A crook(ed) tale

Emraan Hashmi says that his new movie Crook takes the recent Australian racist attacks and weaves an entertaining story around it

A lot of dust was raised when cases of Indian students being subjected to unwarranted racist attacks cropped up. All forms of media was clogged with news,both substantiated and otherwise,about the injustice of it all. All the hullabaloo,however,left the Indian film industry quite untouched. On a recent promotional visit to the city,Emraan Hashmi touched upon the sticky topic and how it is dealt with in his new movie titled Crook. “The film is not a preachy drone on racism,neither does it propose a cure for it. It deals with the topic at the surface level,while a story develops around the happenings. My character is of a fraudulent rogue who gets into a romance with the sole aim of permanent residency. It is inspired by what happened a year back in Australia,but is not an over-bearing commentary on it. The film is a light,entertaining and colourful one,” says Hashmi. The surprising absence of a worldly connect within the Hindi film industry needs an urgent check. “I feel many like Milan Luthria,Dibakar Banerjee and Mohit himself are daring to go beyond the commercial demands and tackle uncomfortable topics. It’s important to step away from the usual.”

The comic tone of the flick is a departure for director Mohit Suri from his usual serious cinematic indulgences. Hashmi’s character plays along with the recent spate of anti-heroes that recent Hindi flicks have been churning out. “I always like to play roles which incorporate shades,rather than well-defined characteristics. I personally do not understand rom-coms. We have a great team at our disposal and are always willing to attempt something different. In the glut of all the run-of-the-mill stories,it’s heartening to see that a film like Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai cut the trend and succeed.” Debutante Neha Sharma takes her first dip into the Hindi film waters with Crook . Having already tasted blood with the Telugu movie Chirutha,a relative experience must have been natural. “There is actually very little difference. The work ethic is the same. It is but a known fact that the movies down South involve more dancing and masala than Bollywood has. So,that’s one major point of contrast,” says Sharma.

The tag-line of the movie delves on that modern-day confusion that ails quite a few around us – is it good to be bad or not? “Well,a little amount street-smartness is essential. Be smart,but don’t stretch it to the point of causing pain or inconvenience to others,” Hashmi opines.