Hrithik Roshan and His Lucky Thumb
How one of the biggest Bollywood stars in the new millennium almost didn’t happen.
July 29, 2022
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Hrithik Roshan as Raj Chopra in 'Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai'
When the hit Bollywood romance action movie Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai came out in 2000, two stars were born: Hrithik Roshan and his thumb.
Written and directed by his father, Rakesh Roshan, Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai introduced audiences to Hrithik in not one, but two roles. In the first half, he plays Rohit, an aspiring singer. In the second half, he is the club-going, mesh-shirt-wearing Raj Chopra, Rohit’s New Zealand-based doppelganger. The film was a box office hit in India and the diaspora, making it into the 2002 Guinness Book of World Records for earning 92 awards, the most of any movie at the time. The film also created Hrithikmania, bringing attention both to his impeccable dancing and the two conjoined thumbs on his right hand.
While watching Kaho Naa, I remember rewinding and pausing our bootleg VHS so my friends and I could catch a glimpse of Hrithik’s rumored double thumb. Given the filmmaker’s concerted effort to keep his right hand in a pocket, turned sideways, behind his back, or otherwise obscured from view, it was no easy feat. Hrithik reportedly considers his extra thumb to be a good luck charm. Looking back on his career, luck certainly seemed to be on his side. When life dealt Hrithik seemingly insurmountable obstacles that could have stopped anyone else from pursuing Bollywood stardom, he persevered and made his own luck.
Hrithik Roshan as Raj Chopra and Ameesha Patel as Sonia Saxena in 'Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai' (Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai)
I know what you might be thinking. Nepotism, not luck, kickstarted Hrithik’s career. But that’s only part of the picture.
Yes, Hrithik, like the majority of Bollywood’s leading men, was born into a filmi family. He comes from generations of film industry professionals, including his grandfather, producer-director J. Om Prakash; his uncle, musical composer Rajesh; and of course, his actor-filmmaker father, Rakesh Roshan. Like other Bollywood kids, Hrithik, too, dreamed of one day stepping in front of the camera.
And Hrithik got off to an early start. Though Kaho Naa was his debut as a lead actor, his first time on camera was at age 6. He made an uncredited cameo dancing in “Jane Hum Sadak Ke Logon Se” in Asha (1980), directed by his grandfather — a gig that him ten Hot Wheels cars. That same year, he appeared in Aap Ke Deewane as a younger version of his father’s character, Rahim.
“Even as a 6-year-old, Hrithik used to dance beautifully,” Rakesh once said in an interview. “Whatever else he engaged in, be it cycling or any other activity, he’d give it his 100 percent. That quality has been present since childhood.”
Hrithik Roshan as Raj Chopra and Ameesha Patel as Sonia Saxena in ‘Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai’
Around the same time, however, the young performer started stumbling over his words. He struggled with explosive letters, like ‘p’ and ‘bha,’ as well as silent letters, like ‘h,’ because “the breath keeps coming but the word doesn’t start.” Unable to get his words out, and deeply aware of others’ frustration when he would try to speak, Hrithik’s heart would race. The severity of his stuttering and stammering made his dream of acting a source of embarrassment.
“How can I be an actor if I can’t even say I want to be an actor?” he wondered.
He continued to make silent cameos in his grandfather’s films as a young child, charming Hema Maliniin Aas Paas (1981) with full-face winks, and shaking his shoulders as a tiny Bhangra dancer in Aasra Pyaar Da (1983). But he didn’t have his first speaking part until 1986, playing a character named Govinda in Bhagwaan Dada.
Initially, Rakesh questioned J. Om Prakash’s decision to cast the painfully shy 11-year-old. “But to my pleasant surprise, he was a different boy when the camera rolled,” recalled Rakesh. “The moment J. Om Prakashji would say ‘Start sound action!’ Hrithik would become the character.” To put him at ease, his co-star Sridevi pretended to be nervous about meeting him. “We had to laugh and she kept laughing until I got it right,” said Hrithik.
And he was determined to get it right. Hrithik was mercilessly bullied in school. Kids mocked his stutter and thumbs, and as a result, he became very introverted and quiet. If there were oral tests at his school, he would “fall sick” to stay home. At times, he dreaded even waking up because he knew each day would require him to speak.
A chance — or some might say, lucky — encounter with some boys on a beach turned his frustration into determination. They were doing flips, and Hrithik asked the boys to teach him. “I kept falling and I tried again and again…and then one day, I did it,” he recalled in an interview. That’s when he realized, just like doing a flip, he needed to break down the mechanics of language and learn how to speak, “from scratch.”
So he practiced alone in front of the mirror, saying each letter of the alphabet out loud “in all ways possible.” At one point, he practiced for 36 hours so he could tell his cook what he’d like to eat. He would play movies and repeat every dialogue until he got the words right. He worked with speech therapists and learned techniques to deliver his lines smoothly — exercises he continues to do for an hour every day. “It has been the greatest battle of my life,” Hrithik said about overcoming his stammer.
But soon after finding success in speech, Hrithik encountered a new hurdle. Doctors diagnosed Hrithik at age 21 with arthritis in his knees and severe scoliosis. They warned him that due to the incurable curvature of his spine, the physical intensity of performing Bollywood dance numbers and fight scenes could put him in a wheelchair. He laughed and cried in disbelief. He had yet to debut, but Hrithik could not imagine a future that didn’t include acting. Rather than explore different career paths, he said, “If I die doing this, I’ll die doing this, but at least I’ll live the way I want to live.”
Hrithik Roshan (Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham)
It’s unclear how Hrithik addressed his scoliosis — in one story, he shares that he started running and stopped feeling pain. However, he never opted to remove his thumb. In Vedic astrology and mythology, having an extra finger or toe, known as polydactyly, is auspicious. Others attribute the decision to his mother Pinky, who reasoned that since Hrithik was born with his double thumb, it was a gift from God.
So, to prepare for his eventual acting career, in his late teens, a tall and lanky Hrithik began working as an associate director on his father’s films, Karan Arjun (1995) and Koyla (1997), sweeping the floors and making tea for the cast — which included superstar Shah Rukh Khan — and crew between scenes. Hrithik also started taking Urdu, dancing, fighting, and singing lessons. “I wanted to have no excuses,” Hrithik once said.
Even though it was his longtime dream, when Rakesh announced that Hrithik would star in Kaho Naa in 1999, even Hrithik was surprised. (A then-scrawny Hrithik quickly called up known muscleman Salman Khan — whom he had met on the sets of his father’s film Karan Arjun — to help him bulk up and get into peak shape for his debut.) The film would be a double debut for Hrithik and Kareena Kapoor, another star kid. But after a disagreement with Rakesh, Kapoor pulled out of the film two days into filming. It looked like the Roshans would have to shelve the movie. But a few days later, at a wedding, Rakesh ran into an old school friend and met his daughter, Ameesha Patel. Within days, Rakesh had convinced Patel to cancel her plans and star in his film, despite her lack of acting experience.
Hrithik Roshan as Raj Chopra and Ameesha Patel as Sonia Saxena in 'Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai' (Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai)
Rakesh was betting big on this film, and his son. The writer-director mortgaged his home to give, as his daughter Sunaina put it, Hrithik a “no expense spared” debut — including shoots in Thailand and New Zealand — even when distributors pulled out due to the lack of known actors. Plus, the film had some major competition. Aamir Khan’s Mela, Shah Rukh Khan’s Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, and Anil Kapoor’s Pukar were all released within weeks of Kaho Naa. Film industry superstitions also included one that films out in January wouldn’t do well at the box office. But the Roshans had a lucky charm.
Hrithik offered something new, threatening the existing hierarchy of male superstardom. He was tall, could be both the hunky hero or the complex gray character, and had unparalleled dancing moves reminiscent of Michael Jackson. When Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai came out, fans went crazy for him. “When I went to see my film in the theater, the first show, I entered as a nobody,” Hrithik said in an interview soon after the film’s release. “When I came out, there was hysteria all around me.”
“At that time, it felt as though everyone was waiting for someone to come through and take on the Khan triumvirate [Shah Rukh, Salman, and Aamir Khan],” said Justine Hardy, author of Bollywood Boy, which looked at Hrithik’s start in Bollywood. “Of course there were other contenders around too, like Vivek Oberoi, but the combination of Hrithik’s looks, his athletic and graceful dancing, and very hardworking ethos seemed to set him up as the real contender.”
Hrithik Roshan as Raj Chopra and Ameesha Patel as Sonia Saxena in 'Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai' (Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai)
Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai earned Hrithik Filmfare awards for both Best Debut and Best Actor — a rare occurrence — beating out industry veterans Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, and Anil Kapoor. Overnight, he went from unknown to unable to meet his friends without getting swarmed. He received more than 30,000 marriage proposals, opting to marry his longtime girlfriend Sussanne Khan instead. He became familiar with quick exits as paparazzi and a growing fanbase fought to glimpse the statuesque man many called a “Greek God.” “I’m waiting for it to settle down, the people to see the truth, to see my flaws,” Hrithik said. “All that they’ve seen is what they want to see me as — this perfect person I’m not.”
His thumb, too, gained notoriety. “It is an unusual and unexpected aberration in a star who is famous for his ‘perfect’ physical appearance,” said Nandana Bose, author of From Superman to Shahenshah: Stardom and the Transnational Corporeality of Hrithik Roshan. “Fans of popular Hindi cinema are known to fixate on mannerisms, gestures, quirks, and idiosyncrasies of their favorite stars, arguably making them even more ‘unique,’ and irreplaceable in their eyes.”
But before the worldwide success of Kaho Naa and Hrithik could sink in, tragedy struck. About a week after the film’s release, Rakesh was near his offices in Santa Cruz West in Mumbai when two assailants fired six rounds at him, putting a bullet in the filmmaker’s left arm and grazing his chest with another. Bahrain-based ganglord Ali Budesh had reportedly sent the shooters because he had tried to get a cut of Kaho Naa’s overseas earnings, only for the Roshans to rebuff him.
The attack almost made Hrithik quit the film industry. “It was a dream come true, but it was coexisting with a nightmare,” he shared about his father’s shooting happening around the same time as his newfound stardom.
Hrithik Roshan as Rohit Mehra in 'Koi Mil Gaya' (Koi Mil Gaya)
But there was a silver lining. When Dr. Sharad Pandey, actor Chunky Pandey’s father — could Bollywood be any more incestuous? — removed the bullet, medical staff also discovered six blocked arteries, prompting a second life-saving surgery for Rakesh. “If you are good, good things happen to you, eventually,” said Hrithik.
Eventually is the operative word because Hrithik’s career was not a straight upward trajectory.
Instead of sticking with traditional hero roles in his debut year, Hrithik took an unconventional route, playing a terrorist in both Fiza and Mission Kashmir. “I refuse to get slotted as a commercial hero. I want to play characters that excite me,” he said before the films’ releases. Both were critically acclaimed, yet brought in mediocre box office results and were followed by his first major flop, Yaadein (2001). While his stumbling start made critics question if he might be a one-hit wonder, the lows only fueled Hrithik’s drive.
“I work best when people say, ‘he can’t,’” Hrithik once said. “I didn’t believe them when they said ‘phenomenon.’ I didn’t believe them when they said ‘[he’s] finished.’”
Hrithik Roshan as Amaan Ikramullah (Fiza)
Even on his first film, when he couldn’t nail some of the tricky choreography, he would keep at it. “I just started working harder,” Hrithik said in an interview. “I made up my mind that until I get the step right, I won’t give the shot.”
His career would be defined by this rollercoaster, oscillating between flops, like Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003), and mega-hits, like the seminal Kabhi Khushi Khabie Gham. Along the way, he embraced what school bullies had previously considered flaws, posing on the February 2001 cover of Cinéblitz with his thumbs in clear view and speaking publicly about his struggles with speech.
Hrithik Roshan as Akbar in 'Jodhaa Akbar'
With rippling muscles, luscious locks, searing eyes, and chiseled features, Hrithik easily could’ve stuck to the role of the good-looking action hero. But he was drawn to more complex characters and films outside of the typical masala fare. “I’m not trying to just make hit films,” he said. “I want to act. I want to have fun with my art. I want to try and bring as many characters to life as I can. It’s not about glamour. It’s about creative satisfaction.”
Reuniting with his father for the first time since Kaho Naa, Roshan played a developmentally disabled man who makes contact with aliens in Koi…Mil Gaya (2003). “[Rohit] is not shown to be an incredibly macho figure. He is a sensitive, vulnerable type in the film,” noted Tejaswini Ganti, a Bollywood expert and New York University associate professor, theorizing that the storyline and character allowed Hrithik to feel comfortable about showing his thumbs on screen. It is one of the few films that not only shows Hrithik’s thumbs prominently, but also writes them into the script. Sixteen years after Koi Mil Gaya’s release, Hrithik confirmed that his co-star Jadoo, a tiny blue alien, also had an extra thumb. “It was to help Rohit feel familiarity,” he .
Hrithik Roshan in 'Koi Mil Gaya' (Koi Mil Gaya)
Similarly, in his role as a magician who develops quadriplegia in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’'s Guzaarish (2010), Hrithik seemed to draw on his experiences to fuel his performance. “The film cleverly acknowledges and uses Roshan’s star image of idealized masculinity, strength, fluidity, and ease of movement — accumulated over a decade-long career — to exacerbate the audience’s discomfort and elicit empathy for Roshan’s frustrations at his immobility and his consequent death wish,” wrote Bose, adding that, in the film, Hrithik foregrounds his thumb in certain shots and explores “the darker recesses of a persona” in a way his previous roles did not.
“The impact may be a gradual acceptance that the so-called Greek God is not that perfect and that everyone has imperfections that they have to eventually embrace [and] live with,” said Bose.
Hrithik Roshan as Ethan and Aishwarya Rai as Sofia in ‘Guzaarish' (Guzaarish)
“I just spend a lot of time covering up my flaws and people start pointing fingers and saying ‘perfectionist,’” Hrithik pointed out. “ I’m not a perfectionist at all. I just have so many flaws that I work so much at it, which is why I became what I became.”
Hrithik didn’t seem to be too cowed by what the industry expected of him — all while having incredibly high standards for himself. Early in his career, he took one-and-a-half years off. He said no to large projects if the script didn’t seem to challenge him. “What I need to really do is follow my instinct, and that is the only way I will truly find out what I’m about,” Hrithik said in an interview with Karan Johar, not by “do[ing] things that are supposed to be done.”
And so, over the years, even as Hrithik continued to deliver blockbuster hits that focused on his more traditional good looks, including Dhoom, Krrish, Jodhaa Akbar, and War — he also pursued vulnerable and imperfect characters. In 2017’s Kaabil, for instance, he played a blind man determined to avenge his wife after she was raped and murdered by a corrupt politician, a role critics called “his all-time best performance.”
Hrithik Roshan as Krrish (Krrish)
Despite the praise he continues to receive, Hrithik remains unsatisfied. He considers himself a good, not great dancer, second to longtime friend, occasional co-actor, and director Farhan Akhtar. On an early season of Koffee with Karan, Hrithik said he knows he has “the potential to be the best,” but thinks of himself as a “below average to average actor.” In response, Johar told Hrithik, “You underestimate your own brilliance.” Akhtar agreed, and Abhishek Bachchan — who debuted at the same time as Hrithik — said, “Hrithik. Exhale. Breathe. Have faith in yourself. We all do.”
More than two decades since his debut, Hrithik has become one of the most beloved Bollywood stars, playing everything from a finance bro in a mid-life crisis in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) to Bollywood’s first superhero in the Krrish (2006)franchise. The boy who once couldn’t say out loud that he wanted to be an actor is now the man with more than 40 acting credits to his name.
When he injured his knee doing stunt work for Kites in 2008, he was unable to move. Doctors advised him to rest for eight weeks. But Hrithik was up and literally running in three. “I don’t know how it happened,” he said. He’s since continued to defy the odds, healing from a slipped disc and a blood clot in his brain that required neurosurgery.
Hrithik Roshan as Arjun (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
In a way, the story of Hrithik’s lucky thumb is not really about him at all. As Ganti noted, fans and tabloids become obsessed with focusing on anything that is remotely different, even when that involves rewinding and pausing a VHS tape. For Hrithik, his thumb perhaps serves as a reminder of all he had to overcome — from his stammer and scoliosis to multiple near-death injuries and seeing his father in the hospital.
When a U.K. paper named him one of the sexiest Asian men in the world, Hrithik replied on social media, “I am lucky. Not cause I got voted sexiest. Cause I just noticed God gave me a piece of ugly to carry with me to remind myself and others of how beautiful our imperfections make us. My thumb used to repel people in school. Today I am posting it to millions like you who I know are just like me. Beautifully imperfect.”
Ishani Nath is the culture editor at The Juggernaut.
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