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Bard of Blood actor Emraan Hashmi compares streaming, theatres to eating at home or at restaurants: ‘It’s not a competition’

Hindustan Times | ByRishabh Suri
Aug 22, 2019 07:02 PM IST

Actor Emraan Hashmi, who will soon be seen making his online debut with Netflix’s Bard of Blood, has said that there shouldn’t be a competition between streaming and theatrical exhibition.

The web space is no longer a secondary means of entertainment after TV and films. With A-listers such as Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan getting into the acting and production aspects of web series, respectively, the medium has only seen growth in the past couple of years. And, Emraan Hashmi is the latest to hop on the web bandwagon.

Did he have apprehensions to try out a totally different medium? “No,” says the 40-year-old, adding, “I’m a fan of streaming platforms. One turning point for me was when I saw Breaking Bad; Bryan Cranston’s performance blew me away. You can never do this in a film. It had fantastic writing, better than a lot of films these days! You get those seasons to play the arc out, breathing space, and that much more time in web. I wished to play a character in a web show, and Bard of Blood came along!”

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Emraan plays an ex-RAW agent in this show, which is based on the 2015 novel by Bilal Siddiqi.

The show required him to undergo a lot of prep. “Obviously, I read the book (immediately after launching it four years back). How I want to pitch the character [to the viewers], how the writers and directors see it... We had reading sessions and learnt how to use guns. There were some tough locations we shot in like Leh Ladakh, 15,000 feet above sea level,” adds Emraan, who also has a bunch of films coming up; including one with Amitabh Bachchan.

So, does he find the web as a better medium than films? “I don’t think one is better than the other. There’s something about going to a cinema hall, and watching a two-three hour film. Then there’s the experience of sitting at home with family, and watching content on the phone. You get engrossed binge watching it. It’s not like a competition. Like you choose to eat at home, but go out sometimes to a restaurant too,” Emraan concludes.

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