Source: Bombay Times
By: Subash K Jha
In Love With Kids – Hrithik Roshan speaks to Subhash K Jha about his plans.
Incomparably brilliant in his craft, Hrithik Roshan is caught in a strange dilemma. What does he do next? The last of his current assignments Farhan Akhtar’s Lakshya, is now nearing completion. The last lap of the war epic is now being shot in Delhi.
“Lakshya wraps up on December 20, and then I do what I’ve been waiting to do for five years. I go on a holiday with my wife. But what do I do after I come back? It’s scary!”
Hrithik expresses the dilemma of an extra-cautious superstar who has chosen to walk on a path of excessive exclusivity. Any other actor would’ve capitalized on the grand success of Koi…Mil Gaya. “I realize I’m endangering my future prospects by being over-choosy. But I can’t help it. Until I’m very sure about what I want to do I can’t plunge into it. I now feel if I had done just my debut film Kaho Naa..Pyaar Hai and then maybe Fiza and now Koi…Mil Gaya, my career would’ve still been where it is right now.”
With zero assignments on hand, Hrithik reminds me of two other actors. Aamir Khan seems to have adopted the one-film-at-a-time policy. That explains his Rs. 7 crore fee for Ketan Mehta’s The Rising. As one of Aamir’s colleagues joked, “I think Aamir is charging one producer what he’d have charged from all the others if he had signed some other films after Lagaan.”
Not everyone is inclined to follow Aamir Khan’s method of super-sparse assignments. Rani Mukherjee was jobless by choice when Saathiya was released. She wanted to wait rather than sign films that didn’t excite her. She’s of course flooded with assignments now. But Rani was ready to wait even suffer the consequences if, God forbid, Saathiya had flopped.
Hrithik neither charges as much as Aamir nor can he be as relaxed about his career as Rani Mukherjee whose responsibilities towards her career were relatively reduced due to her gender.
Sighs Hrithik, “I know the audiences’ attention span is limited. I realize I’ve to be visible in the public eye. But I can’t just do films to stay visible. Besides, I’ll be seen in stage shows and in goods endorsements.”
There’s a film with Shaad Ali for Yash Chopra’s production house which Hrithik is seriously considering. “I like the first half of Shaad’s script, and if I like the second half just as much I’ll be doing this film,” he informs.
And yes, a film with dad Rakesh Roshan is also on the anvil. “He wants to start it in the middle of next year. But please, it isn’t a sequel to Koi…Mil Gaya, as reported in the press. My Dad has three to four story ideas. We need to zero in on one.” Incidentally, Lakshya will have an ‘item’ song by Hrithik. But it will be an integral part of the film. What does the actor play in Farhan Akhtar’s war epic? Hrithik isn’t willing to give beyond, “It isn’t a war film in the true sense of the term. It’s more about the war that my character fights within.”
But according to those in the know, Lakshya casts Hrithik in an author-backed dream role of an ordinary man who finds his metier in life through trial and error. “I agree I’ve a dream role in the film. But it doesn’t thrill me to be the central character. I’m willing to play a cameo in a film, if it gives me a kick. I want to work with different kinds of directors like Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta.”
Right now what really turns Hrithik on is the award he has received from the children of Mumbai called Choton Ka Funda. “I can’t tell you how happy I feel to have made contact with kids through Koi…Mil Gaya. Children are my most loyal fans.”