I'll never work for free: Emraan Hashmi

Emraan Hashmi, who is looking forward to his next "Raja Natwarlal", seems to have a practical approach towards his acting job. He is not willing to slog for free, but at the same time he clarifies money is not the sole purpose behind accepting a project.

"Money is always at the heart of the thing, I won't do a film for free. Money is important, but money is not the sole purpose," Emraan told IANS.

In his over a decade of acting journey, he had hits like "Murder", "Raaz" and "Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai" and misses such as "Footpath", "Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji" and "Ghanchakkar".

He feels that "if you do a film for money, it will never work because there are films where I get double the money but I don't end up doing it..."

This is so because the actor prefers good "script" and feels his movie should be total "paisa vasool".

"So it's not all about money. Money is important but to a certain point. You need to make good films and keep the audience happy. If the audience won't go out clapping after watching 'Raja Natwarlal', it would be cheating," said Emraan.

So far, the actor attempted various genres, however, his experiment with comedy thriller "Ghanchakkar" failed. He admits his fans want to see him in massy movies with a dollop of sex.

He said: "They do and that's why I am giving them 'Raja Natwarlal'. They were obviously disappointed (with 'Ghanchakkar'), but it was something that I had to do. But I will bring something to 'Raja Natwarlal' after 'Ghanchakkar' and you will see that on the screen."

"But if I do only films like 'Raja Natwarlal', I won't grow as an actor. So, creatively I need to grow and do something else that helps me grow as an actor."

In "Raja Natwarlal" Emraan is working with filmmaker Kunal Deshmukh for the fourth time, and says they enjoy a good camaraderie on the sets.

"This is my fourth film with him, we both understand each other, creatively he understands how I want things and the same goes with me - I know how he will implement things," Emraan said and added that there are "unspoken things on the film set".

"He knows when I need my space for my character and I know when he is unsure about something."

Deshmukh had three releases as a director - "Jannat", "Jannat 2" and "Tum Mile" - and Emraan played the male lead in all of them.

Produced by UTV Motion Pictures, "Raja Natwarlal" also features Paresh Rawal and Kay Kay Menon. It will hit the theatres Aug 29.