Originally posted by: hotchoco
The same things that worked for Hrithik in his first movie to turn him into a superstar held him back later on.
He came perfectly formed as a BW superstar. Everyone else used to be very raw in those days when they debuted. They didn't know how to dress, they didn't have a great designer haircut, they hadn't trained in the gym for big bubble muscles, they weren't trained in movie-dancing, they didn't come with the perfect backstory...
For Hrithik, everything was manufactured in the perfect way. They knew exactly what boxes needed to be ticked to appeal to the audience. It's like he was created by a computer program - Salman's body, SRK's love story, Govinda's dancing, Akshay's action skills, etc. (Rakesh Roshan even made Kites thinking he was going to launch Hrithik into Hollywood in the same fashion except he doesn't understand that industry at all.)
Where do you go when you come fully formed and are already supposedly perfect? Actors have to keep growing and changing in some way with time. Hrithik had nowhere left to go. It's not surprising that he started tanking right after KNPH. When you can't improve, the chinks in the armor start showing. The only way to improve would be to hone his acting skills. There are hardly any art movies being made in BW and Hrithik is an average actor. He isn't going to turn into a thespian. That's the only thing that can't really be taught or trained.
Taking long breaks and coming back once in a while to do the regular Hrithik thing works best for him.
Rakesh had ONE blockbuster as a director or producer before KHNP- Karan Arjun. He made 3 films with SRK, the other two were a flop and average that lost Rakesh money. If he could manufacture a 3cr+ footfall blockbuster that was in top 3 for 20 plus weeks at will he have done it multiple times before. If any other father could have done the same for their sons since it was so easy - and with more assets and bigger names AB Jr, Tusshar, Fardeen et al would be superstars.
Rakesh never wanted Hrithik to be an actor which is why he pushed education then made a deal for Hrithik to work for him first. Hrithik worked his ass off so he was ready when he debuted. He worked as an assistant then assistant director then associate director over a span of more than half a decade and 6 films so he learned every aspect of film making. He wasn't some nepo kid vanity AD.
He spent years mastering his stammer, attended acting classes and he asked Salman for advise to build up his body when he was offered KHNP. He was always a natural dancer. Farah didn't even know he could dance when they started filming - saw how great he was - sent him home for a couple of days and re-choreographed everything. So much for some manufactured master plan.
Mission Kashmir out opened Mohabbatein and was #3 for the year. Fiza came in at #8. He had one hell of a debut year - critically and commercially. Unfortunately he signed up for a lot of films before KHNP even opened - most were throw away junk with directors who didn't know what to do with their windfall. He started working on KMG in 2001/2002 and after it was released he's rarely stumbled.
There's a reason SRK was so insecure about Hrithik that according to KJO he gave him the cold shoulder on K3G (also made that Pepsi commercial mocking him). But sure pretend he was some manufactured flash in the pan who hasn't had huge critical and financial success as an actor over the past two decades but has just been popping in and out giving a movie here or there as he smiles at the camera and looks pretty.
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