Emraan Hashmi

Early life

Hashmi was born on 24 March 1979, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. His father, Anwar Hashmi, is a businessman, who also acted in the mystery film Baharon Ki Manzil (1968), and his mother, Maherrah Hashmi, was a homemaker. His paternal grandfather, Syed Shaukat Hashmi, migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India, where he worked as a journalist and as a film director, while his grandmother, Meherbhano Mohammad Ali (known by her screen name Purnima), was an actress, who stayed in India. Meherbano Mohammad Ali later married producer-director Bhagwan Das Varma, making him Hashmi's step-grandfather and Hashmi a part of the Varma family. Hashmi is also a part of the Bhatt family as Meherbano was the sister of Shirin Mohammad Ali, the mother of producers Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt, who are thus Hashmi's uncles. Hashmi is the second cousin of director Mohit Suri, with whom he has collaborated in several films, actresses Pooja Bhatt and Alia Bhatt and actor Rahul Bhatt.

Hashmi studied at the Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School. Later on, he graduated in Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) from Sydenham College in the University of Mumbai.

Career

2003–2007: Breakthrough with erotic-thrillers

Hashmi made his acting debut under the tutelage of the Bhatt brothers with Vikram Bhatt's thriller Footpath (2003), alongside Bipasha Basu and Aftab Shivdasani, where he played a Raghu Shrivastav, a gangster. His performance was appreciated by critics with Gaurav Malani describing him as the "scene-stealer" and praised his mannerisms. The film was a critical and commercial failure.

The following year, he made his breakthrough with Anurag Basu's erotic thriller Murder (2004), co-starring Mallika Sherawat and Ashmit Patel. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote about his performance "Hashmi is fantastic in a role that seems tailor-made for him. Potraying an obsessive lover flourish, there's not denying that the narrative gets a major impetus thanks to Hashmi's performance". Murder emerged as a commercial success, grossing a domestic total of ₹250 million (US$2.6 million), becoming the eighth highest-grossing film of the year. He also starred in Anurag's musical romance Tumsa Nahin Dekha opposite Dia Mirza. The film was a box-office disaster, although Hashmi's performance received mixed-to-positive reviews. A review from BBC Online noted that he was "becoming fabulous with every film".

In 2005, Hashmi appeared in four films. His first release of the year Zeher, a mystery thriller directed by Suri in his debut and produced by Mahesh Bhatt, was an adaptation of the 2003 American film Out Of Time. The film was a moderate success at the box office. The songs 'Agar Tum Mil Jao' & 'Jaane Jaa Jaane Jaa' were chartbusters while other songs were also extremely popular with the song 'Woh Lahme' being a big rage among the youth. His second release of that year was the romantic-thriller Aashiq Banaya Aapne directed by Aditya Datt. Inspired by the 2001 American film Tangled, it co-starred Sonu Sood and debutant Tanushree Dutta, and followed a love triangle between their characters. The film, his first not to be produced by his uncles, received positive reviews, and was a sleeper hit. His third film was the crime-thriller Chocolate, directed by Vivek Agnihotri in his directorial debut. Hashmi played a supporting role in an ensemble cast of Anil Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Irrfan Khan, Arshad Warsi, Tanushree Dutta, and Sushma Reddy. The film was inspired by the 1995 American film The Usual Suspects. His final film of the year was a supporting role in Suri's action thriller Kalyug, once again produced by his uncles under Vishesh Films, alongside Kunal Khemu, Smilie Suri, Amrita Singh, Ashutosh Rana, and Deepal Shaw. Based on the sex industry, the film depicted the devastating effect that non-consensual pornographic films have on the subjects. Hashmi featured as Ali Bhai, a man who runs a sex shop. His performance, and the film, garnered positive reviews from critics, with Taran Adarsh writing: "Hashmi makes a brief, but solid, appearance and the actor is, like always, highly competent." Kalyug emerged as a moderate commercial success in India.

2008–2012: Commercial success

Hashmi's only film appearance in 2008 was debutant Kunal Deshmukh's crime romance Jannat. Depicting a love story set against the backdrop of match fixing, the film also starred Sonal Chauhan, Javed Sheikh and Sameer Kochhar. Both the film and Hashmi's performance as Arjun Dixit, a bookmaker, received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics; Taran Adarsh commented that "[t]he actor displays the gamut of emotions with aplomb, [and] he changes expressions like a chameleon changes colors. Jannat is yet another turning point in his career." The film emerged as a commercial success in India, with revenues of over ₹420 million (US$4.4 million).

In 2009, Hashmi appeared in Suri's supernatural horror film Raaz: The Mystery Continues, alongside Ranaut and Adhyayan Suman. Hashmi's portrayal of a painter, and the film, received mixed-to-positive reviews; The Times of India's Nikhat Kazmi wrote: "Hashmi is fast emerging as the Colin Farrell of Indian cinema: completely mercurial, eclectic and unpredictable. As the brooding, prescient painter, who paints death on his canvas and falls in love with one of subjects, he is suitably aggrieved, desperate and afraid." Its domestic collection exceeded ₹340 million (US$3.5 million), emerging as a commercial success at the box-office. He then starred opposite Soha Ali Khan in Deshmukh's romantic drama disaster Tum Mile, which narrated a love story set against the backdrop of the 2005 Maharashtra floods. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics upon release; however, it emerged as a commercial failure at the box-office.

The following year, Hashmi featured in Milan Luthria's period action drama Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai with an ensemble cast including Ajay Devgan, Kangana Ranaut, Prachi Desai and Randeep Hooda. The Ekta Kapoor-produced film, which depicted the rise of organised crime in Mumbai, saw Hashmi play Shoaib Khan, a character inspired by real-life gangster Dawood Ibrahim. With a domestic revenue of over ₹780 million (US$8.1 million), Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai emerged as a commercial success at the box-office, ranking as the seventh highest-grossing Hindi film of the year. The film received positive reviews from critics upon release, with particular praise for Hashmi's performance. Blessy Chettiar of Daily News and Analysis described him as "top class", while Komal Nahta remarked: "This is easily Hashmi's best performance so far. If he is cute in the romantic scenes, he is believably tough in the action and dramatic scenes." For his performance, Hashmi received his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. His next release that year was Suri's action thriller Crook, based on the controversy surrounding racial violence against Indians in Australia. However, the film was panned by critics and emerged as a commercial disaster at the box-office.

2013–2025: Career fluctuations

In 2013, Hashmi's first film appearance was in debutant Kannan Iyer's supernatural thriller Ek Thi Daayan, alongside Konkona Sen Sharma, Huma Qureshi and Koechlin in lead roles; it was produced by Kapoor and composer Vishal Bhardwaj, who also co-wrote the script. The film, and Hashmi's performance, opened to positive reviews from critics upon release. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV mentioned that Hashmi "gives the character of the haunted magician just that – a haunted feel that is just apt", whilst Shubhra Gupta called his performance "consistent", adding that he "is a performer who keeps getting better". His second appearance that year was for Raj Kumar Gupta's comedy thriller Ghanchakkar opposite Balan, his first collaboration with Balan's husband, producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, and UTV Motion Pictures chieftain Ronnie Screwvala. The film, and Hashmi's performance, opened to mixed-to-negative reviews from critics upon release. Sneha May Francis of Emirates 24/7 wrote that "Hashmi spins one of his acting career's most understated, yet imposing performances. He crafts [his character's] predicaments – his anger, frustration and suspicions – with effortless charm." Rajeev Masand was more critical of his performance, reflecting that he "struggles to shine under the limited scope of his role." On the commercial front, Ek Thi Daayan emerged as a below-average grosser, while Ghanchakkar emerged as a commercial disaster.

In 2014, Hashmi starred in Deshmukh's crime thriller Raja Natwarlal (produced by Kapur for UTV following Screwvala's exit) and Rensil D'Silva's crime drama thriller Ungli (his third collaboration each with Ranaut and Hooda, and the trio's first with Dharma Productions frontman Karan Johar), both of which emerged as critical and commercial failures at the box-office, with the latter being Hashmi's fifth consecutive commercial failure. He then played the leading role in Academy Award-winning director Danis Tanović's drama Tigers, produced by Anurag Kashyap, which premiered at 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and was later released digitally on the on-demand platform ZEE5 in November 2018.

In 2015, Hashmi appeared in two films, the first being the science fiction action film Mr. X from Vikram Bhatt alongside Amyra Dastur, which emerged as a critical and commercial disaster at the box-office. His second film that year was the long-awaited musical romantic drama Hamari Adhuri Kahani, opposite Balan for the third time, alongside Rajkummar Rao. Directed by Suri in their fifth collaboration, the film was based on the love story of Mahesh Bhatt's parents, Nanabhai Bhatt, Shirin Mohammad Ali and his stepmother Hemlata Bhatt. It opened to mixed-to-positive reviews from critics upon release, but emerged as a moderate commercial success at the box-office. The same year, he appeared alongside Gupta in the music video of the romantic song "Main Rahoon Ya Naa Rahoon" composed by Armaan Malik and Amaal Malik, and presented by T-Series.

2026–present: Resurgence

Following a period of mixed box-office outcomes, Hashmi experienced a career resurgence in August 2026 with the release of Awarapan 2, a sequel to his 2007 cult classic, which marked his reunion with Vishesh Films. Featuring him once again as Shivam, the film achieved the highest solo opening of his career.

Personal life

Hashmi married Parveen Shahani in an Islamic wedding ceremony in December 2006 after a six and a half-year relationship. The couple have a son, Ayaan Hashmi, who was born on 3 February 2010. On 15 January 2014, Ayaan was diagnosed with first-stage cancer. In January 2019, Ayaan was declared cancer free.

While Hashmi's father is Muslim and his mother was Christian, Hashmi was brought up as a Muslim and says he is a "firm believer in God". His mother, Maherrah Hashmi, died on 11 March 2016, Hashmi cancelled one day shoot of his film Azhar, when he got to know about his mother's demise. He did not want to delay the shoot of Azhar any further and also wanted to occupy his mind with work. So, he returned to the sets the soonest he could.

In 2016, Hashmi launched, The Kiss of Life: How a Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer, a memoir co-written by him with Bilal Siddiqui, based on his son's journey against cancer. Its foreword was written by Akshay Kumar, with whom he would star seven years later in Selfiee.

In the media

In Rediff.com's "Top Bollywood Actors" list, Hashmi was placed 9th in 2005. In the Times' 50 Most Desirable Men list, he ranked 41st in 2011 and 26th in 2013. Hashmi appeared in the Eastern Eye's "Sexiest Asian Men" of 2012 at 16th position.

In pop culture

A dialogue in season 1 of The Ba***ds of Bollywood (2025) spoken by Raghav Juyal referencing Hashmi went viral on the social media, becoming an internet phenomenon:

“Akha Bollywood ek taraf, Emraan Hashmi ek taraf.” (All of Bollywood on one side, Emraan Hashmi on the other).