Two differences - crucial departures from the norm - make Hrithik and Krrish stand out: One, that all his action scenes have been executed by him without the aids of either duplicates or visual effects and two, Krrish is not about your superhero saving the world, but merely someone with extraordinary powers (inherited from his father) who is protecting his family - comprising of grandmother Rekha and himself. As Hrithik puts it, 'Krrish is as different from Superman as it is from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje .'
Upbeat about his latest home production, a sequel to the 2003 whopper, Koi...Mil Gaya, Hrithik un-spools his thoughts with characteristic warmth and emphasis.
On Krrish the film:
"Krrish is our effort to try and take Hindi cinema to the next higher level after Koi...Mil Gaya opened doors to new genres. Naturally we had to outdo what we did there. We wanted a bigger challenge like a good climber keeps needing higher mountains. Yes, the risks are bigger. But risks stimulate, drive you on, and are a self-test too. We had been discouraged from attempting even Koi...Mil Gaya. If Krrish succeeds, it can open doors to bigger budgets and we can show the West that we are not even a shade less in any aspect. Besides, our film is not about action but about emotions."
On his extraordinary relationship with dad Rakesh Roshan at work and at home:
"I think that the secret of any relationship is ego-less communication. There should be mutual faith and respect. Keeping the script as a boundary, Dad never pushes his ideas or opinions onto me but leaves me to do what I think I should. To give an example, he did not have a clue how I was going to interpret my mentally-challenged character of Rohit in Koi...Mil Gaya.
"Whenever we have different views, we communicate with just a look and a gesture. A discussion mode follows. He asks me why I do not agree with his viewpoint, and I ask him for his reasons. And the better thought wins that is in the interest of the film! Even when planning a film, he tosses me ten different ideas (all of which usually come to him when he is in the bath!) and we sound each other and choose one!"
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"Firstly, when we are making a film, passion overrides everything, and it's not as if I did the sequences so that I could boast about doing them myself! May be it was not wise when other lives were dependent on me. But a masked hero, who does not speak during the action sequences, cannot establish his identity with his eyes, face or dialogues. He needs body language, like the distinctive way in which Batman and Spiderman move, and the first thing the audience would have said of a duplicate stuntman was 'He's not Krrish !' Besides, the risks were a bare minimum, thanks to Tony Ching (Kill Bill et al ) as our Action Director. Ching has a zero-accident record over 20 years of working in Hong Kong, China and Hollywood! He trained me so extensively and so well that the thought that there was a risk to my life never entered my head before or while doing those shots! Yes, there was a small accident - Ching's first ever! - that could have killed me, but that too wasn't Ching's fault."
Anupamaa
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