Today's Edition
KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)
Veteran film director and erstwhile actor Rakesh Roshan has revealed in an interaction with Aletihad that the illustrious career of his son Hrithik came dangerously close to being nipped in the bud had things gone another way. Hrithik started his career with a bang with his debut film "Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai" (KNPH) before going on to become one of the top five superstar actors of the Hindi film industry, nicknamed Bollywood.
Yet, a security incident involving Rakesh Roshan overshadowed the release of his son's 2000 debut film, which is mentioned in the newly released Netflix docu-series “The Roshans”. The septuagenerian Rakesh was the director for his son's launch vehicle KNPH and was shot at during the week of the film's release amid mass hype. The film was an instant hit with Hrithik's Greek God-type looks and dancing abilities to boot with his acting.
In 2000, Rakesh Roshan was shot by assailants in broad daylight in Mumbai. Despite being hit by two bullets, the senior Roshan mustered the courage to drive himself to the hospital and also asked the police to find the culprits. The attack was believed to be linked to underworld activities.
"I was okay; I mean I was aware of the threats I was receiving and there was a lot going on. The family didn't know much. So when it happened to me, Hrithik was so affected that he said, "let's pack it all up and leave this behind. He had started his film career but he said he would like to quit. That was one moment where we almost gave up."
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Having braved the storm, and many others in their lives, the Roshans were one day in flashback mode at home when they agreed to do the docu-series with director Shashi Ranjan.
Both Rakesh and Ranjan were in Dubai over the weekend post their media engagements in India to felicitate entrepreneur Rajan Lall, who coincidentally also has penned his memoirs in a book, "I Did It My Way". The film and business fraternity came out in large numbers for the launch on a beach.
Incidentally, while Hrithik went on to become the most famous name of the household, leading many viewers to look forward to knowing about the lives of the father-son duo, it was Rakesh's desire to get the head of the family, his father music director Roshan Lal Nagrath, some due credit for his work that germinated the idea for the series.
"Some years back, a company launched a transistor radio comprising more than 5,000 songs going back to the yesteryears, but there was nothing composed by my father. A few days later, Ranjan was humming one of the songs, saying it was one of his favourites and also expressed surprise that many songs people knew but not as the compositions of my father," Rakesh told during the promotions.
Indeed, early reviews and feedback of the series are in sync with the same view of rediscovering the obscure past of the family's talent. This also includes the other talented family member, Rajesh, the younger brother of Rakesh, who actually took the musical pedigree forward and also received a little more accolades in comparison to his father, but still not as much as his contemporaries.
On the challenges of directing a director and any content that had to be left out of "The Roshans" for screening reasons, Ranjan said: "There are challenges, but they don't feel like one when you like you job. There was so much material, but had to be left out while compiling because of the digital world's complexities; you can only fit in so much in four episodes of one hour each."
Among the guests appearing on the show is Shahrukh Khan but Salman Khan's absence is conspicuous. Both actors were part of the film Karan-Arjun, a hit film directed by Rakesh, and form the top cream of Bollywood stars along with Aamir Khan and Hrithik.
