Mumbai, Nov. 1 -- In the last few years, Emraan Hashmi has established himself as an A-list Bollywood actor. He has to his credit hits such as Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010), Murder 2 (2011), The Dirty Picture (2011) and Raaz 3. But now, he could be on the verge of the biggest film of his career. Emraan has been signed for Bosnian director Danis Tanovic's (his film, No Man's Land, won the Oscar in 2002) next.
Although the storyline is being kept under wraps, it's expected to have a strong Indian connection. The film is to be jointly produced by Anurag Kashyap (under Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt Ltd), French production company ASAP Films, Dar Motion Pictures and Sikhya Entertainment.
Anurag, who is responsible for picking Emraan, says, "Kalki told me how sincere and focused he was during Shanghai (in which the two actors worked together). When I saw Shanghai, I loved him, after which I pitched a script to him. He said no, but explained why. I saw in him a person who had no delusions about himself. He knew what he wanted to do."
So, when Anurag got the Bosnian writer-director's script, he approached Emraan again. "When I read the script, I strongly felt Emraan should do it. But the west doesn't know him. We also didn't know whether he would agree. But he said yes. Then we pitched him to Danis, who came to India and met him. Now we're on," adds Anurag.
Guneet Monga of Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt Ltd, adds, "Emraan is a very good actor. It will be interesting to see an Indian star popular with the masses working in an international film."
Hashmi is presently working on Ghanchakkar with Vidya Balan and Karan Johar's next production. We tried reaching him for a comment, but he was unavailable.
When Tanovic beat Aamir at the Oscars
Danis Tanovic's tragic war drama, No Man's Land, tells the story of two wounded soldiers - a Bosniak and a Bosnian Serb - in the midst of the Bosnian war, struggling to survive after they find themselves in no man's land. The film went on to win an Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. Among the other nominations it beat that year were the Audrey Tatou-starrer Amelie and Ashutosh Gowariker's Aamir Khan-starrer Lagaan. It also won awards at the Golden Globe and Cannes.
In all, the film won a staggering 42 awards.
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Published by HT Syndication with permission from Hindustan Times.
