Today, I had the pleasure of meeting Hrithik Roshan. I was told to meet him at the studio at 3 ‘o clock. Overestimating Mumbai traffic we left at 1:15ish and happened to reach by 2 pm. We sat in the car in the studio parking lot with a blue and white arrangement of flowers, a card with a sweet poem about how inspiring he is, the fan book edition 2, a stack of notecard-like papers, a bunch of pens, and photographs for him to autograph. We were taken to the set and seated in the back and were told that Hrithik would soon be returning to set, as he was in between takes. In front of us was Farah Khan and they had one more take left from this angle and then they switched to the opposite side of the set.
I first saw Barbara Mori enter with an entourage that seemed like her family members because they were allowed to take video and photographs while the rest of us were apparently not. My grandmother, since my mom (Mamta) had already gone back to US, mentioned to me that Hrithik must be just as short as Barbara because actors just look taller in movies and I told her that was not the case with Hrithik. Then, about 15 minutes later Hrithik walks in alone, very dignified in his walk, and was followed many steps later by associates, not family. He, as usual, looked amazing - very handsome. I never realized that he himself spends so much time on his look. He looks into the mirror more than Barbara and fixes his hair and makeup himself instead of his assistants. I really appreciate that he takes so much consideration into the way he looks so that we, as viewers, can enjoy his “personal” artistic touch. I told my mom that she better like his hair in this shot as he spent enough time fixing it.
At about 4ish, we had got antsy seeing the same take over and over again. I reminded the assistant that we wanted to meet Hrithik, and as the shot finished Hrithik was told to come meet me. He came and I said “nice to meet you” and shook his hand, and he also asked my grandma how she was. I handed him the flowers and “he said oh is that for me?”. He read the card. Immediately I rushed to give him the fanbook to have him sign it, in case he was short of time. He looked at it and said “oh I have one of these already” to which I responded “yes this is the second edition and they wanted you to sign it and is it okay if I take a picture?” He initially wanted to say yes but then realized he was in costume and told me that it would not be possible until he changed into his own clothes. I asked if it was okay if we waited then, and he said yes but that he gets off of shoot at 6, which was an hour and a half later. He told us to get comfortable and told his assistant to take care of us and asked if we wanted anything to drink and then went on into his trailer in anticipation of the next take.
I continuously saw him enter and leave, take after take, and I saw him repeat takes over and over again. They shot/reshot the same scene so many times. The only good thing was that every time he entered/left he passed me by and he looked so good – you could see his chest and the imprint in his shirt of the six pack. At the end of the last take, he checked the tape and then approved it so Farah called for “pack up.” Hrithik, Barbara and the background actors rushed to leave and Hrithik’s assistant brought us along with him outside Hrithik’s trailer. As soon as Hrithik was done changing he immediately came out and very willingly signed many autographs and took pictures with me. I was pleased by the fact that even though he was so tired (and you could tell), he took the effort to stop and sign autographs for his fans from the other end of the world and to take pictures with me (and my teddy bear) to make me happy (because I love pictures). I told him that I wanted to replace this pic with the one that is on our wall with him and my mommy and everyone mistakes him for being a family member. He was giggling/smiling like my dada does on seeing my teddy bear. He asked me to be in the pics with him with the book but I told him I didn’t want to be on the site ? and he goes “ok fine”.
My ba was feeling really bad for him – since he looked so tired so didn’t even ask for a picture. When he was leaving in his car he waved back at us. He is really very sweet.
Overall, even though I did not spend much time talking to him, I did appreciate the opportunity to speak to him on a more one-on-one basis and not be surrounded by tons of crazy fans like myself. I was surprised that I was not nervous or shaky around him but I think that for the first time I realized he was just like the rest of us. He does his job and gets tired while doing it but then still makes it a point to maintain his good nature and without being grumpy.
Thank You Hrithik (and Rakeshji), for making my day and for making my trip to Mumbai a very exciting one.
Lots of love, and more best wishes for your birthday!!
Tamanna