As Hrithik walks into the ballroom – hat and all – of The Marriott in Mumbai, you can almost feel his aura engulf you. You expect a hoity-toity personality but he surprises you with his down-to-earth demeanour. As he sits down across me for lunch, all the usual myths about celebrity pompousness are shattered. Before I can ask a question, he says, “Let me get to know you all better; it will help our interaction.” We chat informally, then he takes a second helping and says, “I love Indian food even though I may not eat it every day. Whenever I get the chance though, I eat a lot."
Full, he settles into answering questions. “ Bang Bang! is the easiest film of my career, despite its challenges. It helped that I was already leading a life full of tribulations; I had become mentally stronger and come to terms with my fears.” Hrithik, of course, is referring to the serious medical condition that put him out of action for seven months. “When I was diagnosed with a clot in my brain, I thought it was all over and worried about the fate of this movie,” he says. He talks of how during those dark times even his own voice hurt. “Laughing, crying… everything hurt. It would have been easy for me to ask, ‘Why me?’ But life’s apparent unfairness brings out the best in you,” he says philosophically. When he returned to work, he wanted to perform his own stunts. He is casual about it. “I endured a threat to my life; my pain was controlling me. But when I recovered, everything seemed doable; that’s why I was able to do my own stunts. I was just pushing myself as I wanted my story to be an example for myself and others.”
Bang Bang! is the official remake of Knight and Day (2010) that starred Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Hrithik animatedly defends the adaptation by calling it ‘an inspiration’ and adds that only those who have seen the original film will be able to draw parallels. There’s a mischievous glint in his eyes as he talks about playing a thief whose life is full of twists and turns. “Until the end, you have to second-guess my character’s identity. The movie has given me a platform to be cool, suave and wear fancy clothes. Be it the fighting, the technology, the flyboarding, F1 racing or water skiing, I was able to live every dream by acting in this movie.”
The title track of the movie, which has Hrithik paying tribute to his dance icon Michael Jackson has gone viral. “I was initially apprehensive, as he is my dancing inspiration. I did not want to imitate him, but the dance routine was the idea of my director, Siddharth Anand, and choreographer Bosco. I did not want fear to stop me from doing this for MJ. If you look closely, you will see that I have also added some of my moves into the routine. I had a lot of fun and that’s probably why I have received so much love for the song.”
I end the interview with a rather commonplace question about what the future has in store. His answer is anything but. “I am an explorer, an adventurer… what the world fears, I want to conquer. You can expect the unexpected from me.” And, unexpectedly, he obliges me with a photo.
