Sharad Kelkar on Teaming up with Emraan Hashmi in Taskaree: You grow when you’re placed opposite someone who challenges your instincts

What’s more exciting than a pairing we have never seen before! Netflix’s crime thriller Taskaree brought together two distinctly different but equally compelling screen presences for the first time. Emraan Hashmi and Sharad Kelkar, actors who are all about restraint rather than excess, finally shared the screen space in one of 2026’s grandest shows, and what’s most gripping about it is a psychological face-off played out in stares and shifting power equations.

In Taskaree, Hashmi played Superintendent Arjun Meena, a customs officer methodically closing in on a sprawling smuggling network. At the centre of that web is Kelkar’s character, a ruthless operator who prefers to stay invisible, pulling strings from deep within the system. The series also stars Amruta Khanvilkar, Nandish Singh Sandhu, Anurag Sinha and Zoya Afroz in key roles.

For Sharad Kelkar, the confrontation with Hashmi’s character was about measured tension. “The face-off wasn’t designed like a typical hero-versus-villain setup. It was more about who blinked first. Sometimes, nothing was said, but everything was happening,” he says.

Kelkar admits that sharing the frame with Hashmi pushed him to sharpen his own performance. He explains, “When you’re working with a powerful actor, you naturally start listening more. Emraan brought a lot of internalised emotion. You can’t overpower that so you have to match it.”

The actor described their scenes as exercises in control rather than confrontation. “We were feeding off each other’s energy. If he held back, I held back. If he paused, I paused. That kind of rhythm only comes when there’s trust between actors,” he adds.

Hashmi’s understated approach, Kelkar says, made the dynamic more unsettling. “Emraan didn’t play the hero in a predictable way. He let the silence do the work. That made my character feel constantly watched, even when he thought he was in control.”

Created by Neeraj Pandey, Taskaree avoids melodrama and the Hashmi–Kelkar face-off reflects that sensibility. “Neeraj sir was very clear that this is not a shouting match. It’s a slow burn. The tension should creep up on the audience. It was a joy doing something so unpredictable after a long time. As an actor, you grow when you’re placed opposite someone who challenges your instincts,” he says.

With Taskaree, the first-ever on-screen clash between Emraan Hashmi and Sharad Kelkar becomes about two strong performers circling each other, waiting for the moment when the balance finally shifts.