'Jannat 2' has become a hit. Emraan Hashmi's lucky phase continues. This is his third straight hit after 'Murder 2' and 'The Dirty Picture'. However, if the reports from trade analysts and movie goers are to be believed then the business of 'Jannat 2' has started to lose momentum.

This shouldn't be a surprise as 'Jannat 2' is far away from perfection. Retaining a franchise name could be a good business trick but it increases the viewer's expectations from the film. Hashmi's patron Mahesh Bhatt understands the subtlety of the film business and thus he decided to keep the name 'Jannat 2' without it being a proper sequel. The Bhatt camp had earlier done this with 'Murder 2' also. The films may be hits at the ticket window, but such marketing gimmickry can harm Emraan Hashmi's career in the longer run.

A simple glance at Emraan Hashmi's career will reveal 'Murder', 'Gangster', 'Jannat', 'Tum Mile', 'Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai', 'Murder 2', 'The Dirty Picture', and 'Jannat 2' as remarkable films. 'Gangster' can be removed from this list because the film revolved around Shiney Ahuja and Kangna Ranaut primarily. Now, 'Murder' and 'Murder 2' couldn't be counted as films with good acting. 'Murder' became a massive hit for obvious reasons while Emraan Hashmi didn't offer anything new as far as Emraan's acting was concerned.

'Jannat' and 'Tum Mile' tried to give Emraan Hashmi a chance to flaunt his expressions but the pressure to get the cash register ringing forced the director Kunal Deshmukh to include normal traits of a Bhatt camp hero into Emraan Hashmi's character. His serial kisser image seemed overpowering Emraan in both these films.

Milan Luthria's 'The Dirty Picture' provided Emraan the chance to become the hero in a heroine dominated film. He managed to receive a part of the limelight despite the presence of Naseeruddin Shah and Vidya Balan. This became possible only because of smart writing which wouldn’t have been possible had it been a Bhatt camp film.

Lutharia's other film 'Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai' gave the insight into the latent potential of Emraan Hashmi; this film is possibly his best performance till date. And it is notable that Luthria didn't dilute Emraan Hashmi's basic image.

Nobody other than Kunal Deshmukh inside the Bhatt camp has shown the will to develop an alternate image for Emraan Hashmi. Though Deshmukh appeared to return to the trusted formula of melodious music, fast paced story and a tinge of sensuality in 'Jannat 2'; still he tried to mellow down Emraan's image of a cynical lover. But will just one director be able to give Hashmi roles worth doing after 9 years of career.

This is the high time when Emraan Hashmi should start taking films from outside Vishesh Films seriously. Dibakar Banerjee's 'Shanghai' may prove to be a good step in this direction, but Emraan needs to look beyond Bhatt films to establish himself as a complete package.