Actor Emraan Hashmi is gearing up to revisit one of his most beloved films with Awarapan 2, but he doesn’t view his collaboration with the Bhatt camp as a reunion. Earlier this month, on his 46th birthday, Hashmi announced the sequel to the 2007 cult hit Awarapan, which will once again be produced under Mukesh Bhatt’s Vishesh Films banner.
Speaking about the project in an exclusive chat with PTI, Hashmi emphasised that while their professional paths diversified in recent years, there was never a formal parting with the Bhatt production house.
“I don’t see this as reuniting at all. It’s not like we parted ways. We had a phenomenal run with a nearly 90-95% success rate over 14 years, starting from 2003’s Footpath to 2016’s Raaz: Reboot. When you have that kind of success together, it naturally becomes tricky to keep finding the right stories,” the actor said.
Hashmi, who made his acting debut with Footpath, went on to headline several successful Vishesh Films projects such as Gangster, Murder 2 and Raaz: The Mystery Continues. Over time, he branched out, working with a range of filmmakers in projects like The Dirty Picture, Shanghai, Ghanchakkar and Tiger 3. Reflecting on the decision to greenlight Awarapan 2, Hashmi said the project was a long time coming but needed a story that could match the original’s cult legacy.
“It’s been under discussion for some time. We didn’t want to make a sequel just for the sake of it. Awarapan has a massive cult following—sometimes more goodwill than my bigger box office hits, through satellite TV, Torrentz back in the day, and now YouTube. We waited for the right story and now feels like the right time,” he explained.
The original Awarapan, directed by Mohit Suri and written by Mahesh Bhatt, centered on Shivam (played by Hashmi), a tormented hitman grappling with guilt and redemption when he discovers his boss’ mistress desires freedom and love. Shriya Saran, Ashutosh Rana and Mrinalini Sharma also starred in the film. Acknowledging the challenges of living up to the expectations set by the first film, Hashmi shared that they were cautious about ensuring freshness in the sequel.
“How do you keep it new? Because you’ve been there, you’ve done pretty much everything. There’s no point in bringing out films that audiences feel they’ve already seen. We took time, and then COVID-19 slowed everything further. A lot of recalibration happened during those years,” he noted.
