Source: Mid-Day
The backdrop to this chat with Hrithik Roshan is a poster of this week’s Sooraj Barjatya release Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon.
A bare-torso, tattooed-arm, Stallone-muscle Roshan peers out poster-perfect, flanked by a fully clothed Kareena Kapoor.
We find this unusual, for a regular Hindi film poster (especially nowadays) would perhaps have the actress in the emperor’s new clothes and maybe a fully bedecked actor alongside.
Is that splash on the wall then aimed at highlighting the androgynous elements of the actor?
Is there an attempt to showcase the effeminate side of the Adonis? We put forward every euphemism possible, but stop short of enunciating, is Hrithik Roshan a gay icon and hence the poster?
Roshan’s seemingly befuddled, “I think you’re reading too much into that picture.
Just a few seconds before this shot, Kareena was wearing little (smiles). And the shirt you see her in, is actually what I was wearing in the scene. That’s all.”
Roshan is wearing a baseball cap to conceal a crew cut designed on his head — for Farhan Akhtar’s Lakshya. A signed contract forbids him from revealing the new look.
But before he visits cinemas with Lakshya, there are two big-ticket outings around the corner — Main Prem… and father Rakesh Roshan’s Koi Mil Gaya.
Before those happen, and the actor’s fate perhaps takes a U-turn, the Chinese whispers about ‘Hrithik, the phenomenon’ a la Kaho Naa Pyar Hai being dead expectedly endure.
Conversations about you have remained fixated on the fall and fall of Hrithik Roshan for a long while. Does that upset you any more?
I don’t look at my career in that fashion. It would upset me if I weren’t a good actor. In all my films the common reaction has been that as a performer I haven’t failed my audience.
When I come across my fans, I witness the same adulation, the same screaming, teary-eyed crowds and the same euphoria.
Papers might say things are bad for me, describe my world as gloomy but that’s not true. I have a wife I love, a happy family and films to look forward to, why should I be upset?
What is the nastiest thing you’ve read about yourself?
Oh, there’ve been too many. The nastiest, yet the most entertaining one was the cover of a magazine that read “Finished” in bold letters. “Seven flops spell the end of Hrithik Roshan.”
If that were the case, the magazine wouldn’t use my face to sell its cover. I found out that the edition had completely sold out and the same magazine used my face on its cover in the next two issues.
But there’s no denying your films have taken a frightful beating at the box office. Naa Tum Jaano Na Hum, Mujhse Dosti Karoge…
I keep it simple in my mind. There are no bad times. There are bad films and they fail precisely because of that reason.
Do you regret having done those films?
Actually the films I believed were the best of the lot have failed, not the other way round. There is no question of regretting decisions. These are experiences an artiste learns from and moves on.
A Barjatya film seems a safe career move.
I don’t look at it that way. The idea is to work hard on a project and harder still. In Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, I play a completely flamboyant character that loves like nobody else. As for the story, you’ll have to see the film.
Coming back to the gloss press and what’s written about you, the incessant one concerns your link-up to Kareena Kapoor.
Well, you’re talking about the same thing, what’s the difference then? It doesn’t bother me.
What does, are reports that insinuate that I am unprofessional. ‘I walked out of a shoot’ or tried to get Kareena on a tour. Those are utter lies and they’re upsetting.
As for link-ups, let’s not talk about them and reduce the sanctity of the film we’re here to talk about.
Your next lot of films are Koi Mil Gaya and Lakshya. How disparate are those roles from the upcoming one? And what plans after Lakshya?
I’d like to save the conversation about my other films ideally before their release. After Lakshya, I haven’t signed anything so far. Who knows, I might go off to learn tap dancing in the US!
There were reports that you’re considering a Hollywood project.
There are have been offers in the past, but none interesting or exciting enough. It isn’t something I’d like to rush into, since I am satisfied here and have a lot to learn from this industry.
Doing a Hollywood film would mean getting cut off for quite some time, learning their lingo and absorbing their work structure.