Percept Pictures’ upcoming film, Rush, gearing up for a mid-year release, has Emraan Hashmi playing an upwardly mobile journalist with a top news channel. And unlike the characters he’s played before bad boy turned good or good boy turned bad the versatile actor, while true to the genre he specialises in, is playing a character who can be described as ‘a good boy wanting to do good.’

“This guy is morally strong, with no grey shades, always ready to take a stand,” says the film’s director, Priyanka Dhawan, adding, “He’s someone people look up to, and being a big fan of both Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami, I admit I had them in mind as role models for the character when I was working on the script. They fit the profile and are the right age. I think Emraan did too, because I can see nuances of these guys in his portrayal.”

Priyanka started out with radio, moved to TV documentaries, independent features and ad films before moving to Bollywood in 2008. “Both my co-director Shamin Desai, who was the co-founder of Channel V, and I have worked in the media behind the scenes and that was how this story about the news you see on TV and what goes into making it, came about,” she says, adding that the Aarushi Talwar murder case was another muse.

The double murder of the 14-year-old schoolgirl and her household help had people rooted to their TV screens. It sparked off endless speculations and investigations in the media. “I was intrigued and baffled to see the case being dissected in our living rooms without evidence and authority, and fingers being pointed despite the fact that we had legal institutions to do that, and they have yet to solve the crime,” she points out.

Because of the recession and the bad market, Priyanka’s directorial debut has been delayed, but she insists it’s still fresh and 10 years into the future. ‘We continue to talk about the Aarushi murder case,” she points out. “And Arnab and Rajdeep are still driving public opinion.”