"I am getting a lot of offers after ‘Once Upon...’ that are quite different and exciting. The film has opened doors for me to try new and different things outside the `Bhatt camp'", the actor told PTI.
"Things have changed a lot for me," Emraan said.
He has actress-turned-Director Pooja Bhatt for cousin, while Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt are his uncles. He made his debut in Bhatt brothers' ‘Footpath’; followed by ‘Murder’, ‘Zeher’, ‘Kalyug’, ‘Gangster’, ‘Tum Mile’ and ‘Crook’, among others.
The actor had earlier acted in a few films not produced by the Bhatt brothers, such as Aditya Datt’s ‘Aashiq Banaya Aapne’ or Ashwini Chaudhary’s ‘Good Boy, Bad Boy’; but it was Milan Luthria’s Once Upon... that got him critical acclaim.
Emraan was also nominated at both the Star Screen Awards and the Apsara Awards in the best supporting actor category for the film.
The 31-year-old actor will be seen next in Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Dil To Baccha Hai Ji’ and Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Shanghai’.
"In Madhur’s film, I am cast opposite Shruti Hassan. I play the role of Abhay, a gym instructor. His ideology about love, life and money is different, he does not believe in love and does not want to confine himself to a relationship. But then he finds a woman at the gym."
"In ‘Shanghai’, I am playing the character called Jogi Parmar, who is more down-to-earth. This is definitely a character that I have not played earlier," he said.|
`Dil To Baccha Hai Ji’, a romantic comedy, releases next week.
‘Shanghai , a political thriller, will see Emraan and Abhay Deol in the male lead roles, the heroine has not been finalized yet. The film will go on floors from March-April and will be released by the end of the year.
"It is really amazing to work with both the filmmakers (Madhur and Dibakar) as they are exceptionally brilliant in their respective domains," Emraan said.