Remember Aditi from Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na? The girl who could go from picking a fight to wearing her heart on her sleeve in a matter of seconds? Or Hasini from Bommarillu, whose infectious energy made her impossible to ignore? Genelia Deshmukh has played her fair share of characters who made you smile, laugh and occasionally want to shake some sense into them. But there is more to her filmography than the girl-next-door charm audiences instantly associate with her.

Genelia has never really played by Bollywood's career rulebook. While Hindi cinema made her a household name with Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, she was simultaneously winning over audiences in Telugu and Tamil cinema. From the spirited Hasini in Bommarillu to the comic chaos of Masti and the romance of Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya, she showed an ease with comedy and romance that became her calling card. She could be mischievous, impulsive, dramatic and adorably stubborn, often within the same film.

But the actor has also shown that she can leave that familiar comfort zone behind. Her Marathi film Ved, which marked her return to acting, saw her trade her familiar bubbly persona for Shravani, a woman dealing with the messiness of love, marriage and heartbreak. It was a very different Genelia, one who had audiences looking beyond the infectious smile and expressive eyes.

Now, she is stepping into another unfamiliar territory with Gunmaaster G9. Paired with Emraan Hashmi for the first time, Genelia finds herself in a world of gangsters, kidnappings and high-stakes action. Emraan plays an ex-gangster whose attempt to leave his violent past behind is derailed when Aparshakti Khurana kidnaps his wife, played by Genelia. What follows is a desperate mission to get her back.

The film gives Genelia another genre to add to her repertoire, taking her from the familiar territory of romantic entertainers to an action thriller. And the pairing with Emraan makes for an interesting change of screen dynamics.

From making audiences root for a college girl in Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na to playing a woman navigating a complicated marriage in Ved, Genelia has shown that there is more than one way to win over an audience. With Gunmaaster G9, she gets to add another shade to that journey. Turns out, the girl who once made us fall in love with romantic comedies is quite happy to venture into a little mayhem. And we are all here for it!