Source: The Film Street Journal
There’s Hrithik up there on the dance floor dressed in white short-sleeved shirt with biceps overflowing (a la the corporate look sported by Aamir Khan in Ghajini) with a long narrow tie. He’s in deep discussion with dad Rakesh Roshan before the actor nods, the director takes a seat before the monitor and Remo, not as judge of Jhalak... but as choreographer of Krrish 3, puts Priyanka Chopra (dressed in a short red dress) and Hrithik through some energetic body waves. Back in his makeup van, Hrithik stretches his hands, massages them and grimaces, “It’s for my aches and pains after doing all that dancing and action. Oh yeah, I’m still in pain, in pain every time I get up and walk. It’s all maintenance now, I have to keep releasing my muscles. See the jitters?” he laughs, holding out his hand. “At least the jitters help my dancing!” The jitters, the pain, not even self-confessed nervousness, none of it is manifest anywhere in Hrithik who actually looks upbeat, flushed but relaxed, happy too. “When I signed Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, people told me, you’ve lost it, you’re putting your star status down, you’re equalising yourself with actors who are not yet stars” “In fact I was even more relaxed, now I’m a little tense,” he chuckles. “I’m dancing like after seven years or something. I think I’m dancing like this after Dhoom:2. There was no dancing in Jodhaa Akbar, Guzaarish was like a ballet. In Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara it was not really a hero’s dance that I had to do. So I’m a little nervous.” For the moment, it’s only Krrish 3 (80 per cent of which is complete) that he has on his plate but he’s rummaging through all that’s on offer to pick up one script that will bring a rush of excitement to him. “Hopefully I’ll sign and start something by Jan, then take 10 days off for post-production work of Krrish 3.”
Where’s the rush as Hrithik has the comforting cushion of two very major box-office successes to lounge against, including the much-coveted `100 crore club member, Agneepath?
“I guess it’s nice,” he muses, “but it doesn’t make any difference really. I don’t think about it. Zindagi... (which fell short of the Rs.100 crore watermark) was a greater success for me than Agneepath. Agneepath was a direct winner. If you don’t do a `100 crore plus with Agneepath then it’s a failure. But a Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is not your run-of-the-mill commercial at all. I risked everything just on the pure faith of Zoya’s vision. Having that work, I feel I helped in pushing our cinema towards something newer, something more refreshing. That’s a bigger responsibility that I feel more satisfied with having achieved. So for me Zindagi... was a greater achievement. “When I signed it, people told me, you’ve lost it, you’re putting your star status down, you’re equalising yourself with actors who are not yet stars. I didn’t see it like that. I just saw it as a good film with good actors.”
And now you’re the kind who’s not bothered if you don’t have a film coming out for the next two years?
“Not bothered because my hands are full. As long as my hands are full I’m okay. One can do only as much as one’s potential. A guy like me can’t do three and four films a year. Maybe my output is not that efficient,” he shrugs self-effacingly. “It’s all being termed as perfect but maybe it’s just because I’m not as efficient (as some others). It’s a slow engine. It takes time to revv up, moves fast, then slows down again. Everyone has his own rhythm I guess.”
Hrithik, what’s your height?
“I’m 6 ft tall, I think a millimetre less than 6 actually. I haven’t really measured myself. “And my weight right now is 74 kgs.”
Still working out?
“Every single day.” He still does 15 minutes of dedicated exercises for the knee, twice a day, apart from all other workouts.
And still a foodie?
“Completely. But I have great recipes now which are healthy and tastewise, very satisfying. So I’m happy.”
This is your dad’s 25th year as director. Krrish 3 will be his 13th. Have you seen all his films?
“Of course I’ve seen all his films. Are you sure it’s only 13? It seems to be more than that. Anyway 13 is my lucky no. Kaho Naa... released on Jan 13.”
So Krrish 3 will be your lucky 13th which will breast the RS.200 crore mark?
“It had better,” he repartees, “for the kind of work that’s gone in.” Hrithik adds aloud, “25 years as director makes me really proud. I see my dad as the only one from that school of filmmaking who’s still pushing the boundaries. With the vigour of a 24-year-old, wanting to take cinema forward, challenging it, catering to the younger mind. I shudder to think, if he didn’t exist, would Hindi cinema ever have had aliens or superheroes? He was the one, in spite of all the concerned voices that said, ‘Don’t do this, aliens in Hindi films? Superheroes in Hindi films? Don’t be mad.’ But he did it. He’s like a one man game changer.”
Without him, there’d have been no Hrithik Roshan too in Hindi cinema?
“Cinema could have done without me,” he casually shoves it aside. “I’m more relieved that he gave so many genres to Hindi cinema. Aliens and superheroes would have never existed, nobody else would have had the guts. It would’ve taken maybe two decades more to make that a part of our system.”