“I live by the values that a superhero lives by. One never knows how life is going to surprise you. The only thing I can control is my attitude and perspective” says actor Hrithik Roshan who was in the city to promote his latest film, Krrish 3 , the third part of the series slotted for release later this year.
And if a superheroe’s essence stems from his ability to deal with every challenge that life hands out to him with grace and courage, Hrithik truly is one. From a shy, overweight child with a stammer to the gorgeous, charismatic, superstar that he is today, Hrithik has certainly managed to take it all in his stride and bash on regardless, despite everything, “I believe I was gifted with problems so I could overcome them and contribute to the world. When I look back and connect the dots, it makes sense. I am not a superstar in spite of my problems, but because of my problems,” he says adding, “Science told me that I shouldn’t do Krrish . One month before the shoot I had a double slip disc and the doctors said I could not do action but I went on to do 85 days of action,” he says.
But it wasn’t just the slipped disc. Hrithik also had to undergo brain-surgery earlier this year to remove a blood clot in his head. Talking about the incident, he says, “I was doing an action sequence in Phuket and it required a lot of impact work in water and it resulted in persistent a headache. I couldn’t tell the director, I had a headache and we should stop shooting—it didn’t sound right and it was an outdoor shoot that costs a lot of money so I took a lot of pain medicines and went ahead with the shoot. When I came back, I took a scan but it showed nothing so I went on like that for another two months. After two months, the pain was still there and had gotten worse so I went for another scan and this time it showed that my head was full of blood and my brain had shifted to the right,”
Scary though it seemed, Hrithik seems remarkably blasé about it, “There was never an element of fear in my head when I found out about it. I give the credit to Krrish. Going through the journey of Krrish made me find Krrish within me. When I was shown the scans, I simply asked myself, what he would do under the circumstances.
I realized that I had to get all the information possible and get the best doctors. I immersed myself in that for the next six hours. I researched, I got all the information, I read up and after I got the best doctors, there is nothing more I could do. So I relaxed, I sang songs, watched movies, was laughing and joking. I knew that fear doesn’t exist, it is just an illusion.”
Talking about what makes Krrish so special, he laughs and says, “The fact that he is in India changes everything. Indians are very emotional, sensitive, cultural people. We believe in family values, our bonds are strong, we are musical people. I can’t think of any other super hero dancing,” he says, adding that the movie is essentially, “a story of a father and son, a husband and wife, a story of evil over good and a story of how love can conquer all.”
