Emraan Hashmi’s ‘Harami’ selected for Busan Film Festival’s main competition section

‘Harami’, an Indo- American production feature film, written and directed by Shyam Madiraju and featuring Emraan Hashmi has officially been selected to be a part of the main competition section (New Horizons) of the Busan International Film Festival 2020. One of the 10 films from 9 countries in the competition, ‘Harami’ is the only Indian film to be selected for this year’s main competition. In a year drastically affected by Covid, besides Venice, Busan is the only other festival that’s taking place physically. All 194 films selected this year for the festival will all be screened physically in theaters. The festival is from 21st to 30th October, 2020.

Madiraju shared, “As a filmmaker, I’m truly elated that Harami has been invited to be a part of Busan Festival’s main competition section. Korea is the epicenter of the filmmaking universe right now, so it’s an immense honor to be a part of their celebration of cinema this year”.

Talking about casting Hashmi in the role, the director added, “And the most endearing and cherishing part of this whole journey was working with all the actors in the film. Especially the kids, a majority of them having never acted before, and some actually from Dharavi; it was an experience of a lifetime. But it was Emraan Hashmi playing the role of ‘Sagar Bhai’ a very Dickensian Fegin like character who is a former English teacher turned gang lord who is the real revelation of the film. The role complex and nuanced and unlike anything Emraan had done before, was a true challenge for both Emraan and I.”

“Having never worked in Bollywood or with Emraan before, all my concerns disappeared when I saw how collaborative and detailed Emraan, a true director’s actor, was with his preparation for the role. We discussed in great detail over numerous reading sessions and rehearsals, the smallest elements of his character, like his gait, his diction, his style of speaking, the choice of English over Hindi, and his unique look that we created for him,” he concluded.

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