Hrithik's debut and mania around it remain the only true blue phenomenon this generation has witnessed. He was on cover of every magazine, every brand was after him, he was a favourite across all ages, his posters and cards sold like hot cakes.
He was such a craze that he was ranked just second to Amitabh Bachchan by Forbes (International edition!) in their list of India's Most Powerful Movie Stars. (Huge achievement for a one film old star!)
KNPH broke records for most awards won by a Bollywood film. Hrithik was said to be perfect combination of talent, looks, charisma. His dancing skills were bedazzling. He had perfectionism like Aamir, fit body and charismatic personality like Salman and SRK. He made all Khans look pale and stale in comparison when he arrived.
KNPH released around same time as Mela and PBDHH, the latter flopped miserably while KNPH tore apart the box office.
His attempts to experiment were also praised.
It's said his craze was so much that fans could not tolerate to see him playing a terrorist in Fiza and some fans broke chairs and created ruckus in a Ludhiana cinema hall to protest against Fiza just because they were angry at Hrithik being portrayed as a terrorist!
Given such craze - it was for real, not manufactured by PR unlike today's times; I wonder why Hrithik didn't become the topmost huge star that he should have!
He gave hits like KMG, Dhoom 2, Krissh, Jodhaa Akbar, ZNMD and now Agneepath. He gave acclaimed performances in films like Lakshya, Guzaarish. But the narrative again shifted to Khans only (briefly it was also about Akshay the King Kumar).
People only talk of Khans, Akshay Kumar or Ajay Devgan even. Or they discuss future stars like Ranbir Kapoor. Rarely is there any talk about Hrithik Roshan - the man who once made the world forget about existence of Khans!
I feel he didn't even get much media coverage after Agneepath. It was all about Chikni chameli, Sanjay as Kancha or Rishi Kapoor surprising as villainous Rauf lala. (Whereas heroes are celebrated to skies after 1 hit!)
Hrithik is young, he's still the most handsome and fittest, he has a clean & mostly non-controversial image. But why doesn't he get talked of??
Why did he fail to upstage the Khans when he had everything going for him?
He outshone Khans with KNPH, KMG, Krissh and Dhoom 2 but after 2006 he never upstaged them.
(The marketing campaigns of Krissh, KMG were path breaking for their times still he never got any due for those whereas Khans get too much media coverage when they market a film well!)
He's among A-listers. But rarely gets talked of. His first decade has been better than Aamir's first decade still he gets sidelined. He ranked low even on all actors of the decade lists which came in 2010-2011.
Why wasn't he able to be the PHENOMENA which he was meant to be?
Will he ever dominate public imagination and BO like he did with KNPH?
(I made this topic because every day I see only talks of Khans or Ranbir/Ranveer type newcomers across all websites. Hrithik is nowhere. No one even hints that he may dominate after Khans decline! An actor who created such hysteria when he arrived, is out of discussions now?)
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