Source: Yahoo
Date: June 14
Once in 5 years comes along a phenomenon - a film by the "guru" Sooraj R. Barjatya that makes the entire Indian nation take notice of it. Bollywood fans all across the globe now look forward to his next release on June 27th, 2003 called 'Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon' starring Kareena Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Kapoor. Rajan Patel caught up with Hrithik Roshan in an exclusive just for you..
Q. Can you tell us about your character Prem ?
A. I play Prem, I have been given the mantle of Prem. In "Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon", prem is a character which I think is quite out of this world. In a sense that you rarely come across somebody who is as special as him. I don't think I have come across a human being that pure, that selfless. He is all heart and he has very strong conscious and he is loyal in friendship like no other.One very special trait about him is that he doesn't believe anybody in the world is bad. He exudes goodness and he believes that everybody is good. His premise is that everything and everybody is good, that is something that he starts off from.
Q. How does one Prem differentiate from the other Prem in the Film? (Incidentally both Abhishek Bachchan and Hritik Roshan's are named Prem in this film)
A. As a character one ... you could say one is black and one is white, but they both sort are beautiful colours. Black could look as magnetic and white as pure as possible. So the other Prem played by Abhishek is a very subtle Prem. He is a man of few words but a man with a lot of strength of character. He doesn't say much but when he talks it carries a lot of weight. Unlike the Prem that I play who is flamboyant and says what comes to his mind, just completely from his heart, there's no calculation, he doesn't know what he says, just shoots his mouth off and that is the basic difference, but they are as similar as they are different because both of them are very special human beings. Again, when they love they love with all their heart and they are very righteous and their belief in friendship, so with been very different from each other they are also very very similar.
Q. Do you take away anything from the character after the film process was over ?
A. On the constant basis actually there's lot of thing about Prem that if one would imbibe in their normal life, life could become so much better. Im sure id like to be as positive as Prem is and believe that being like that eventually makes a better journey, a more peaceful journey, with less bitterness.
Q. How did this film happen for you ?
A. Well, I think Mr. Barjatiya (Sooraj Barjatya) just gave me a call, he said, "I want to come over and narrate a subject to you". Working with Soorajji has been the best experience in the life. The simple reason is that I don't think there is any other man like him in this world. He is as rare as Prem himself. Working with him is you know so much about being a better human being in a strange way - I might not be making sense . He keeps telling me "Hritik, always keep your conscious clean only then can you express what is the truth". So he believes in things like that and when he enters the room you just cant escape the positive energy. You know the goodness that he radiates, it just hits you, and you just want to become like him. Before I signed/worked in the film I was a very big fan of Sooraj Barjatya the Director, but after working with him I have actually become the fan of Sooraj Barjatya, the human being.
Q. You did "Mission Kashmir" and that was a quasi-negative role ? Do you think you have done too many "goody goody" roles and its time get a balance between the positive and negative side of things ?
A. I don't know... in my first film I play a good guy, actually 2 good guy (refers to "Kaho Na Pyar Hai") and that paid off really well and then I played 2 negatives, "Fiza" and "Mission Kashmir" - relatively negative and at that time people said "Why you doing negative films, do you want to cross over to the bad side", so I said No, those were characters which interested me and I am an actor and going to play all kind of roles and since then, people have come to me with offers wanting me to play a good guy, I don't know why (laughs) all of them came to me playing this really good guy . Maybe you are right maybe I have been playing too much of that good guy (grins)...time to get bad.
Q. You have yourself done a lot of action sequences in this film ?
A. This film has got so much youth in it. We have done everything, Bungee Jumping, Jet Skiing ..... it was more than a 100 foot bungee jump.....
Q. There's an amazing motorboat sequence ?
A. That's a ride in New Zealand, its called the "shot over jet" and it looks as breath taking when you are in it as you feel when you see it, its absolutely marvelous that ride. There is someone obviously driving the boat and really swerves the boat at the last moment as you are about to hit this jagged edge that's coming out. You feel as if its gonna knock your head off.
Q. Tell us about your experiences with Scuba Diving in the film.
A. Scuba diving was great fun, Kareena and I were trained in a swimming pool for about couple of hours, though I was more conversant with it because I have done Scuba diving for "Kaho Na Pyar Hai" . So for me it was a joy ride. I completely enjoyed it. It's a different world down there with the fishes and others ...chuckles.
Q. What are the tracks in the film Main Prem Ki Diwani that strike you the most ?
A. All the songs are so good that I keep shifting my favourites. So, at this point of time my favourite is the song with the Abhishek and Kareena, but of course I keep shifting from there to "Kasam ki kasam hai " or "Chali Aayee", "Ladka Yeh Kahta hain" and "Ajnabi" .
Q. If you can narrate a special incident between you and Surajji ?
A. There are tons....there are tons ... to pick one special ... every moment with him is special. Every time I put the phone down after talking to him I sigh Wow! He's got a way in bringing the best out in you (thinks hard). Let me say this..... This is my first time I met Mr. Barjatya, he came to my house and sat in my hall, he had a script in his hand -- he requested that I have my entire family present over there, so that he wanted different feedback from all different people in my family. My mother, my sister, my wife he wanted them all there, that was itself a strange to hear, but so nice, so he was clutching his script and he said "Hritik, this is my film, I'll narrate the whole film and if you don't like it there is no problem we will work again in future, its okay if you don't like it, just be honest and tell me. It was just the way he came through telling me that, treating me as somebody more important than himself and he was saying "that this is the film I want you in it. But if you don't want to be in it its okay". I was completely speechless I did not know what to say. That just completed the humility that he has. It just increased my respect for that man by a 100 folds, I was amazed by that. That's not something that you hear generally when directors come to you with the script they are like little bit more....
Q. How do fans react to you in the UK as compared to your Indian fans ?
A. For some strange reason I think they (fans in the UK) are more excited about me there then here, for some strange reason I think the fans over there love me more than...(laughs) maybe they're just louder.
Q. Narrate one incident with your craziest UK fan ?
A. Craziest UK Fan..... (thinks), my most memorable occasion has been when I was doing my shows in London Manchester and Birmingham. There was this group of fans who came for all 3 shows...wore the same clothes and had the same banner up and they were screaming non stop, and I threw them my jacket at the end of the Birmingham show and I just remember their faces and they were so..so much being expressed in there faces I cant express right now in words, but that group really made a special impression in my head.
My Message to my fans..
Believe in yourself, believe in your dreams, work hard because harder you work the luckier you get, and if you keep working hard you will one day achieve your dreams...realize your dreams.