Emraan Hashmi gets up close and personal in a Mumbai Mirror report about his Indo-American production ‘Harami’ that’s headed to the Busan Festival.
‘Harami’ will have its world premiere at the 25th Busan International Film Festival 2020 in South Korea. It has been directed by Shyam Madiraju.
The film festival will take place between October 21 to 30th.
Emraan on the shoot of Harami
We didn’t want much fuss around the shoot because we were filming guerilla-style in places like CST and Churchgate stations, the Dharavi slums, and on Mumbai streets…
I couldn’t, but I did shoot in the crowded Mohammed Ali Road area. And since we didn’t want to attract any attention, I was told I’d have to cover the last 300-400 metres on a bike.
On him being able to film at CST & Churchgate
Despite the security, I was apprehensive, but delighted that I went completely unrecognised on Mumbai’s streets in my ‘look’ of a 50-year-old man with salt-and-pepper hair, beard and moustache, glasses, and a cane since he walks with a limp. After that, I’d stroll to the location, with my staff 20 steps behind. It was a thrill because when we shot in Dongri for Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai, the whole area was cordoned off, with a car parked on the doorstep of the house where we were shooting to whisk me off. This time I could move around freely because Sagar Bhai looked nothing like Emraan. I’ve never played a character this old before.
On his Character
My character is a former English teacher who does a U-turn to become the ringleader of a gang of young pickpockets who frequent Mumbai locals. So, while everyone around him speaks Bambaiya Hindi, Sagar Bhai chooses to speak in English because he’s tutoring these slum kids in the language too, so they can hoodwink unsuspecting foreign tourists and flick their wallets.
It’s heartening that our film will be unveiled at Busan Film Festival in a tough year. We had wanted to go to Cannes, but COVID-19 complicated things. Busan is very prestigious too.
On facing censor problems because of the title
The title is not against the country and the English translation of ‘harami’ is ‘bastard’ which is in the Oxford dictionary. I just hope it isn’t misconstrued as a cuss word. We haven’t titled the film ‘Harami’ for effect; it is an appropriate title given to the subject.