Bard of Blood actor Emraan Hashmi compares streaming, theatres to eating at home or at restaurants: ‘It’s not a competition’

Actor Emraan Hashmi, who will soon be seen making his online debut with Netflix’s Bard of Blood, has said that there shouldn’t be a competition between streaming and theatrical exhibition.

The web space is no longer a secondary means of entertainment after TV and films. With A-listers such as Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan getting into the acting and production aspects of web series, respectively, the medium has only seen growth in the past couple of years. And, Emraan Hashmi is the latest to hop on the web bandwagon.

Emraan Hashmi in a still from Bard of Blood.

Did he have apprehensions to try out a totally different medium? “No,” says the 40-year-old, adding, “I’m a fan of streaming platforms. One turning point for me was when I saw Breaking Bad; Bryan Cranston’s performance blew me away. You can never do this in a film. It had fantastic writing, better than a lot of films these days! You get those seasons to play the arc out, breathing space, and that much more time in web. I wished to play a character in a web show, and Bard of Blood came along!”

Emraan plays an ex-RAW agent in this show, which is based on the 2015 novel by Bilal Siddiqi.

So, does he find the web as a better medium than films? “I don’t think one is better than the other. There’s something about going to a cinema hall, and watching a two-three hour film. Then there’s the experience of sitting at home with family, and watching content on the phone. You get engrossed binge watching it. It’s not like a competition. Like you choose to eat at home, but go out sometimes to a restaurant too,” Emraan concludes.

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