By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Nov 19 (IANS): Soon after he shot to Bollywood stardom with "Murder" in 2004, Emraan Hashmi acquired the tag of ‘Serial Kisser, for his tendency to pucker up on screen with his heroines. It took him several films to get rid of the image, and Emraan today finds it "irritating" when people narrow down his efforts as a performer to that "one element".

"I don't normally get upset with the tag but it is just irritating that though all of us are putting in so much effort to make a film -- there is a story, a plot, performances, music and everything -- all that people talk about is the ‘kissing scene'. You are boiling it down to just one thing. Personally, I have no issue with it but when I look at the bigger picture, it is annoying to see how people are just stuck with a small thing instead of showing interest in the whole film."

Over the years, Roles in films like "Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai", "The Dirty Picture", "Shanghai", "Azhar", "Baadshaho" and "Tigers", and the web series "Bard Of Blood", have helped him change his image into an actor from just a ‘Serial Kisser'.

Emraan will soon working with two of the most respected actors in the industry in different films. In the crime drama "Chehre", he is cast with Amitabh Bachchan. The film is slated to release next year, but before that on December 13, he teams up with Rishi Kapoor in the black comedy thriller "The Body".

"The Body", directed by Jeethu Joseph, is an official remake a Spanish film of the same name.

Giving insight into the film and his role, Emraan said: "It is a very interesting situation that my character stuck in. He is a professor who is married to a rich girl. After the death of his wife, he is the key suspect. Usually, in a murder case, the police call people who are closest to the victim's family. In this situation, since he is having an affair with another woman, things worsen. He is constantly tried to get out of the situation but as the body is missing, the investigating officer assumes that it has been done to keep the process of the autopsy under wraps, since it could unveil the cause of death."

Although his performance is praised in films like "Gangstar", "Murder 2", and "Shanghai" the actor has never done a traditional commercial potboiler in Bollywood.

"There are so many actors doing commercial potboilers. Instead of getting into the same space, I thought I should carve a niche for myself. Also as an audience, my consumption of cinema is that of stories that engage me in watching them. I like thrillers and drama. When I started working in Bollywood, action and comedy were the successful genres. I personally feel that action films do not give an actor a chance to act. It is more to do with physical performance. That is why, I started creating my space with something that was performance-oriented," said the actor.