Source: Movie Mag (April 2005)
By: Bharathi S Pradhan
Date: June 8, 2005
Typed By: Vanita
Is a hat trick being filmed by Rakesh and Hrithik Roshan in Kulu-Manali right now? There's a new one in the Roshan parivar, another impressive biggie that had daddy Roshan's unmistakable stamp all over it. Its evident that its yet another unhurried, planned-over-several years, meticulously-budgeted project, and this ones for life. If two years ago, Rakesh and Hrithik moved the family into an awesome three tiered apartment with plush large doors and high ceilings, the kind that's seen more in lavish bungalows than in modern day buildings, it's a sprawling new office for father and son in 2005. For years, Rakesh Roshan has happily made his films out of a modest office near a bustling railway station. That was practical. The new ones imposing. It's a whole front floor in Commerce Centre, a new split-n-polish building diagonally opposite Fame Adlabs, the new-age multiplex. It's an office befitting the Roshan status in Hindi cinema today. Dad has the bigger office, puttar has the cozier one. All done up, like their residence, with plush interiors and ever conceivable convenience that a filmmaker would need during working hours.
There's the National Award for Koi…Mil Gaya on the wall behind Rakesh's large desk, the one he didn't go and receive personally from the president of India this year. His mother, Ira Roshan had passed away and the Awards ceremony was just 12 days after. "So Prakash Jha received it on my behalf since the 13th day after my mothers death was not over," the star filmmaker explains respectfully. Hrithik's Bengali dida was lucky. Ira Roshan lived to see her sons (Rakesh and Rajesh) and her favorite first born grandson (Hrithik) change the very lifestyle of the Roshans through a combination of sheer, dogged determination, undeterred slogging and ample talent topped with a large helping of luck. And they were all around her in her last days. In march 2005, it was back to work again for the Roshan men. Raju chacha, that's Rajesh Roshans compositions have been recorded, dad Guddu (Rakesh Roshan) has scripted, signed and scaled his shooting schedules, and celebrity kid Duggu (Hrithik) has gone and come from Hong Kong where he trained for his action sequences in Krrish, the new film Rakesh Roshan is currently filming in Kulu-Manali. For the first time, the filmmaker has decided to roll out a sequel as Krrish follows Koi…Mil Gaya.
Why a sequel, a take-off from where you left your last film?
"I was watching Lord Of The Rings Part 1,2,3, all in one night. And it got me thinking that they had just one ring around which they made three sequels. I had made Koi…Mil Gaya where the alien had given Hrithik a certain power and gone away. I realized that I'd already made a base, I didn't have to create that anew, I didn't have to go into how he got those powers and so on. A three-hour film (Koi…Mil Gaya) had already established that. I could just take off from there and start my new film."
Was this at the back of your mind when you were making KMG?
"Oh no, I made Koi…Mil Gaya as just a one-off film by itself. Infact, I was working on several other subjects after that when I happened to see Lord Of The Rings and the idea came to me. I'd already made Kaho Na…Pyaar Hai with Hrithik in a double role. Then we made Koi…Mil Gaya where Hrithik played a young man who had still to grow up mentally. I now wanted to make a film where I could show Hrithik as someone very dashing, someone like Rambo, a powerful hero in the action genre."
"The kind of action I'm having in Krrish is going to be a treat. It's going to be like a song, it'll be choreographed action. It's not about noise and tables breaking. It's going to be rhythm and motion, never before seen on the Indian Screen."
"Tony Ching has already done such action in Chinese films, The Hero and The Flying Tiger, I was so stunned while watching the wonderfully choreographed action that I kept rewinding and watching, rewinding and watching. People here normally see a film again and again for the songs. In Tony's films one felt like repeating the experience just for the action. It's out of the world."
Like the impact Crouching Tiger…once had on the viewers?
"That was a bit exaggerated with people fighting on the trees and so on, but yes, it had a certain newness. Tony Ching's action is close to that but more real. When I went to Hong Kong, I met all three- I met the Master who'd done Crouching Tiger…and Jackie Chan's personal action mater too, but because I'd seen Tony's recent films, I knew he was the new guy with the drive to do new things. Krrish is going to be a very costly film. Its going to be about 50 crore rupees. Imagine that budget for a single film. I know that the day the film is released I will be in deficit on the table."
You also know that you have to score a hat-trick. Do you agree with the general viewpoint that nobody gets the best out of Hrithik the way you do?
" I don't agree with that. I think Hrithik has done his best in all his films. Whether it was Fiza or Mission Kashmir or Lakshya, he came up with what the role demanded. No actor can rise above the script or the director."
Would you sat that even about Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon where he was clearly not in his element?
"He did what the director asked him to do. The director would act it out and ask him to do it that way. We could see that Hrithik was uncomfortable doing it."
But you seem to know what to prise out of Hrithik.
"No it's because Hrithik has been cast correctly. The film works in totality. For me he's just another actor on the sets. Whether I make Kaam Chor or Kaho Na…Pyaar Hai or Karan Arjun, it's the film that works. When that works, everything works.
My main hero is always the script. I band only on that. I work for one-and-a half years on the script. You can keep the camera anywhere after that and it won't matter too much. Your story telling has to be correct. It in the first five scenes you cant grab the attention of the audience, it becomes difficult to keep them in the auditorium after that. When you see Dr Zhivago or Titanic or a Raj Kapoor film or even a Steven Spielberg film, they're essentially well-told stories."
Krrish is in Kulu-Manali right now, the first schedule of 50 to 60 days having taken off in March. "Then we'll be shooting in Mumbai for about 15-20 days after which we intend to shooting in Singapore for 75 days." He's hurried up as always, targeting December as wrap-up month for shooting, devoting the next half-year to post-production. Krrish should be in the theaters only in the second half of 2006. Which means Hrithik won't have any release all of 2005. and then in 2006 we will see Krrish with Hrithik in full action and Dhoom 2 in which Mr Blue Eyes goes ice cold with menace.
Hrithik Roshan went to work in early 2005 when he flew to Honk Kong to train with Tony Ching for his part in Krrish. That was necessary, explains his dad, because, "In the film his posture, his stance in the action scenes has to be precise. He underwent training for that where he was also taught breathing and yoga and made to stand on one leg or sit in a particular way for a long period to gain strength. Five weeks was actually too short for Hrithik because when Keanu Reeves did Matrix, he trained for six months before they began shooting with him. But we didn't have that much time and we don't have that much action either. The basic idea behind the training was that we shouldn't waste time while shooting. So Hrithik trained with Tong and his team who are there when we shoot. They have trained him in just the basics according to what his role required."
" Hrithik found it difficult at first but he enjoyed it. He always wanted to do a role where he undergoes training for the action scenes. And it happened. When Tony met Hrithik in Honk Kong, he said he'd have to train Hrithik for it, just to get the moves right. It's not a martial arts film. It's more to do with speed. So when he runs, he's swifter than a horse. But when he runs, he also leaps gracefully like a deer. Even when he crosses a river, he's so light that it's a graceful hop, skip and jump over the water. He's light on his feet, very graceful in his movements and swift as lightning."
"The long hair Hrithik has in the film is something I'd visualized a long time ago. He's made a lot of films with short hair, so this time I wanted to make a film with Hrithik sporting long hair. With his thing face, it makes him look more manly. His long hair will remain in Dhoom 2 too." So long hair is the look for 2005. And Hrithik's locks will romance Priyanka Chopra, Rakesh Roshan offers his rationale behind choosing Ms Chopra. "I wanted a fresh pair with Hrithik. I wanted a talented girl and one who could give me all the dates I wanted. I'm making a film with foreign technicians. If a scene takes a little longer than anticipated to shoot, I don't want the additional tension of the heroine leaving because her dates are elsewhere. I wanted everybody to be there for the film. And Priyanka is there with us till December."
"When I saw Mujhse Shaadi Karogi I could see that she had it in her, and it got confirmed when I saw a few scenes of Aitraaz. She gave a lot of grace and dignity to that role which would have otherwise looked cheap." "Her performance in Aitraaz, only reiterated that Priyanka essentially a very good actress. I look at it this way. Just because Hrithik did a fantastic job in Koi…Mil Gaya it didn't mean that he could play only a mentally challenged person. It showed that he had the ability to do all kind of roles. It's the same way with Priyanka. She has proved that she could act in Aitraaz, and that she can handle different characterizations. Krrish is a romantic film, her role is not like the one in Aitraaz. Her sensuality is a part of her but it's a dignified role."
Life began to look up for Priyanka the day she became Rakesh Roshan's choice. He advises, "Now's the time for her to choose the right roles. Rani also came with a promise but she slipped away with a series of bad films. Until Saathiya and Hum Tum when she got pulled out of it. When the right filmmaker comes along they should know and grab the role. Because they're basically talented girls. But after getting the right kind of film, they shouldn't once again make the same mistake of picking up wrong films."
Priyanka's with Roshan until December. Plenty of time for her to learn the right moves- not from Tony Ching the master from China, but from out homegrown Gudduji!