Awarapan 2 writer on continuing Shivam’s journey: ‘I wanted to see some callbacks’
22 August,2026 07:57 AM IST | Mumbai | Mohar Basu
Writer Bilal Siddiqui says he approached Awarapan 2 as a fan of the original, focusing on what he wanted to see next for Emraan Hashmi’s Shivam. The sequel retains key emotional and spiritual elements while organically continuing his lost-love journey
Emraan Hashmi in ‘Awarapan 2’. Pics/Youtube, By Special Arrangement
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Bilal Siddiqui was a fan of Awarapan (2007) long before he was asked to write its sequel. So, when he sat down to script Awarapan 2, his first instinct was not to think about the pressure of following a cult movie, but to imagine what a fan would like to see next in the Emraan Hashmi film.
“I allowed the fan in me to take over and write the scenes that I wanted to see. Early on, we eliminated many choices in terms of the direction the story should go in,” said Siddiqui, who wrote the story with director Nitin Kakkar and producer Vishesh Bhatt.
The 2007 film had established the moral compass of Hashmi’s protagonist Shivam and his loss. Taking his journey forward organically, Siddiqui made sure to retain some of the original’s elements. “I knew I wanted to see some callbacks to part one here. The payoff of the first part’s spirituality comes when Tera Mera Rishta plays again in this film. Shivam hasn’t moved on from his lost love – I wanted to maintain that aspect.”
Awarapan 2 also brought Siddiqui back to Hashmi, an actor whose work he had watched as a child. “I always liked that Emraan could play characters who were doing the wrong things, and yet there was a likeability to them. I had seen his films on cable TV as a child,” he smiled, before adding, “When he heard this version, he liked it. He had a few inputs in terms of the character.”
âAkkha Bollywood ek taraf, Emraan Hashmi ek taraf’
That iconic line from âThe Ba”’ds of Bollywood’ (2025) came almost instinctively to him, revealed co-writer Bilal Siddiqui. “I know Emraan very well, and I know what he means to people. That is genuinely how a lot of his fans feel about him,” reflected Siddiqui
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