Actor Emraan Hashmi, who would be seen opposite Vidya Balan in the upcoming film 'The Dirty Picture', says, he was in two minds before accepting the film, thinking he would get less screen space, as the film focuses more on the role played by the actress. Directed by Milan Luthria, 'The Dirty Picture' is inspired by controversial south Indian actress Vijayalaxmi, popularly known as Silk Smitha.

“Generally, I like playing the protagonist. I am a very selfish actor. I don't like sharing screen space with others. So, I had this thing in mind whether I should take this film or not, as I'm not a protagonist and Vidya will get more screen footage,” said Emraan.

“Then I thought, when I would see the film, I would have regretted not being a part of a great film. I do know that the role is not that substantial enough, like what I had in 'Murder 2' or 'Jannat' or 'Raaz'. I liked the space and the duniya (world) created in this film, so, for those selfish reasons, I did the film,” he said.

'The Dirty Picture' goes back into the era of 1980s, especially the Tamil cinema and shows the highs and lows of an actress-dancing star. In the film, Vidya essays the role of Silk Smitha. Besides Emraan, Tusshar Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah are also part of the movie, produced by Ekta Kapoor, that will release on December 2.

In his six-year-long career so far, Emraan has given quite a few hits at the box office, most of which were more or less solo films including 'Jannat', 'Murder', 'Zeher', 'Gangster', 'Murder 2' and others. "I prefer solo hero films...like I said I am a selfish actor. It is not like I will do only such films (solo) and not deviate from that. It is not like I won't do films that have more stars. Like I did 'Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji' and then I would be doing Dibarkar Banerjee's 'Shanghai', which have two-three actors. I did the film, because I liked the subject and the character," Emraan said.