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Interview

Presenting: Duggu Not Hrithik

Published On: 2012-06-10

Author: unknown

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PRESENTING: Just Duggu, Not Hrithik

A HrithikRules Exclusive



Source: Cafe Celeb




His interviews, his films, his roles, his likes, dislikes, his heroines, his acting, his shows…oh yes, you think you know everything about him. But for the first time, his family and friends have got together to tell you perhaps; nobody knows about Duggu – that’s Hrithik Roshan for you. Exclusive insights into the heartthrobs life! Also an exclusive by Suzanne Roshan, for the first time, writing a personal piece on the man she loves so much.Especially for CAFÉ CELEB!

There was this young, light-eyed boy I remember on the sets of Koyla, walking up to tell Shah Rukh Khan, ‘Sir, your shot is ready.’


That was Hrithik Roshan – ‘The Assistant.’


Next, I met Rakesh Roshan to interview him on the controversy when Kareena was out of Kaho Naa..Pyaar Hai, and he told me that the unit was ready to leave for the cruise for that song, Pyaar Ki Kashti Mein, but there was no heroine. That afternoon I had seen the photographs of this new girl Amisha Patel, she looked promising, and I told Rakesh he could check her out. Same evening, Amisha had signed Kaho Naa..Pyaar Hai!


Just before the release of the film, I had taken a cub reporter with me to interview Hrithik and after we had finished, I told him that he was such a shy boy, how will he manage when he becomes a superstar? He smiled even more shyly and said, ‘Let’s see!’


Soon after, I took a long break from journalism and saw him on TV when he was doing his world shows. He was screaming and telling the crowds emotionally how much he loved them for giving him those moments, for making him what he is today. Hrithik was charged, and sheer confidence personified. I felt so proud of him and wished him even greater success. That’s the kind of emotion he draws out of those who meet him, even once. I have yet to meet anyone who has anything negative to say about this man and this actor.


When he heard about CAFÉ CELEB, he called from Ladakh to congratulate and say, “I’m really glad to hear this and wish you all the very best. I’m sure your magazine will do very well.”




And now, he is CAFÉ CELEB’S FIRST COVER BOY!


The heartthrob of millions, a flaming star and yet so humble and respectful.


Let’s not keep you away from the most interesting anecdotes about the light-eyed boy, to whom thousands would love to say, ‘Sir, your shot is ready!’




Dad: (Rakesh Roshan)




We never expected him to be such a phenomenal success. I was telling him to go abroad for further studies because he was academically very good. He did his B.Com from Sydneham. Then one day he said ‘Papa. If I have to ultimately join films then why go there?’ I had a good talk with him that night, I told him, ‘You have seen your father struggle; it was always kabhi khushi kabhi ghum for me in my career. But he was adamant and wanted to stay back and join me as my assistant. He wanted to learn everything before facing the camera.


I told him just acting is not enough to become an actor. There is a lot of hard work. I was a hero, then second lead, then villain, producer and then director. Now after 35 years I have reached somewhere. But I worked very hard for it. He promised he would work hard too. I was quite strict and he knew that if he did anything wrong I wouldn’t spare him. He had seen me struggling and he knows what it’s like, that’s why he is so down to earth. But I did try to advise him against it saying, ‘Look it’s a struggle.’


Actually, Hrithik has always been a hard working boy. At the age when boys usually went to discos, he was working out, taking care of his diction and learning camera angles. Yes, he was a shy boy, but shyness doesn’t mean you can’t act. Once the director says, ‘Start sound!’ the actor, if he is good, will be transported to another world till he hears ‘Cut!’. That is the magical moment when a particular character comes forth and the real person ceases to exist. Everybody thought I would be nervous before the release of Kaho Naa..Pyaar Hai, but for me it was another film with a new actor. So I went along with the story. A father would never introduce his son the way I did. If you remember the first shot, Hrithik gets up slowly from the bed; other heroes would probably come on a mobike or save a damsel in distress, or jump from a buliding. Hrithik became a star because of the two characters he played in his first film. It wasn’t difficult to direct him in the love scenes, just because I am also his father…ki yeh mera beta hai. I may tell him at home, ‘Don’t smoke in front of me,’ but on the sets, he is playing a character so if he is required to smoke or get drunk, he will.


I have never been the preaching kind of father but I always behaved in such a pattern so that my children would learn the values of life from me. Even on the sets we are very comfortable with each other and we know by each other’s look if the scene went well or we need a retake. He is a fantastic actor and I am not saying this because he is my son. I have directed the boy and I know what he has in him. In other fields also you can achieve a lot and get recognition, but they don’t recognize you.


As a child he was very stubborn. Kuch chahiye toh bas chahiye. He was a very poor eater and it was the most difficult task to make him eat. Once I had made mashed potatoes for him and he was again creating a fuss, I got so angry that instead of scolding him I just dumped the potato dish on his head and walked out. He was about six. He started crying. He used to cry very easily, but only with us. He’s always been a home loving kid; he could sit for hours in his room playing with the dinky cars. He was good in his studies; he’d never study at home. He would pay attention in the class, come home and just finish his homework. He never had a tuition teacher ever in his life.


When Hrithik was born I was busy making my own career, so I could hardly spend time with him, but I’d often take him to my shootings. Pinky was just 21 when she became a mother. He was quite naughty at times. Once Pinky and I came home late and we saw this huge crowd below our building. We looked up and saw Hrithik throwing empty beer bottles from the 13th floor and gleefully looking at the crowd that had collected below! That’s the first time I slapped him and he started crying. Later I felt bad.


He is a very sensitive boy; we as a family share a lot. If I have to take a decision, I will collect the entire family and discuss the pros and cons and then come to a decision. Hrithik is also like that. He will never take a step without consulting me. That does not mean that I have a hold over him, but he has seen each member of the family do that with each other. He always believed that he is a good actor and an actor never phases out. He can have bad times but he has to bounce back.




I didn’t know about Suzanne for a long time; it was Pinky who told me that Hrithik was going out with her. I called him and told him, ‘She is a very close friend’s daughter and it’s okay if you are going to be committed to her and will stand by that commitment, otherwise don’t go ahead. I don’t want you seeing a girl for two years and then leave her.’ He kept quiet at that moment but he stuck to his commitment. Suzanne is a very sweet and petite girl; nobody would ever want to hurt her.


After KNPH, one day I went to his room and he just put his head on my shoulder and broke down, crying as never before. I asked him, ‘Duggu what happened?’ and he said, ‘Papa, I can’t handle it anymore! I’m not myself, it’s not me! Everybody wants me and I don’t have any time left for myself.’ He was very stressed out because suddenly this young boy had become a phenomenal success. I told him, ‘You would have been crying even more had the film not done well, so take it happily.’


I had not expected the film to be such a huge success either, so I had told the distributors not to have the morning 6am and 9 am shows, which they did for earlier movies. After all, Karan Arjun and Koyla had Shah Rukh Khan and here was a new boy. So I told them to start with the noon show, and in any case, I thought, nobody would go for a morning show in that January cold.


On the first day of release, I somehow went to bed early. I was feeling tired. As a filmmaker I had done my job, now it was the father’s emotions at the forefront. And I prayed that if not for my sake, at least for my son’s sake the film should do well. The next morning at 8 am , my CP distributor woke me up and he was congratulating me that the 6am show had gone house full. In my sleep I shouted at him because I had told them not to have the morning shows. Then I called up the other distributors and they had all had the early morning shows and they all ran house full! There was one inside the theatre giving me a running commentary on how the audience was reacting to my son. That was the first time I broke down and gathered the family and told them that people had accepted Hrithik Roshan! Tears were running down everybody’s faces. It is difficult to describe that emotion in words.


I wanted to have a party. Hrithik was more mature about it than me and said, ‘Papa let’s not be too confident, let’s not get too excited, let’s wait for a week and then we will celebrate.’ But by then, I had been shot and lay in the hospital. After that I had to undergo a bypass surgery. So we could not enjoy my son’s success. Hrithik would come to the hospital and tell me, ‘Papa, there is a crowd outside waiting to see me,’ and sometimes he’d take me to the window. That happiness revived me again. He is still the same boy that he was, before the release of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai.


At the time of the release of Koi..Mil Gaya also I told my distributors not to have the morning shows because it was an unusual film, public might not have accepted Hrithik in such a role. But again I got the wake up call at 8 am from the distributors congratulating me that the shows were going house full. This time I did not scold them! And I was very happy for my son because his recent films had not been doing well. I wanted this one to work for well for him. Because, Duggu deserves it!





Mom: (Pinky Roshan)






I was pregnant with Duggu, although at that time there was nothing like sonography to find whether it was a boy or a girl, neither was I particular about knowing that. I just wanted a healthy child.



Every Thursday I used to go to the Church. On the day he was born, at around 4:30pm I started getting labour pains. I wanted to go to the Church before going to the hospital but it was shut, so I went all the way to town to the Dargah near Liberty cinema, with my labour pains mind you. After visiting the Dargah I got admitted to Elizabeth Nursing Home and Hrithik was born.


We had not made any clothes etc, for the newborn, because my mother always believed that one should not prepare too much for the newborn. So she went to Rustomji to pick up few things for him. I was very tired and the only thing I remember was my dad telling me, ‘Pinky, you have no idea how this boy is going to make you proud one day. He is a very special child.’ His words still echo in my ears, because the turned out to be so true.


Sunaina was always near the cradle, all protective about the little baby that had come into the family. The nurses had packed him like a bundle, as they usually do. It was only on the fourth day that my dad and I were alone in the room and we realized that Hrithik had two thumbs. Dr. Merchant, a very senior doctor came to see him and discussed the surgery. He told us to let the child grow, ‘who knows, if we chop one thumb and that’s the one that will have the strength to hol d the pen; so we should wait till he is a bit grown up.’ I had heard that a child with two thumbs is rare and considered very lucky.


I don’t remember the first word he uttered, I didn’t keep any record. I was very young. These days I have seen mothers so particular about maintaining records. The other day, I saw that a mother had actually kept a pair of little baby shoes in a glass case and written on it, ‘My child’s first shoes.’ Hrithik was quite a naughty kid. I remember, he would often get lost. Once I came home and the servants said he had not returned from school, so I was worried. We searched everywhere and I was in tears and told Rakesh to call the police. Then I saw a dinky car rolling out from under the bed. It was Duggu under the bed with his cars, dreaming and in his own world, oblivious to the chaos in the house! He’s always been a dreamer. I used to take their tiffin to school. Sunaina would come quickly, eat and rush off but Duggu would be walking down slowly towards me with his pencil in the air, engrossed in his own dreams. That was always him!


I never thought he would become an actor. I remember, he had made this how reel of his and he came to my room to show it to me, taking the promise that I would not tell his father. We both watched it together and I saw, for the first time, my son enacting scenes – dramatic, emotional, as a married man who is not getting along with his wife. There was one scene he did from Shri 420, the one between Raj Kapoor and Mrs. D’sa. I got so absorbed in watching it, forgetting that it was my son, waiting for my reaction. I was totally entranced. I told him, ‘Duggu, I have to show this to your papa,’ but he said no, he was not ready as yet. But that night (getting emotional) I told Rakesh, ‘I have to show you something’. I had stolen the VHS from Duggu’s cupboard. I bolted the room from inside; I didn’t want him to know. And I played it for Rakesh. He too got intently involved and all the while that he was watching it, I was only glancing at him sideways to see his expressions. I wanted to know what he thought of my son. I was not waiting for a father’s reaction; I was waiting for the director in him to speak. Words don’t come easily to my husband. After the tape was over, he stood up and said, ‘He’s good.’ ‘Not mind-blowing?’ I asked and he said, ‘I told you he is good.’ But I was on cloud nine! Then Duggu got his portfolio done by Daboo Ratnani and I kept telling him, ‘Duggu, you can make it,’ but he would be like, ‘Mom, I am not ready as yet!’ Uday and he were supposed to go together for higher studies abroad and both had even done well in their SAT tests, but look at both of them, they are such fine actors today.



Hrithik, at times says such beautiful lines that I learn a lot from him. I tell him to write down those lines because he speaks so well. More than an actor, I want people to know that he is a lovely human being and this is not just a mother speaking. He is a noble soul, never wanting to hurt anyone.


Between Sunaina and Hrithik, I had two miscarriages and did not think I would have another baby, but this child was in my destiny. Now I am waiting for him and Suzanne to have a baby. When I tell them, they say, ‘Abhi time hai, we are ourselves babies, let us grow up first.’ I am waiting to see that look on my son’s face when he becomes a father. Even now I can imagine his smile, his eyes gleaming with joy. He has this particular expression when he is very happy so I keep telling them ‘jaldi karo’, I want to see that expression on his face.


When he was seeing Suzanne, he came and told me that he knew this girl, so I asked him to bring her home. Then he hesitated and said, ‘But there is a problem, she is half Muslim, half Parsi.’ I immediately understood. So I said, ‘You mean she is my friend Zarine’s daughter?’ He nodded his head and I told him, ‘Duggu, don’t let it affect my friendship with Zarine. If you are serious go ahead, marry her but don’t let me down. Respect the relationship, don’t ghumao phirao her like boys usually do. He asked if I was okay with the girl and I told him I was more than okay. I would be very happy to have Suzanne as my daughter-in-law and believe me, I couldn’t have asked for a better one. She is such a lovely person. I may say something to her sometimes, which could perhaps hurt her but she gives me so much love.


I remember her first karwa chauth. Here she was newly wed and on the other hand, my own daughter had come home after a divorce. I was really upset but I give credit to Sunaina for being so mature and handling her mother’s emotions. She adores Suzanne and often tells me not to say this or that, in case Suzanne feels bad. I am lucky to have both these girls!


No matter how busy he is, Duggu comes to my room for a while at night and sits with me in the balcony to chat. He says, ‘Mom, I am busy, I know, but we have to make an effort now to steal these moments. We have to create these moments of happiness for ourselves.’ And it’s Duggu who creates these moments of happiness for us! He is a special child!