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BIG BANG
Hrithik Roshan goes Bang Bang " straight from the heart
There's something different about Hrithik Roshan. The
man walks different, talks different, pauses much, thinks
a lot, smiles freely... but he's no longer the Hrithik that
danced into our hearts 14 years ago with Kaho Naa...
Pyaar Hai .
Over the last year, the 40-year-old superstar and father
of two has been through trying times " a freak accident
in July 2013 on the sets of Bang Bang forced a brain
surgery and then there was the breakdown of his 14-year
marriage with wife Sussanne. But Hrithik has taken all
his downs and evolved into this insatiable ball of energy
and positive thinking. His motto: Be responsible for your
own life and happiness.
On Monday afternoon, Hrithik " cool and casual in blue
denims, beige tee and a hat " walked into the JW
Marriott Hotel in Mumbai's Juhu to talk about his
October 2 film Bang Bang, but ended up opening his heart
to t2 about life and family, in a half-hour chat.
Let's start with Bang Bang that's being hailed as the film
of the year. Did you expect the feedback to its teaser
and songs to be so overwhelming?
At the cost of sounding pompous, I did! (Laughs) I loved
the teaser when I first saw it. I knew it would make an
impact. I also knew the songs would go down well. I
have seen the film and I am confident that it will be
loved as well. So, it's turning out to be a happy story at
the end of it all... it started off as a not-so-happy story... I
have been faced with the biggest challenges of my life,
both medically and... (pauses for a bit) emotionally. But
the opening chapters of every successful story are
difficult... there is struggle, there are impossibilities...
hurdles. That is the only way you can make a successful
story, actually. If your first chapter is beautiful, there are
no struggles, sab aaraam se chal raha hai, then you won't
even read the book! (Smiles) I have overcome so many
barriers and problems to make this film... but it's turned
out to be a happy story, finally.
It was on the sets of Bang Bang that you suffered that
head injury. Would you call it your born again' film?
Well, let's put it like this... if I ever write a book, Bang
Bang and my personal ups and downs during this period
will be the interval point of the book. The second half of
my life will be the ... (pauses for a while) the better part of
my life (smiles) .
This experience... this accident... has been the greatest
lesson for my children (sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan).
Whenever my kids go through a trying time in their lives
and tell me: This is the end... can't go on... what's the
point?' I will use this as the chapter that will teach them
that life has something for you at every step... you just
have to keep moving forward, no matter what.
There is this positive energy, this Zen-like aura that just
radiates out of you now. Has that happened in reaction
to what you have been through in the last one year?
Yes, for sure. Those experiences and my interpretation of
them have made me the person I am today. How you
interpret your life and what's good and bad in it... do you
blame others for the bad things that are happening in
your life... forms the crux of your life. This year that I
have spent going through the lowest phase of my life
has taught me one thing... that I am responsible for
whatever happens in my life, good or bad, and that it's
up to me to correct it. If you sit back and think your
problems are created by someone else, then you are
actually giving them the power to dictate your life. You
have to take the power back... I am responsible for
whatever happens to my life' should become your motto
from today, as it has become mine. Once you do that,
the steering wheel of your life comes back firmly into
your hands. And then steer it, build it, create... life is
about creating, it's not about discovering.
I think I have always been a little spiritually inclined, but
over the last one year, I have come to believe one thing:
that it is only through suffering that you gain
enlightenment. My suffering has taught me what the
truth is... about everything in my life. My relationships,
my equations, my career... everything. I have just asked
the right questions and I have based everything on
evidence. I have learnt not to ask the question Why
me?' (Smiles wryly). My mindset has changed and with
that my body language too. I am sure of myself now,
more than ever. I no longer think: I'm such a good
person, mere saath aisa kyon hua?' No matter what
happens in my life now, I will be unfazed because my
brain is only trained to think good things.
My advice to you and everyone who will read this is:
Always look up and you will see good things... look
down and you will see only bad things'. Try it and trust
me it works... I have studied this. You just have to look
at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself: What can I do
with my life so that it becomes the greatest story ever
told?'
The flyboarding sequence is the standout moment in the
Bang Bang teaser, but that was the scene that landed you
on the operating table. Today, when people appreciate
that moment, how do you feel?
Joyous... victorious (smiles). When I was told about this
sequence, it looked quite impossible to me. But given the
mindset I was in, I knew that impossible is nothing
(smiles). I kept trying, I kept training and at the end of it,
I mastered it. At that time, I was told that I was the ninth
person in the world to master that stunt. Then, I had to
do it in the shot. Par kya hota hai ki jab camera on hota
hai, aap character mein ho, aap Katrina Kaif ko bacha rahe
ho (smiles), toh your safety, somehow, goes a little out of
your control. In that aggression and thrust, I went up to
about 40ft and when the shot got cut, I looked down and
I got the fright of my life (laughs). I was alone, I had no
support or safety and I was literally in the air! I just
closed my eyes, steeled my mind and landed safely. I did
this over 10 days and landed about 50-60 times in the
water.
By the fourth day, I had an excruciating pain in my head.
But no one really stops shooting because of a headache,
you know (smiles) . I was in terrible, terrible pain, but I
kept shooting through it. I remember there was a fight
sequence with Jaaved Jaaferi and he would hit' me in
one shot and start massaging my head immediately after
Cut' was called. Ten days later, I landed in Bombay and
immediately went for a scan... it turned out to be clean,
but the pain just kept getting worse. Can you believe it, I
lived with that pain for two months? (Shakes his head)
Then, one day, I had to take a flight to Prague for the
action schedule of Bang Bang and I am on the treadmill
and I am thinking to myself, I am not feeling good yaar,
this pain is just not going away'. My hand-eye
coordination was not right... my handwriting had
changed. I couldn't sign properly (smiles wryly) . I went to
get another scan done and they discovered that the
region from the back of my eye to the back of my skull
was full of blood... so much so that my brain had shifted
to the right! I told the doctors: I have a flight in eight
hours, can you get the blood out before that?' They
looked at me as if I was mad (smiles) . They told me, If
you fly, you die' because the moment the plane would
have taken off, there would have been pressure on my
brain and I would have gone into a coma and died.
So if you hadn't been on the treadmill that day...
... I would have taken that flight and just gone into a
coma and possibly died. I wouldn't have been here
speaking to you today and there would have been no
Bang Bang (smiles wryly). I would have been gone at 40.
But things happen... and that's the strange screenplay of
god. My operation lasted four hours. I was told I would
get better within a month, but my pain lasted seven
months! At that time, I threw up my hands and thought
my life was over... I was going through the worst time
emotionally, my life as I knew it was changing (pauses). I
couldn't cry because it would put pressure on my head, I
couldn't hear well, I couldn't talk much because my own
voice used to hurt my head... I couldn't sleep, I couldn't
watch a film... god had put me into a box and I kept
asking myself: Yeh kya ho raha hai mere life mein?' I
kept hoping, but I was also breaking down slowly. I had
a hole in my head and I could drop dead any moment. I
didn't feel like going on and I felt life slowly slipping
away.
Then Krrish (3) became a big hit and I suddenly felt that
maybe there is a reason why god has kept me alive,
despite staring death in the face. I decided to take a leap
of faith, trust in the universe and break out of my box.
And I completed Bang Bang... it's the happiest film I have
done, but in the saddest chapters of my life.
Who was your biggest support at that time?
My sons. They were the only source of some sort of
happiness for me. I had to create a world for them that
gave them the hope that their dad would be all right. I
didn't want them to see that their father had been
beaten. My mission now is just to make them happy.
And the best thing is that they are quite grown up
(Hrehaan is 8, Hridhaan is 6) and have now become my
friends. They give me feedback regarding my films. Last
night, I was with them and I showed them the Bang Bang
title track. They didn't react much at first, but then they
got hooked and they were like Aaah, oooh'. So ya,
they like it (smiles).
Have your priorities changed over the last year?
Not really, because my priorities have always been
simple... to do my duty, contribute love and inspiration
to the world, help people be better versions of
themselves... My family and my kids remain my priority
as they always have been.
You rejected quite a few films during that period. What is
it about Bang Bang that made you want to do it?
Bang Bang has fulfilled all the things that I want to do in
a film. When I was offered it, I wanted to do a romantic
film. I haven't really done a pure romance, you know. I
hadn't done a cool action-hero role since Dhoom:2 and
Bang Bang turned out to be that. I knew that Sid's
(director Siddharth Anand) ear for music is great and I
was assured that Bang Bang would have great music.
Then came the desire to do a family-oriented film... there
is a father-son bond in this film that's very beautiful. I
wanted to do stunts and I got to do the best stunts of
my life in Bang Bang. I also wanted to travel the world
through a film and with Bang Bang, I have travelled from
Thailand to Shimla to Prague... especially after Krrish (3)
where I was stuck in that one studio in Hyderabad,
flying' from one end of the studio to the other (laughs).
The film has also allowed me to pay tribute to my
greatest inspiration, Michael Jackson. I feared the
sequence (in the title track) at first, but I realised that I
shouldn't be scared because I have loved and been
inspired by Michael Jackson all my life. If you see the
video, you will realise that I haven't really copied him... I
have done it in my style. I enjoyed it. I have grown up
watching Michael Jackson... he's made me the dancer I
am today.
Katrina Kaif and you had great chemistry in Zindagi Na
Milegi Dobara. Did the familiarity help in Bang Bang or
impede you from creating fresh chemistry?
I feel chemistry is always on paper. If the chemistry is
there in the script, I get inspired by it enough to bring it
on screen. It's like reading a love story... you feel what
the guy says, you feel the reaction of the girl, when she
smiles at him your heart soars, you want to know what
the guy will do to woo her. Once the chemistry is there
in the script, then any two honest actors can bring it out
and that happened with Katrina and me both in Zindagi...
and Bang Bang.
You are a really good actor and an amazing dancer and
yet there is also so much focus on your physicality, with
the Bang Bang teaser being a virtual gape fest for your
female fans. Do you revel in it or do you want people to
see beyond your good looks?
It's a lot of hard work, for sure. Good looks is not really
about eyes, ears, nose, mouth, construction... it's about
expression. There are lots of faces that are very
beautiful, but if you don't express right, then it's of no
use. But it doesn't hurt that people find me nice looking
(smiles). But yes, I don't want that to be the only thing
that people see me as and fortunately, I am seen as a lot
more than that. But yes, I am careful about my health
and the way I look. I make sure I eat the proper things,
though sometimes I cheat a little bit (smiles). You just
saw me eat rice, but when it's rice with an Indian curry, I
can rarely resist. Give me anything Indian and I will eat it
(smiles).
People talk about my body...six-pack, eight-pack. But
everyone has the same muscles in their bodies... what
you choose to do with them separates the flab from the
ab (smiles). Because I am an actor and am in the visual
medium, I should try and look the best that I can, but
that doesn't mean that someone who isn't an actor,
shouldn't. Having a six-pack or eight-pack is not
important... it's sometimes not even healthy. Being fit is
the key. Walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes everyday
and you will add 15 years to your life. That's all it takes.
I am doing something through my health brand HRX and
through it, I want to educate people and create a
movement that's about health... not six-pack abs, but
about health. I want to empower the youth, the mother,
the grandmother, the grandfather... so that they can
make a change in the way they look at health. HRX is not
just about fitness of the body, it's about the fitness of
the mind too. I have used certain tools and rules in my
life through which I have created patterns of behaviour
that have got me through the most difficult times of my
life. I want to make HRX my greatest contribution to the
world.
BIG BANG
Hrithik Roshan goes Bang Bang " straight from the heart
There's something different about Hrithik Roshan. The
man walks different, talks different, pauses much, thinks
a lot, smiles freely... but he's no longer the Hrithik that
danced into our hearts 14 years ago with Kaho Naa...
Pyaar Hai .
Over the last year, the 40-year-old superstar and father
of two has been through trying times " a freak accident
in July 2013 on the sets of Bang Bang forced a brain
surgery and then there was the breakdown of his 14-year
marriage with wife Sussanne. But Hrithik has taken all
his downs and evolved into this insatiable ball of energy
and positive thinking. His motto: Be responsible for your
own life and happiness.
On Monday afternoon, Hrithik " cool and casual in blue
denims, beige tee and a hat " walked into the JW
Marriott Hotel in Mumbai's Juhu to talk about his
October 2 film Bang Bang, but ended up opening his heart
to t2 about life and family, in a half-hour chat.
Let's start with Bang Bang that's being hailed as the film
of the year. Did you expect the feedback to its teaser
and songs to be so overwhelming?
At the cost of sounding pompous, I did! (Laughs) I loved
the teaser when I first saw it. I knew it would make an
impact. I also knew the songs would go down well. I
have seen the film and I am confident that it will be
loved as well. So, it's turning out to be a happy story at
the end of it all... it started off as a not-so-happy story... I
have been faced with the biggest challenges of my life,
both medically and... (pauses for a bit) emotionally. But
the opening chapters of every successful story are
difficult... there is struggle, there are impossibilities...
hurdles. That is the only way you can make a successful
story, actually. If your first chapter is beautiful, there are
no struggles, sab aaraam se chal raha hai, then you won't
even read the book! (Smiles) I have overcome so many
barriers and problems to make this film... but it's turned
out to be a happy story, finally.
It was on the sets of Bang Bang that you suffered that
head injury. Would you call it your born again' film?
Well, let's put it like this... if I ever write a book, Bang
Bang and my personal ups and downs during this period
will be the interval point of the book. The second half of
my life will be the ... (pauses for a while) the better part of
my life (smiles) .
This experience... this accident... has been the greatest
lesson for my children (sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan).
Whenever my kids go through a trying time in their lives
and tell me: This is the end... can't go on... what's the
point?' I will use this as the chapter that will teach them
that life has something for you at every step... you just
have to keep moving forward, no matter what.
There is this positive energy, this Zen-like aura that just
radiates out of you now. Has that happened in reaction
to what you have been through in the last one year?
Yes, for sure. Those experiences and my interpretation of
them have made me the person I am today. How you
interpret your life and what's good and bad in it... do you
blame others for the bad things that are happening in
your life... forms the crux of your life. This year that I
have spent going through the lowest phase of my life
has taught me one thing... that I am responsible for
whatever happens in my life, good or bad, and that it's
up to me to correct it. If you sit back and think your
problems are created by someone else, then you are
actually giving them the power to dictate your life. You
have to take the power back... I am responsible for
whatever happens to my life' should become your motto
from today, as it has become mine. Once you do that,
the steering wheel of your life comes back firmly into
your hands. And then steer it, build it, create... life is
about creating, it's not about discovering.
I think I have always been a little spiritually inclined, but
over the last one year, I have come to believe one thing:
that it is only through suffering that you gain
enlightenment. My suffering has taught me what the
truth is... about everything in my life. My relationships,
my equations, my career... everything. I have just asked
the right questions and I have based everything on
evidence. I have learnt not to ask the question Why
me?' (Smiles wryly). My mindset has changed and with
that my body language too. I am sure of myself now,
more than ever. I no longer think: I'm such a good
person, mere saath aisa kyon hua?' No matter what
happens in my life now, I will be unfazed because my
brain is only trained to think good things.
My advice to you and everyone who will read this is:
Always look up and you will see good things... look
down and you will see only bad things'. Try it and trust
me it works... I have studied this. You just have to look
at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself: What can I do
with my life so that it becomes the greatest story ever
told?'
The flyboarding sequence is the standout moment in the
Bang Bang teaser, but that was the scene that landed you
on the operating table. Today, when people appreciate
that moment, how do you feel?
Joyous... victorious (smiles). When I was told about this
sequence, it looked quite impossible to me. But given the
mindset I was in, I knew that impossible is nothing
(smiles). I kept trying, I kept training and at the end of it,
I mastered it. At that time, I was told that I was the ninth
person in the world to master that stunt. Then, I had to
do it in the shot. Par kya hota hai ki jab camera on hota
hai, aap character mein ho, aap Katrina Kaif ko bacha rahe
ho (smiles), toh your safety, somehow, goes a little out of
your control. In that aggression and thrust, I went up to
about 40ft and when the shot got cut, I looked down and
I got the fright of my life (laughs). I was alone, I had no
support or safety and I was literally in the air! I just
closed my eyes, steeled my mind and landed safely. I did
this over 10 days and landed about 50-60 times in the
water.
By the fourth day, I had an excruciating pain in my head.
But no one really stops shooting because of a headache,
you know (smiles) . I was in terrible, terrible pain, but I
kept shooting through it. I remember there was a fight
sequence with Jaaved Jaaferi and he would hit' me in
one shot and start massaging my head immediately after
Cut' was called. Ten days later, I landed in Bombay and
immediately went for a scan... it turned out to be clean,
but the pain just kept getting worse. Can you believe it, I
lived with that pain for two months? (Shakes his head)
Then, one day, I had to take a flight to Prague for the
action schedule of Bang Bang and I am on the treadmill
and I am thinking to myself, I am not feeling good yaar,
this pain is just not going away'. My hand-eye
coordination was not right... my handwriting had
changed. I couldn't sign properly (smiles wryly) . I went to
get another scan done and they discovered that the
region from the back of my eye to the back of my skull
was full of blood... so much so that my brain had shifted
to the right! I told the doctors: I have a flight in eight
hours, can you get the blood out before that?' They
looked at me as if I was mad (smiles) . They told me, If
you fly, you die' because the moment the plane would
have taken off, there would have been pressure on my
brain and I would have gone into a coma and died.
So if you hadn't been on the treadmill that day...
... I would have taken that flight and just gone into a
coma and possibly died. I wouldn't have been here
speaking to you today and there would have been no
Bang Bang (smiles wryly). I would have been gone at 40.
But things happen... and that's the strange screenplay of
god. My operation lasted four hours. I was told I would
get better within a month, but my pain lasted seven
months! At that time, I threw up my hands and thought
my life was over... I was going through the worst time
emotionally, my life as I knew it was changing (pauses). I
couldn't cry because it would put pressure on my head, I
couldn't hear well, I couldn't talk much because my own
voice used to hurt my head... I couldn't sleep, I couldn't
watch a film... god had put me into a box and I kept
asking myself: Yeh kya ho raha hai mere life mein?' I
kept hoping, but I was also breaking down slowly. I had
a hole in my head and I could drop dead any moment. I
didn't feel like going on and I felt life slowly slipping
away.
Then Krrish (3) became a big hit and I suddenly felt that
maybe there is a reason why god has kept me alive,
despite staring death in the face. I decided to take a leap
of faith, trust in the universe and break out of my box.
And I completed Bang Bang... it's the happiest film I have
done, but in the saddest chapters of my life.
Who was your biggest support at that time?
My sons. They were the only source of some sort of
happiness for me. I had to create a world for them that
gave them the hope that their dad would be all right. I
didn't want them to see that their father had been
beaten. My mission now is just to make them happy.
And the best thing is that they are quite grown up
(Hrehaan is 8, Hridhaan is 6) and have now become my
friends. They give me feedback regarding my films. Last
night, I was with them and I showed them the Bang Bang
title track. They didn't react much at first, but then they
got hooked and they were like Aaah, oooh'. So ya,
they like it (smiles).
Have your priorities changed over the last year?
Not really, because my priorities have always been
simple... to do my duty, contribute love and inspiration
to the world, help people be better versions of
themselves... My family and my kids remain my priority
as they always have been.
You rejected quite a few films during that period. What is
it about Bang Bang that made you want to do it?
Bang Bang has fulfilled all the things that I want to do in
a film. When I was offered it, I wanted to do a romantic
film. I haven't really done a pure romance, you know. I
hadn't done a cool action-hero role since Dhoom:2 and
Bang Bang turned out to be that. I knew that Sid's
(director Siddharth Anand) ear for music is great and I
was assured that Bang Bang would have great music.
Then came the desire to do a family-oriented film... there
is a father-son bond in this film that's very beautiful. I
wanted to do stunts and I got to do the best stunts of
my life in Bang Bang. I also wanted to travel the world
through a film and with Bang Bang, I have travelled from
Thailand to Shimla to Prague... especially after Krrish (3)
where I was stuck in that one studio in Hyderabad,
flying' from one end of the studio to the other (laughs).
The film has also allowed me to pay tribute to my
greatest inspiration, Michael Jackson. I feared the
sequence (in the title track) at first, but I realised that I
shouldn't be scared because I have loved and been
inspired by Michael Jackson all my life. If you see the
video, you will realise that I haven't really copied him... I
have done it in my style. I enjoyed it. I have grown up
watching Michael Jackson... he's made me the dancer I
am today.
Katrina Kaif and you had great chemistry in Zindagi Na
Milegi Dobara. Did the familiarity help in Bang Bang or
impede you from creating fresh chemistry?
I feel chemistry is always on paper. If the chemistry is
there in the script, I get inspired by it enough to bring it
on screen. It's like reading a love story... you feel what
the guy says, you feel the reaction of the girl, when she
smiles at him your heart soars, you want to know what
the guy will do to woo her. Once the chemistry is there
in the script, then any two honest actors can bring it out
and that happened with Katrina and me both in Zindagi...
and Bang Bang.
You are a really good actor and an amazing dancer and
yet there is also so much focus on your physicality, with
the Bang Bang teaser being a virtual gape fest for your
female fans. Do you revel in it or do you want people to
see beyond your good looks?
It's a lot of hard work, for sure. Good looks is not really
about eyes, ears, nose, mouth, construction... it's about
expression. There are lots of faces that are very
beautiful, but if you don't express right, then it's of no
use. But it doesn't hurt that people find me nice looking
(smiles). But yes, I don't want that to be the only thing
that people see me as and fortunately, I am seen as a lot
more than that. But yes, I am careful about my health
and the way I look. I make sure I eat the proper things,
though sometimes I cheat a little bit (smiles). You just
saw me eat rice, but when it's rice with an Indian curry, I
can rarely resist. Give me anything Indian and I will eat it
(smiles).
People talk about my body...six-pack, eight-pack. But
everyone has the same muscles in their bodies... what
you choose to do with them separates the flab from the
ab (smiles). Because I am an actor and am in the visual
medium, I should try and look the best that I can, but
that doesn't mean that someone who isn't an actor,
shouldn't. Having a six-pack or eight-pack is not
important... it's sometimes not even healthy. Being fit is
the key. Walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes everyday
and you will add 15 years to your life. That's all it takes.
I am doing something through my health brand HRX and
through it, I want to educate people and create a
movement that's about health... not six-pack abs, but
about health. I want to empower the youth, the mother,
the grandmother, the grandfather... so that they can
make a change in the way they look at health. HRX is not
just about fitness of the body, it's about the fitness of
the mind too. I have used certain tools and rules in my
life through which I have created patterns of behaviour
that have got me through the most difficult times of my
life. I want to make HRX my greatest contribution to the
world.
Anupamaa
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
3