Source: Cine Blitz
Voila! It's that Hrithik magic again. His 'cool' quotient is skyrocketing, way beyond the biggest names. Yes, once again! But there's no chest-thumping, no self-generated hype, no tom-tomming a film that is being declared the biggest hit in two years! And in being so dignified, Hrithik comes along as almost noble in his vindication. That dignity has won him more admirers than anything else. He's smiling and the world is smiling with him. Well, most of it, in any case!
Catch him in a sunny mood, we get the star to list his High Fives!
5 VITAL LESSONS LEARNT IN THE LAST THREE YEARS
One and the most important lesson of the all - it is always the film that works, never an actor. The star system is a myth. I don't believe in it. Had it existed there would have been no reason for a newcomer's film (Kaho Na Pyaar Hai) to work in such a big way and then a star's film with the same pairing (Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage) to flop after a successful Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. It should have at least gotten a decent initial. It didn't. The audience knew, from the promos, that they wouldn't like the film.
Lesson No.2: You grow up the day you have your real laugh at yourself. I have had a sense of humour about my low phase. And I have been able to laugh at my mistakes and myself. It's very important to have a sense of humour, otherwise it can drive you insane. I have laughed at myself a lot and it has helped me get through some of the most difficult times.
My age-old belief has been re-affirmed. You eventually get what you deserve. Maybe I didn't put in my 100 percent and that is why some of my films failed. You have to continually dance with life. You have to enjoy the lows as well as the highs. Your life is not going to end on a successful note or a low note. Like they say, success is like a journey. I have learnt to be happy even during the lowest low. Happiness is not a state of mind; it's a way of life. Along with the frustrations, the struggles, it's essential to have a perspective which allows you to deal with everything you have to go through.
With the success of Koi… Mil Gaya, I have realized that if you want something badly enough, the entire universe will conspire to give you what you want! I read Paulo Coelho's Alchemist a month before the release of Koi… Mil Gaya and it completely changes my perspective. I knew, for a fact, that there was a reason and a purpose for what I had to go through. And this book gave me such a strong perspective that I would not have lost faith even if Koi… Mil Gaya hadn't been a hit.
5 THINGS TO FIX ABOUT THE INDUSTRY & LIFE
Hmm, this I need to think about. For one, I wish people in the industry would understand that you don't have to put somebody else down to climb the ladder yourself. True strength does not show other people their weakness. On the contrary, it makes others around you, stronger. I have never understood why we can't smile at someone else's success, instead of pulling the person down. Maybe I am too much of an idealist but I really do wish for this mentality to change in the industry. In my opinion, real competition is when you push others to excel and then compete with them. Why does it have to be a cutthroat fight between people? I know it's an extremely Utopian idea, but then what's life without a little dreaming?!
Another thing I would like to change about the industry is our environment. Work is where we put our maximum time and it's this that makes you what you are. I wish there were better studios, better management, better facilities, oh, the list is endless! And I wish these things not just for the actors but also for the crew of the film; the spot boys, the light boys, everyone. I think they deserve better!
I don't think I want to change anything about my life. What makes it perfect is the fact that it's not perfect. Life has been unpredictable; it has been extremes at times. It has surprised, it has shocked, but that's what makes a complete life. I think I am on the right track. I've experience many things which many people don't get a chance to experience and I am glad that I have gone through the whole gamut. I am still smiling. Look!
5 THINGS ABOUT KOI… MIL GAYA THAT MADE HIM LAUGH
Oh, Rohit made Hrithik laugh hysterically and that was fun! This was my very first film where I have been able to laugh with my character, normally when I watch a film of mine, I am always analysing my shot, my expressions. For the first time, Rohit made me forget that it wasn't me up there on the screen. The kids were a constant source of entertainment too. They were the sweetest and the brightest kids I have ever met in my life. I was surprised at the level of their IQ. Their sense of humour is unbelievable. Many of the lines they said on screen were created by them! Wonderful bunch, that!
Getting a right shot out of Jadoo made me excited as hell. It was so difficult! He was being handled by remote control and sometimes, James and Lara couldn't even see his face so it was all instinctive. Jaadoo had to react to my dialogues and James and Lara could not understand Hindi so we had to time his expressions and that was so difficult but when we did, it was the most exciting shot of the whole day. Off camera too, Jadoo would make me laugh because James and Lara were constantly making him react to the person standing next to him. We used to jump out of our skins at some of his antics!
5 REASONS TO HANG ON & NOT GIVE UP
How would you really know how brave you are if only wonderful things happened to you? I wanted to see how brave I really could be and how far I could chase that something that I really wanted. Anything that I have ever done in my life that has ultimately been worth something has always scared the living daylights out of me, initially. Take the idea of Kaho Na…Pyaar Hai; I had a choice of three scripts and I still chose to do it, because it scared me the most. It's funny but I've always tried to harness my fears and use them as a source of motivation. Don't they say that fear gives you wings? It always does that to me. Fear works for me. I want to conquer it. I have a very strong survival instinct and that has to do a lot with fear.
Fear of being nothing, a complete failure, is not acceptable to me. It drives a person like me to prove something to myself. I would say it is an inherent strength of my character. These three years have been a time of fears and doubts. Doubts about whether I was actually what people were saying I was or whether I was actually what people said I was post Koi… Mil Gaya. Which was the true me? The conclusion I arrived at, was that people don't really know anything. You are never as good as you are made out to be and never as bad, either. What egged me on, was that I had always been critically acclaimed in my films. That was another motivating factor. If I had not been working on Koi… Mil Gaya at the time when I was facing all the flak, I could very easily have been discouraged. But this film and my character was so dear to me, that despite all the bad press I was getting, I was living a very happy life. I was doing something I was enjoying so much.
5 ROLE MODELS
Will four do? Dad is definitely one. Most of my inspiration and motivation comes from Dad. As his assistant, I was completely in awe of him. I was constantly amazed at how much he could manage and how he could create in chaos. He's truly awesome. I am not like him. I can't create in chaos. I get even more confused. He takes 20 different problems and solves each one, separately. When I take 20 different problems I get so confused, they all become I big problem and I don't know what to do then! I remember the first time I visited Dad's sets, during the shooting of Kishan Kanhaiya, I was shocked to see him sweeping the floor. I was even a little upset that he was doing it himself. At home, he has always been the boss. His shoes are shined, his needs met, without him having to say anything. So this sight was a big surprise. That's when I realised that for Dad, there's no 'small work', it's all towards one big common cause, which is making a good film. From Dad I have learnt that status is not defined by what you do, but how well you do it. As much as I want to come to a point where I level with Dad, I know that it will never happen because as I grow and evolve, I realise that he is leaps and bounds ahead of me. Thank God he is my father, though!
My grandfather, my nanaji, J. Om Prakash is my other role model. He is someone I have tried to emulate and I hope to be like him when I am his age. His silent strength, his wisdom, is amazing. I haven't come across a more well read man than him. There's a peace and calm and serenity about him that is wonderful. When I am with him, I instantly become a student. I just sit and watch and listen to him and he always has something educating and inspirational to tell me… Something from his past, some incident that happened, or some book that he has read. He always tries to instill some good quality in me. I look forward to meeting him and sometimes when I am not able to meet him, I feel starved for his company, of the things that he teaches me. He has influenced me a great deal.
As far as films are concerned, I am most influenced by Mr. Bachchan and Mr. Raj Kapoor as actors, for various reasons and most of them are very obvious, so I don't think I need to elaborate on that.
5 REASONS TO LOVE PREITY
Oh, that's easy; I could list a whole lot of them! One, she is a true friend. Two, she is a complete child which works very well for me, especially in a film like Koi… Mil Gaya because it helped me so much to be a child myself. I'd probably come to the sets with a problem in my head and she would arrive and yak, yak, yak so much, I'd forget the problem I was dealing with and get onto her drift. Preity's prattle was a cathartic experience for me.
I respect her a lot as an actor. She is not only a very talented actor, she is also a very intelligent and selfless one. She is one of the few actors I've had the pleasure of working with, who is not selfish in the least. I guess that stems from security. During Koi…Mil Gaya she was working towards a great product as opposed to personal gains. She doesn't hog the camera. She doesn't try and out another actor down. It's a very, very, very rare quality to have and it's no wonder I love her. For certain shots which were okayed, she would tell me that I had done a better version of it when I was rehearsing for it. Very few actors would be that concerned.
Preity has so much dignity. Even if she has to do something that might sound cheap, she does it with so much dignity and manages to make it look elegant and cute. I cannot imagine Preity looking or doing anything cheap in a film.
The best thing about her is that she is always so positive and that is sooo contagious. In fact, her positivity has made me more positive as a human being. I love the way she lives her life. Work is not the be-all and end-all for her. Work is a means to an end. She works like a dog and she goes for a holiday and lives it up. That really gets me so envious, I can happily kill her! I was constantly working while she went in these fabulous, fun holidays. I want a piece of that pie as well. I am going to enjoy life like Preity!
5 UNREALISED DREAMS
There are so many of them because I am basically a dreamer. I have been dreaming since my lunch breaks in school. My mom would be waiting with lunch, and I would arrive 10 minutes before lunch break ended, while the rest of the kids had finished their meals, played their games and were on their way back to class. My mom would be the only mother waiting for me to come and have my khana. I was always in my own world. I would walk around, play by myself, and arrive at my own time. There are a lot of unrealised dreams because I never stopped dreaming. One thing I know for a fact is, if I am able to dream them, they already exist inside me and it's just a matter of time before they take shape.
5 THINGS NEWCOMERS SHOULD NEVER ATTEMPT
Creativity should never the about money. True, money is at the centre of our existence. But it is not all-important. There are other things which make life richer, which have nothing to do with money. If you measure money against your desires, you will always be poor. But if you measure money against your needs, you will always be rich. Money should be a means to an end, not an end in itself. People always react to what they see. And they give according to what they see. If they see a hungry man, they will give him food, if they see a poor man, they will give him money, if they see an angry man, they will shun him and if they see a promising man, they will give him opportunities. That's human instinct. Instead of showing your anger and frustration and helplessness at the struggle you may be going through, show them your promise and do it with a smile.
Be honest with yourself. You have to be brutally honest with yourself first, to be sure whether you have it in you to make it. That was the first thing I did. I took a good, hard look at myself to see if I had the potential.
There was an acquaintance of mine who struggled in the industry for about five to six years. He never got a decent job. When he was 29, he left India and went to America and today he is a millionaire. I used to keep telling him, maybe this is not meant for you, maybe you're meant for something else. But he was relentless and he was hung up about making it in films. Now he tells me, 'Hrithik you were so right. I wish I had not wasted those seven years of my life!' My point here is, if you are not getting where you want to in the first two years, if you have not even started off, then there's something else meant for you. Chase another dream!
5 MOST WANTED DESIRES
- A chance to introduce myself to God. I wonder how I would do it!
- To be perfect in every single way, without having to work at it!
- To be a man with the most knowledge, the most wisdom, the best body, the best of everything. That would be fun!
- And to have a nice, long, relaxing holiday! I think I deserve one now and I've earned it too.
5 REASONS TO BELIEVE THAT GOD EXISTS
I could give you a dozen! One reason I believe that God exists is because I just know that there has to be a method to all this madness. The world is absolutely chaotic but it's a miracle that each day we get up with the sun shining, breathing fresh air. Imagine a day with the oxygen supply cut off and no sunlight to brighten our day! We take so many things for granted.
Also, every time I see a child smiling, I go that one step further in believing that yes, there is a God. There is so much innocence ad purity in children. They are, I think, the essence of everything God must be.
The third reason I believe God exists is because He gives me signs. You can call it a coincidence but I consider them signs. I am not superstitious but I keep looking for signs. And at those times when I have asked for a sign with all my heart, I have usually got it. That could because of the child inside me. It's fun to believe in these, so why stop?
When I see true love, in any relationship, I believe there is a God. Selfless, complete understanding, unconditional love - which does exist by the way! This kind of love makes me believe that there is something higher than what our minds are capable of understanding! They say, 'Do you have to see it to believe it or will you believe enough to see it?' You have to believe to see it. I really believe that this is God's basic funda. Believe it first and then you'll see it. In His world it all works differently!