Image via Bollywood Hungama / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). Emraan Hashmi promoting The Body, 2019.
Three months ago, nobody would have bet on Emraan Hashmi having the biggest hit of his career at 47. Then Awarapan 2 arrived in August and crossed Rs 100 crore in India in five days, his first solo film ever to do it. Today, the trailer for his next film, Gunmaaster G9, dropped in Pune. The comeback is real, and it has been a long time coming.
Hashmi has been famous for over twenty years, and for most of that time he was famous for the wrong reasons in the eyes of the critics. The early hits called him the serial kisser of Bollywood, and the label stuck. What got lost under it was the rest of the story: a working actor from a film family who kept showing up, kept taking chances, and kept getting better while the box office went up and down around him.
The family he was born into
Syed Emraan Anwar Hashmi was born on 24 March 1979 in Mumbai. His father, Anwar Hashmi, was a businessman who had acted in films. His mother, Maherrah, kept the home. His grandmother, Meherbano Mohammad Ali, acted on screen as Purnima. Her sister Shirin was the mother of Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt, which makes the Bhatt brothers his uncles and puts Hashmi right inside one of Hindi cinema's biggest families. Director Mohit Suri is his second cousin. Pooja and Alia Bhatt are cousins too.
He grew up in Mumbai, went to the Maneckji Cooper school, and took a commerce degree from Sydenham College. He did not plan to act. His first job in films was behind the camera, as an assistant director on the horror hit Raaz in 2002. A year later, his uncles gave him his first lead role.
Quick Facts
| Emraan Hashmi | Details |
|---|---|
| Full name | Syed Emraan Anwar Hashmi |
| Born | 24 March 1979, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Age | 47 (as of November 2026) |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) as most profiles list it; a few list 5 ft 7 in |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Profession | Actor, author |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Education | B.Com, Sydenham College, University of Mumbai |
| Spouse | Parveen Shahani (m. December 2006) |
| Children | Son Ayaan (b. 3 February 2010) |
| Family | Bhatt family; cousin of Mohit Suri, Pooja Bhatt and Alia Bhatt |
| Known for | Murder, Gangster, Awarapan, Jannat, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, Tiger 3, Awarapan 2 |
| Filmfare nominations | Four |
| Latest film | Gunmaaster G9 (27 November 2026) |
The thriller years
Hashmi's debut was Footpath in 2003, a crime thriller where he played a gangster. It flopped, but critics noticed him. The breakthrough came a year later with Murder, Anurag Basu's erotic thriller opposite Mallika Sherawat. It made Rs 25 crore in India and finished among the year's top ten earners. Hashmi was suddenly a leading man.
The next three years were a blur of Vishesh Films thrillers. Zeher, Kalyug and Aashiq Banaya Aapne all came in 2005. Aashiq Banaya Aapne, directed by Aditya Datt, was his first film made outside his uncles' banner, and it was a sleeper hit with a title song that played everywhere. Aksar and Gangster followed in 2006. Gangster, with debutante Kangana Ranaut, earned him his first Filmfare nomination, for best performance in a negative role.
Then came Awarapan in 2007. Hashmi played Shivam, a gangster with a broken past, and the critics loved the performance. The film itself bombed. It collected only about Rs 7.75 crore net in India. Nobody knew then that it would grow into a cult film, or that nineteen years later its sequel would give him the biggest hit of his life.
The serious actor
Jannat in 2008 changed the tone. Hashmi played Arjun, a bookie caught in match-fixing, and the film was a hit. From there he started picking roles that asked more of him. Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai in 2010 cast him as Shoaib Khan, a gangster modelled on Dawood Ibrahim, and it brought his first Filmfare nomination for best supporting actor. The Dirty Picture in 2011, with Vidya Balan as Silk Smitha, was a major hit. Murder 2 the same year was another.
Shanghai in 2012 was the performance critics still point to. He played Joginder Parmar, a videographer who shoots porn films on the side, in Dibakar Banerjee's political thriller about corruption. One critic called it the year's finest, bravest and most consistent performance. It earned him another Filmfare supporting-actor nomination. Jannat 2 and Raaz 3, both in 2012, kept the box office ticking over.
Image via Bollywood Hungama / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). Emraan Hashmi at the Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai success party, 2010.
The lean years
After 2012, the hits dried up. Ek Thi Daayan in 2013 won praise but did not earn much. Ghanchakkar, Raja Natwarlal, Ungli, Mr. X and Hamari Adhuri Kahani all came and went. Azhar in 2016, where he played cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin, did not work either. Raaz Reboot the same year flopped — Hashmi shared its media meet with Gaurav Arora — and Baadshaho in 2017 followed it down.
He moved to streaming before most of his peers did. Bard of Blood in 2019, a Netflix spy series produced by Shah Rukh Khan, cast him as exiled agent Kabir Anand, and his performance won praise even when the show split critics. Why Cheat India and The Body came the same year. The Body co-starred Rishi Kapoor in his final film role. Mumbai Saga, Chehre and Dybbuk all arrived in 2021 and all flopped.
Selfiee in 2023, with Akshay Kumar, was another flop. Then came Tiger 3 the same year. Hashmi played Aatish Rehman, a rogue Pakistani agent, opposite Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. The film made Rs 466.63 crore worldwide, and his performance earned him a third Filmfare supporting-actor nomination. It was his first real hit in a decade, and it put him back in the frame.
The comeback
Showtime, a Disney+ Hotstar series about the film business, put him front and centre in 2024. Ground Zero in 2025 cast him as BSF officer Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey, and Haq, a biographical drama the same year, won him praise. He also crossed into Telugu cinema as the villain in They Call Him OG, with Pawan Kalyan, and led the Netflix series Taskaree: The Smuggler's Web in 2026.
Then Awarapan 2 arrived on 14 August 2026. Directed by Nitin Kakkar and produced by Vishesh Films, it brought Hashmi back as Shivam, the character from the 2007 cult film, opposite Disha Patani. It opened at Rs 22 crore on day one, crossed Rs 100 crore net in India in five days, and finished its run at around Rs 150 crore net in India. It was his first solo Rs 100 crore film, and his biggest solo hit by a distance. Shaad Randhawa, who appears in a cameo, was part of the same return.
One line from the year sums up how his fans see him now. In the Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood, a character says, "Akha Bollywood ek taraf, Emraan Hashmi ek taraf." All of Bollywood on one side, Emraan Hashmi on the other. It went viral, and his wife Parveen agreed with it in public as Awarapan 2 kept climbing.
Gunmaaster G9, which reaches cinemas on 27 November 2026, is the next test. The trailer dropped today, and it casts him as Eshwar, a dairy farmer turned vigilante. A second Telugu film, G2, is also in the works.
Image via Bollywood Hungama / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). Emraan Hashmi at the Raaz 3 DVD launch, 2012.
Selected filmography
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Footpath | Raghu Shrivastav |
| 2004 | Murder | Sunny |
| 2005 | Zeher | Siddharth |
| 2005 | Kalyug | Ali Bhai |
| 2005 | Aashiq Banaya Aapne | Karan |
| 2006 | Aksar | Ricky |
| 2006 | Gangster | Akash Kapadia |
| 2007 | Awarapan | Shivam Pandit |
| 2008 | Jannat | Arjun Dixit |
| 2009 | Raaz: The Mystery Continues | Prithvi |
| 2010 | Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai | Shoaib Khan |
| 2011 | Murder 2 | Arjun Bhagwat |
| 2011 | The Dirty Picture | Abraham |
| 2012 | Shanghai | Joginder Parmar |
| 2012 | Jannat 2 | Sonu Dilli |
| 2012 | Raaz 3 | Aditya Arora |
| 2013 | Ek Thi Daayan | Bobo |
| 2016 | Azhar | Mohammad Azharuddin |
| 2016 | Raaz Reboot | Aditya Shrivastava |
| 2017 | Baadshaho | Daliya |
| 2023 | Tiger 3 | Aatish Rehman |
| 2025 | Ground Zero | Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey |
| 2025 | They Call Him OG | Omi Bhau (Telugu debut) |
| 2026 | Awarapan 2 | Shivam Pandit |
| 2026 | Gunmaaster G9 | Eshwar |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Film | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Murder | Screen Awards, Best Villain | Nominated |
| 2007 | Gangster | Filmfare, Best Performance in a Negative Role | Nominated |
| 2011 | Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai | Filmfare, Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
| 2013 | Shanghai | Filmfare, Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
| 2024 | Tiger 3 | Filmfare, Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
Wife, son and the book
Hashmi married Parveen Shahani in December 2006, after a relationship of six and a half years. Their son, Ayaan, was born on 3 February 2010. In January 2014, when Ayaan was nearly four, he was diagnosed with first-stage cancer. The family went through years of treatment, and in January 2019 Ayaan was declared cancer free.
Hashmi wrote about it in The Kiss of Life: How a Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer, published in 2016 with Bilal Siddiqi. The foreword was written by Akshay Kumar. It is the most personal thing he has ever put his name to, and it is the reason many people who never watched his films know who he is.
His mother, Maherrah, died on 11 March 2016. He cancelled a day of shooting on Azhar when he heard, then went back to the set as soon as he could.
FAQs
How old is Emraan Hashmi?
He is 47. He was born on 24 March 1979 in Mumbai.
Who is Emraan Hashmi's wife?
Parveen Shahani. They married in December 2006 after six and a half years together. Their son Ayaan was born in 2010.
What is Emraan Hashmi's net worth?
No reliable figure exists. Profile sites guess anywhere from $14 million to $30 million, but none of it is confirmed by him, so this page does not print a number as fact.
What is Emraan Hashmi's latest film?
Gunmaaster G9, which reaches cinemas on 27 November 2026. Before that came Awarapan 2, his first solo Rs 100 crore film.
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