Emraan Hashmi admits he was ‘skeptical’ about playing Tiger 3 villain, but wasn’t ‘intimidated’ by Salman Khan on set

In restricting the lead actors of Tiger 3 from traditional promotions, YRF continued the marketing strategy that seemed to work for the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan. Actor Emraan Hashmi, who appeared as the antagonist in the third installment of Tiger franchise, spoke about the film for the first time in a recent interview, where he said that he was ‘skeptical’ about playing a villain.

In a chat with the news agency ANI, the actor said that he was summoned by YRF casting head Shanoo Sharma for a meeting with director Maneesh Sharma, who revealed that they wanted him to play the antagonist in the spy-thriller. Emraan said that he was unsure at first, because while he’d played grey characters in the past, he’d never played a villain, but he was intrigued by the proposition. “I was honestly a little skeptical, because when you hear the word ‘antagonist’, certain preconceived notions emerge in your mind. I’ve generally played positive characters, some grey characters,” he said. But he was impressed by the ‘depth, nuance, and attention to detail’ that the character had been written with.

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Emraan Hashmi also revealed that he’d come close to working with Salman Khan several times in the past, and that he wasn’t ‘intimidated’ by him on set. “I’ve known Salman for quite some time; he’s fond of me, and I’m fond of him. I wasn’t intimidated. You generally get intimidated when you don’t know your co-star; it happened to me when I worked with Amitabh Bachchan, but not here,” he said.

Also starring Katrina Kaif and featuring cameo appearances by Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan, Tiger 3 is the fifth installment in the YRF Spy Universe of interconnected films. It is a direct sequel to not just Tiger Zinda Hai, but also this year’s Pathaan, which grossed more than Rs 1000 crore worldwide. Tiger 3 has made nearly Rs 300 crore globally so far, in less than a week of release.