Hrithik Roshan: Past, Present and Future

Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan is the biggest star the industry has produced in the current century. No other actor who made his debut after Hrithik, has gone on to establish his fanbase across the country.

In this article, we analyse the past, present and future of a superstar, who has the potential to make it to the very top in the industry, but his decision to do one film in 1.5 – 2 years could be holding him back from achieving greatness. 

PAST

16 years ago, a newcomer took the entire Hindi Film Industry by storm and was immediately tagged as a overnight ‘Superstar’. He literally had the female half of the nation in a swoon and captivated the other half equally as well. The euphoria that gripped the entire country was known as ‘Hrithik Mania’.

Expert Movie Pundits predicted doom for Rakesh Roshan’s ‘Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai’ as the movie’s release (14th Jan 2000) was going to be sandwiched between the much-awaited films featuring the Mega Khans – ‘Mela’ (7th Jan 2000) and ‘Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani’ (21st Jan 2000). Roshans stuck to their release date and the rest, as they say, is history.

‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’ featuring a newcomer trounced the competition and the hysteria witnessed is unmatched till date. A perfect scenario to showcase the magnitude of mega-stardom that Hrithik achieved in 2000 is to compare the opening of the Diwali releases – ‘Mohabbatein’ and ‘Mission Kashmir’. The presence of Hrithik (a supporting role that was rewritten at the last moment to do justice to his stardom) was enough to get a better initial for the Sanjay Dutt starrer against the mega combo of Aditya Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan – who were returning together after the all-time classic DDLJ. Yes, the opening of Mission Kashmir was about 40% higher than a big film like Mohabbatein back in 2000.

What followed after the tremendous high were half-baked films, but Hrithik made his presence felt in films like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and later delivered one of his career-best performances in Koi Mil Gaya.

Hrithik reached the peak of his career in the year 2006. He featured in two sequels that catapulted him into a different league altogether. ‘Krrish’ and ‘Dhoom 2’ easily surpassed the likes of ‘Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna’, ‘Don’, ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Fanaa’, ‘Jaan-E-Mann’ and rose to become the top openers of the year. ‘Dhoom 2’ created history and went on to become the highest grosser of the year. ‘Dhoom’ is the biggest franchise in Bollywood today mainly because of the unprecedented success of its second instalment.

PRESENT

A decade has gone by and the scenario is very different today. Hrithik’s experiments with films like ‘Kites’ and ‘Guzaarish’, didn’t work at the ticket window. The industry has witnessed multiple changes with regards to marketing and promotion of the movies. The success mantra is to have a trailer that makes a big impact, followed by a perfect release period. Roshan’s contemporaries (seniors as well as juniors) have raised their standards quite significantly. Also, Hrithik has been unfortunate with the release dates of his last few movies. ‘Bang Bang’ had to clash with ‘Haider’ and now his ambitious project ‘MohenjoDaro’ is pitted against ‘Rustom’. There might be a possibility of his next ‘Kaabil’ clashing with the already postponed ‘Raees’.

The universal record breaking opening of ‘Agneepath’ or ‘Bang Bang’ is a testimony to the fact that Hrithik has a huge following in every nook and corner of the country. The admirers have been eagerly awaiting for that perfect project which can reaffirm the box office standing of their favourite superstar. ‘Shhuddhi’ was being touted as one and understandably the fans were left dejected hearing Hrithik’s decision of not doing the film. Then there were firm reports that acclaimed director Kabir Khan is starting his next with Hrithik, but the wait for that movie has to be much longer as Kabir is now engaged with Salman’s Tubelight. The recent reports of Aamir Khan replacing Hrithik in Yash Raj Films’s ‘Thug’, are not at all encouraging for the fans too.

The big question in the present is – is Hrithik risking his career and standing in the industry by doing one film in two years? Is he losing out on big films? More importantly, is he working with the right directors?

FUTURE

Without an iota of doubt, all Hrithik fans want to see him more often on the silver screen. He just had 4 releases in the last five years (2012 to 2016) – ‘Agneepath’, ‘Krrish 3’, ‘Bang Bang’ and ‘Mohenjodaro’.

Aamir Khan is another superstar who works at the same pace but his script selection has been exceptional. Also, when you’re having movies like ‘Dhoom 3’ (biggest franchise) or ‘PK’ (biggest director) in your kitty, the box-office result is a foregone conclusion. During 2005-2006, Aamir had 3 releases (‘Mangal Pandey’, ‘Rang De Basanti’ & ‘Fanaa’) in a span of 9 months. In 1999-2000, Aamir had 4 releases (‘Sarfarosh’, ‘Mann’,’1947 Earth’ & ‘Mela’) within 8 months. Salman Khan has slowed down after attaining super stardom with ‘Dabangg’. From ‘Wanted’ (Sep 2009) to ‘Dabangg’ (Sep 2010), he had 5 releases in one year including ‘London Dreams’, ‘Main Aur Mrs Khanna’ and ‘Veer’. Even Shah Rukh Khan has now shifted to the top gear and his upcoming list includes ‘Dear Zindagi’, ‘Raees’, Imtiaz Ali and Anand Rai’s next with ‘Fan’ and ‘Dilwale’ just gone by.

As the industry and fans await an outstanding performance from him in ‘Mohenjo Daro’, we sincerely hope he does more films and doesn’t waste the following that he has earned over the years.

Article by Abhishek Sharma (tweets @abhu_sharma)

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66 Comments

  • Reviews from Gulf nations of MD are extra-ordinary. Many twiiter post suggest trailer n promos were nowhere near to how big the film is. It is Hrithik’s best performance and many sites are already quoting he will sweep all awards next year. Whereas Rustom is avg to negative. If thats true, expect many rustom shows to cancel and allotted to MD. Thing to notice is Hrithik gave arguably his best film during independence day time Koi mil gaya (released an Aug 2003) whereas Akshay’s all film during this period are poor- OUATIMD, Brother, Entertainment. Looks like History is repeating itself again.

    2006- He rose to different level altogether. And now 2016, exactly a decade later he may repeat it. Undoubtedly at his age he is the best we have. New generation is still young and Khans are ageing. He can in next 2-3 year be at top only if he makes better choices. Which hopefully he will and better roles will be written for him after Mohenjo.

  • After Kaho na pyar hai in 2000 , hrithik made really bad choices fiza mission Kashmir ,na Tum jano na hum,mujhse dosti karoge,Mai prem ki Diwani hu,aap mujhe ache lagne lage, yaadein with acclaimed directors but failed.Since then he has started doing less movies .And now people are saying he is doing very few movies. Kuch b kehti hai janta.

  • Thanks Indicine for such a nice article . waiting for the reviews of MD.

    Waiting for your review too.
    FDFS MohenjoDaro.

  • VERY NICE ARTICLE…LOVED IT.. AND YES HRITHIK IS BY FAR A VERY GOOD ACTOR AND HE IS BEEN RISKING HIS CARRIER BY DOING LESS FILMS…HE NEED TO DO MORE FILMS

  • One of the best actors in Bollywood, and according to me, the 4th biggest superstar currently. I do think he should start doing more movies soon, because he’s wasting his potential. All the best for MD.

  • It is not about good directors, good script or doing wrong with one film per year or 2 years. It’s all about booking EDX holidays. Look Aamir khan too does one film per year or 2 years but he always booking Xmas holiday sitting excuses like film take time to complete but He completed his film much before time & shoot at the end and most importantly His films are big only because of Xmas. Salman does one this year but looks where .. on Eid. Same for srk who books Diwali mostly except few like fan.

    Doing one in Two years is not bad but not coming on great dates like EDX holidays is bad for Hrithik.

    There will not be Question mark if Hrithik too Booked EDX holidays for his films and gave even bigger blockbuster than Khans. then no mouth comes to blaim than Hrithik Roshan doing bad doing one film in 2years like no one question on khans.

    So EDX matters to all stars including Khans. if No EDX khans are finished

    Giving 181 Cr with clash and without Clash much much bigger than giving 500 Cr with the help of EDX holidays.

    Don’t worry all MohenjoDaro win the clash with HRITHIK ROSHAN super Stardom. but Rustom will Blockbuster with the help of Salman, Rajni, Ranveer etc or All Hindi Cinema support and not because it has Akshay Kumar

  • He has to choose better scripts and stay away from Karan Johar productions. I was disappionted by agneepath and bang bang was stupid. Do more films to grow your Fan base and remove SRK from the 3rd spot

  • EDX holidays always work in favour of Khans, not their choice of films. Reasons behind their choosing EDX holidays only is very simple, they will finished from Hindi Cinema like their lag in outside EDX holidays are all flops to semi hits and collections too are very low as compared to Their EDX holidays release.

    Only No EDX work bad for Hrithik Roshan. Hrithik Roshan would be Biggest superstar of Hindi Cinema instead of Khans if Hrithik too Booked EDX holidays for his just one film in 2years or many.

  • Hrithik has made his great image as a stylish action hero after Krrish & Dhoom 2

    He can do more such movies but he experiments his roles in movies like Jodha Akbar, Guzzarish, Kites, ZNMD, Mohenjo daro etc.

    Thats why he is a complete actor. He has done every role with perfection, be it comic and mentally challenged role of Rohit in KMG, stylish villain Mr.A in D2, Superhero in Krrish, Akbar in JA, paralysed magician in Guzzarish or intense role in Agneepath,

    And I’m sure he will not disappoint in Mohenjo Daro

    He is the synonym of verstality

  • @edx
    Who do think made the Eid day so popular for a Release Date? It was Salman.
    Do you think Eid didn’t exist before 2010?
    Before 2010 movies released on Eid didn’t got that response as a Salman movie. His Fans want a movie during Eid. He made that day so big for the industry

  • Hrithik Roshan-For me,He is my biggest inspiration…It just changes me the way i thought…Some things we learn from is Hard-work,Be humble,Dedication,Patient, etc etc..
    His every movie is special since 2003…He gave some tremendous movie to bollywood KNPH,koi mill gaya,LakshyaKrrish,Dhoom 2,Jodhaa Akbar,Znmd,Agneepath,Krrish 3…
    Being a fan of him,I admire him the most…Not because his six pack abs,great looks,great physique…But also because of his never give up attitude,humbleness,goodness in his heart for others…Love HR..

  • Yes Hrithik, we want to see u twice a year

    I think he will do 2 movies next year bcoz last schedule of Kaabil is going to start this month and it will definately be completed by September. After that HR has plenty of time to shoot another movie, may be fighter

  • Abhishek Sharma Bro what a superb article you have everything perfect . Take a bow . You have beautifully written about the past, present and the future of Hrithik . Hrithik became a Superstar from his debut and the kind of success he achieved is almost impossible for any actor in the future on debut . I agree Hrithik has done pretty less movies in this decade . He has done only 6 movies in this decade . I hope Hrithik does 2 movies every year and this will quench the thirst of die hard fans and neutral fans who will love to watch him on the big screen . I would love to see Hrithik coming on next Diwali with a Big movie as his last Festival release was K3 in 2013 . Hrithik always concentrates on doing one movie at a time and most of the times this mantra has given him huge rewards . After 4 back to back failures in Yaadein, AMALL, MDK and MPKDH . Hrithik did KMG which was the turning point in his career and then decided to invest his energy on a single movie one at a time . After KMG the result is Lakshya, Krrish, D2, JA, ZNMD, Agneepath and K3 . Kites was a massive failure because the direction was shabby and the concept of using English language affected the movie in Hindi speaking regions . Guzaarish was an offbeat movie and could have never been a success because it was a dark movie but hatsoff to Hrithik for having the guts to do something like this and gave a performance which will be remembered forever . Bang Bang ! was a commercial Potboiler clashed against Haider did very good business considering it released on Gandhi Jayanti which is not a festival release and has just a single Holiday . BB is still the 3rd Highest Non Holiday Grosser after YJHD and TJB . If BB would have released solo it would have been the 1st movie to do 200 CR with EDX . Now Hrithik can still enter this club but now Hrithik is facing a bigger competition with Akshay and Rustom . I hope Hrithik continues to do something out of the Box and always tries to shock the audience and leave them wanting for more . I hope MD turns out to be a massive Blockbuster and the hardwork of the entire cast and crew pays off . 1 DAY TO GO FOR MOHENJO DARO !!!!

  • No Matter What Others Say….I will always Love HR;He has risked His own Health to Reach to The Top!! so Anybody can say what they want;i give it a damn….just do 2 movies in a Year;plzzzz!! and stay away From Bollywood Parties;All r Fake!!!

  • Even Bang Bang could open huge without clash.
    I liked bang bang too..
    So far I am not his fan but these article gave great feeling while reading how he chased mela, phir bhi dil hai Hindustani and then even rocked with the Mission Kashmir Opening and how time changes.
    Srk was huge at that time too, defeating him from itself was like beating salman’s movie now.
    Great to know.
    In my childhood I saw neighbours were watching kaho na pyaar hai when it was on TV like anything . HR craze was grand, though I use to feel jealous because I was big Sallu fan.
    I was very happy when I saw Salman’s craze back rock solid with Tere Naam.
    Awesome days.

  • And right directors?
    He has only work in good films or good directors most of the times

    Kites flopped, but was directed by top director.
    Znmd by top director.
    Guzarish by top director.
    Krish 3 with top director
    Mjd with top director.

    Indicine gone mad.

    Akshay works new & flop directors most of the times.

  • So many people nd sites now saying that Rustom will cross 100cr if it gets Positive WOM…. But Iam still saying Rustom is depends upon Mohenjo Daro WOM….

  • Positive review for Mohenjo Daro from Dubai. They are saying Sarman is best performance of Hrithik till date. #Fingers_Crossed

  • I will give better presentation of his career :-

    1st hit with papa
    Next 3 without papa Average & Flops
    Next with mutistarcast hit
    Next without papa flop
    Next with papa Hit
    Next without papa average

    Next with papa hit
    Next with brand Hit

    Next without papa Semi-hit & Flops
    Next with Mutistarcast and super strong content hit

    Next with remake Hit
    Next with papa & Calculator Hit
    Next without papa & Calculator Semi-hit

    Total 8 hits in his career and Half of them with super talented director papa, 1 with bigger star, 1 brand ,1 super content, 1 remake ….!

    And indicine Both agnepth & Bang Bang had outstanding trailers and holiday release..the reason big opening…who will mention these things ? ?

  • this guy named EDX POWER NOT KHAN.. is so stupid. i mean come on bro.. agree or die these 3 khans are pillar of bollywood.. so stop doing shit here.. everyone has there era and no doubt this era belongs to them.. yes there are more actors in this era but these 3 will be remain immortal..

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