Long before the anti-hero became one of Bollywood’s favourite character templates, Emraan Hashmi was quietly making audiences root for men who were flawed, dangerous, obsessive and often far from conventional heroes. His characters were not always easy to like, but they were almost impossible to ignore.

From Murder and Jannat to Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai and Awarapan, Emraan built an image around characters who lived in the grey. There was aggression, desire, guilt and heartbreak, often existing within the same character. What made these roles work was not just the intensity he brought to them, but the vulnerability underneath it.

Shivam Pandit in Awarapan remains perhaps the clearest example. He was a gangster, a killer and a deeply wounded man, yet audiences connected with his pain more than his violence. Emraan made Shivam’s loneliness and search for redemption feel personal, and that emotional connection is a big reason the character continues to be remembered nearly two decades later.

Over the years, he also moved beyond the image of the romantic anti-hero. Shanghai showed his ability to hold back and let a character’s internal conflict speak, while Haq has once again reminded audiences that his craft works equally well when romance, power and emotional conflict come together.

That is perhaps Emraan’s biggest contribution to this space. He never needed his characters to be completely good to make them compelling. He understood that audiences could sympathise with a flawed man if the actor made his emotions believable.

Now, 19 years after Awarapan, Emraan is returning as Shivam Pandit in Awarapan 2. Directed by Nitin Kakkar, the film releases in theatres on August 14, 2026. With the trailer and music already bringing back the nostalgia, the excitement is not just about a sequel, it is about seeing an actor return to the kind of character he helped make iconic.