Source: Stardust, Jan 2004
Submitted By: Dufan Hina
THE crowded and bustling lane leading to the office of the Mumbai daily afternoon despath & courier is packed to capacity men, workmen and children of all ages’ shapes and sizes wait in unison. Reason? Hrithik Roshan will soon be making an entry there the newspaper has organized a live interaction between the star and his innumerable fans. says the writer Tanuj Garg of the publication. I have ever seen such hysteria for any Bollywood star ever before."
It's the last day of the shooting of Farhan Akthar’s Lakshya and the director is simply finishing some last minute patchwork at the famous studio located in mid-town mumbai. The studio is a very popular shooting ground among actors since it offers a lot of privacy as compared to others but this time the story is different news has spread that Hrithik Roshan is in the premises and an otherwise secluded studio starts attracting mammoth crowds offcie goers, college student and street urchins stand patiently to catch a glimpse of their favorite actor.
The scene at the plush new Roshan residence is simply resplendent it is Suzanne and hrithik's wedding anniversary and there's not a place in the house that's not filled with flowers. In an industry where a star's status is often measured by the number of bouquets he gets.
Hrithik Roshan indeed is a super star right now it would probably make sense to say that it's a new league for Hrithik Roshan now a league that is distinguished, exclusive and of course his own Hrithik whom anil kapoor called the country's Rajesh khanna underwent a rough phase for over a year when his films failed to create any ripples at the box office but his dramatic return to the top with Koi mil Gaya is indeed an awe-inspiring story with just a single stroke the actor just recaptured his superdome but also established his supremacy as one of the finest actors in the country Hrithik returns where he belonged at the top spot. As leading of shringar films, shyam shroff puts it “today Hrithik is second to none something that can established with simply facts the offers that he been getting lately wooing him with unheard of fingers but for the first time in his career Hrithik is not in a hurry”. Despite being at the top for all these months after Koi mil Gaya the actor hasn't signed a single new film the only movie he has is Lakshya and the shooting for that is now complete for skeptic this may seem like an unusual move but the super star has his own logic. it's really strange you know he says, smilingly today I feel that if I didn't have a single releases between Kaho Naa Pyaar hai and Koi mil Gaya my career would've been in the same state or probably even better. I was new I was impatient and to be fair I chose the best films from what were being offered to me but they didn't work and suddenly I was in a worse situation than where I had started
for any actor after a point it's not about the money anymore it's about satisfaction and success. And when you're in denial of these two crucial factors, the going is obviously tough. I don't regret anything I did but sometime I do feel that why did I do some of the films that I did? Wonders the actor. When you do a film you put a significant amount of time and energy into it and irrespective of what you do it's never going to come back. I have come to realize that now. Really what matters is the quality of work that you do and not the quantity.
Today Hrithik is guarded and continues when it comes to singing a new film and evidently so. He’s right at the top and doesn’t want to take any chances at this stage. I’m getting offers everyday and I’m going though the script he says but I haven't come across anything that's made me excited or any thing that is out-of-the-ordinary and until I cone across that perfect script, I’m not going to sign any new films. I would rather take a break, sit at home than do films I don't believe in that's my take right now, he explains as he brushes his hair. the super hero brushes off rumors indicating that his next film will be his home production directed by father Rakesh.
I don't know where people get their facts from he shrugs my father is still working on ideas and we haven't finalized anything so far if anything interesting come’s up surely we will work on it. But as for now there's nothing concrete.
Koi mil Gaya the that catapulted Hrithik Roshan back to number uno position means a lot to him at a time when certain sections of the media and industry had started writing him off as a one film wonder the young actors outstanding portrayal in the film shook the nation emotionally the film succeeded on two significant levels, it became the years biggest universal hit and it firmly established Hrithik as an actor to reckon with like of akshay kumar put it “I cannot think of any other actor doing Koi mil Gaya so effortlessly and perfectly and that's a major achievement for any actor”
Hrithik feels humbled with compliments that he's still getting for Koi mil Gaya and insists that it was more of a role for him it was challenge emotional physical and mental he reveals generally what happens is that for every character you play you have certain benchmark in mind there is some inspiration you want to draw from some character but in this case I couldn't do that because nobody has done such role before do I literally had to work out everything myself the way I spoke the posture the mannerisms everything. My father had sketched the character so beautifully that I knew that I just had to play it right and it would work that's exactly what happened.
For Hrithik Koi mil Gaya was also the hardest film to shoot physically speaking for the role of the mentally challenged Rohit the actor needed to lose weight but that sometimes became a problem because I was shooting for other movies simultaneously where I had to look broad at some point I felt I was compromising and I just couldn't handle it because I wanted to give Koi mil Gaya everything that's another reason why I have decided to do only one film at a time now if you're doing something you better do it right he explains .
The dubbing of the film was also a crucial element and it wasn't easy at all. Generally actors take just a few days to finish their dubbing for a film but I took almost two whole months admits Hrithik. I went crazy during that stage the characters speech was everything and a lot depended on that I had to sound genuine not foolish or stupid I kept doing variations and just couldn't get it right I have spent sleepless nights only over this aspect of the role that was one of the most harrowing experiences I’ve had during the making of the film.
The results are now out for everyone to see. Seldom does happen that in a year that's dominated by power performances by the likes of actors like Shahrukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan there is Hrithik Roshan riding high as the favorite and as some of them have already began to lobbying for awards through their respective camps Hrithik is rather unperturbed well may the best man win he laughs then on a serious note he adds see I’ve put a lot of hard work into Koi mil Gaya it would be rewarded for that but there are others who have performed well too so it all depends.
The mood is upbeat and things have never looked better for the Roshan’s even a recent controversy regarding a cosmetic company filing a case against them is not an issue to worry about Hrithik simply wonders how his name got into the whole thing. First of all we didn't do anything wrong we gave what we promised he stresses if you see Koi mil Gaya we have given them their coverage that was due to them when they saw the film at our office they were very happy. But they weren't paying us the last installment finally my father told them if they didn't pay up we would send them a legal notice so in order to
avoid that they sent us a notice before we could take action that's the truth of it and I just cannot understand how my name has been mentioned I haven't even seen them or met them the deal is between Filmkraft but once again I’m just being singled out because I happen to be Hrithik Roshan he says firmly. But this is just another minor obstacle that the actor will sail though and there no doubt about that just like there is no denying that the media and the industry have finally taken note of Hrithik the superstar with substance the ride to the top has been tough but slow and study but surely it's going to be one long innings out there the winner takes all and Hrithik Roshan is exactly that.