There was a phase when Emraan Hashmi wanted to distance himself from the very image that had made him famous.
By the mid-2000s, following films such as Murder (2004) and Zeher (2005), Hashmi had become closely associated with kissing scenes. The “serial kisser” tag quickly became part of his public identity, but the actor was already eager to move beyond it. By 2006, he had openly expressed his frustration with repeating the same formula and began consciously avoiding intimate scenes.
Movies such as The Killer (2006), Dil Diya Hai (2006) and Awarapan (2007) reflected that change. Hashmi wanted audiences to recognise him for more than romantic scenes and successful songs. He was looking for challenging characters and stronger stories that could showcase his acting abilities.
Awarapan became particularly significant in that journey. Hashmi portrayed Shivam Pandit, a troubled and emotionally scarred man, without any kissing scenes. Although the film initially failed to make a major impact at the box office, Hashmi's performance eventually emerged as one of its most appreciated aspects.
However, shedding the “serial kisser” label proved difficult.
Hashmi continued choosing darker and more performance-oriented roles in films such as Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010), Shanghai (2012), Tigers (2014) and Ground Zero (2025). In 2018, he also observed that the rise of OTT platforms had made on-screen intimacy less novel, reinforcing his view that he no longer wanted to include such scenes simply because audiences associated him with them.
Yet, over time, Hashmi stopped trying to completely escape the image.
With projects such as The Body (2019) and the 2024 series Showtime, he began incorporating elements of the persona he had once attempted to leave behind. The “serial kisser” identity gradually became less of a limitation and more of a recognisable part of his pop-culture persona that he could choose to embrace.
Now, Awarapan 2 has brought that journey almost full circle.
Nearly 20 years after Hashmi used Awarapan as a way to move away from his established image, he has returned as Shivam Pandit and found himself at the centre of a major box-office success. Remarkably, the film once again demonstrates that Hashmi does not need kissing scenes to attract audiences.
That makes Awarapan 2 an especially fitting chapter in the actor's career. The man who once wanted to escape the “serial kisser” label has eventually learned to embrace it without letting it define him.
From attempting to leave the image behind, to accepting it and ultimately owning it on his own terms, Emraan Hashmi's “serial kisser” journey has come full circle.
