to your portrayal from what’s written on paper. I tend to improvise on the set. We wanted to reach a global audience. So we kept it subtle and yet engaging at the same time.