Emraan Hashmi, who has been in the industry for over two decades, made his acting debut with Vikram Bhatt's Footpath (2003). However not many know that he was introduced as Farhan Hashmi in the credits. Now, in a recent interview, the actor opened up about the story behind changing his name to Farhan and then back to Emraan.

Why did Emraan Hashmi change his name?

Speaking to Mashable India, the Tiger 3 actor revealed that on his grandfather's insistence, he changed his name to Farhan before entering showbiz. He added, "This was on the insistence from my grandfather, because of numerology.” He was given a choice to pick a name between Farhan or Emran with an additional 'A'. Emraan chose Farhaan but when his film flopped he changed it back to the original with an extra 'A'.

“After the first film flopped, we changed it to Emraan, and the second film became a hit, so we kept the name Emran with an additional A. That hit was a validation,” the actor concluded. For the unversed, Emraan's second release was Murder, co-starring Ashmit Patel and Mallika Sherawat. Helmed by Anurag Basu, the film was produced by his uncle Mukesh Bhatt. It earned the actor the tag of a 'serial kisser'.

What's next for Emraan Hashmi?

The actor is currently gearing up for the release of his upcoming web series Showtime, co-starring Mouni Roy and Rajiv Khandelwal. Produced by Dharma Productions, the show will release on March 8 on Disney+ Hotstar. In terms of films, he has Sara Ali Khan's Ae Watan Mere Watan, Pawan Kalyan starrer They Call Him OG and Adivi Sesh's Goodachari 2.