Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2001 5:53 pm
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Hrithik Roshan´s Dilemma
By: Planet Bollywood Special Correspondant
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What´s the guy to do?
Hrithik Roshan, his quick rise to stardom has gradually taken the back seat to fresh faces, hype and the illustrious accredited. With one true super success, which carried off a year of disappointing box office turnouts, Hrithik Roshan has fallen prey to any film no luck syndrome. Not even a big banner can carry him off now as we ponder: is Hrithik Roshan left with any other options? Or is the simple fact that hits do not make an actor the essence of the situation Hrithik Roshan has become engulfed in. After romancing the audience with Raj and Rohit in Kaho Na Pyar Hai Hrithik Roshan quickly switched genre to the angry villain in Mission Kashmir and Fiza. Both films were not blockbusters but were certainly not flops. Yet the much died for "hit" status was not honored to his two most critically acclaimed films. What followed was a farce.
His romantic streak which begun with Yaadein and ended with this year´s Mujhse Dosti Karoge proved nothing to sing and dance about, even though that´s all he did in the films. Sing, dance, romance. The question remains now. Hrithik knew that he would have to try something different and for an actor of his caliber, doing it so early on in his career was indeed a risk. And he was arguably successful, despite not facing the success he would have liked. Now that he has returned to the drama that shot him into stardom he can´t seem to find success. What success is this? Not the success that makes his roles appreciable, not the success that makes him smile at the end of a day´s work, but the success that the Industry boasts of: HITS.
A hit making an actor is truly another feature in itself. Especially with the regressive state Bollywood is in now. But it is not failed to escape that Hrithik Roshan’s films have been nothing great in the past year. A romance can be identifiable and accepted by the audience, but like everything else things are essential in doing so, and actors themselves should be able to identify with it. Hrithik may not be going anywhere, and the industry would surely not want to see him go south with those struggling, but is it doubtful that a career re-strategy is in need? Will the audience have to suffer through another Raj or Rohit again? Or will a multi-starrer resurrect the romantic Roshan again only to give us another three or four films about Hrithik Roshan in love? And though a marginal section of the country still runs to the theatre to see the sappy romances (and would run ten times more), is it not obvious that they aren´t helping the film in succeeding?!
Hrithik Roshan has thus become the embodiment of a good actor gone bad. When Yash Raj Banners can not carry a film with two hot female leads, and one who is beckoned a super star, whose to blame? Is it Hrithik, the director, the music etc? Blame may be passed on equivalently, for if the director has chosen the poor story, why then is the actor signing it? Why has Hrithik chosen romance[s] that are flaky?
It is not oblivious to say that no other could have played Altaf as Hrithik did in Mission Kashmir. The anger he brought to life seemed destined for his face. And as the torn distraught Amaan in Fiza? Was that not fury we saw in his eyes when Fiza first encountered him after his disappearance? Not forgetting the dream debut that Papa Roshan gave him, after all, it is a false connotation to say that Kaho Na Pyar Hai became a success based on Hrithik’s looks. Bollywood’s disastrous 2002, which has been filled with good-looking newcomer films is a testament to that.
And while it is touted that a certain Vivek Oberoi is slowly stealing the limelight, it all reverts to the issue of there being no number one star. Throw out names, Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan. Let’s see their next release become a super-hit strictly because they are featured in it. A film is more than its actors and like Hrithik Roshan, an actor is more than his films. Vivek did take a non-conventional debut in the [average] grosser Company, but his future releases Road (where he is pitted against Manoj Bajpai, who is confirmed to have stolen the show), and Saathiyan where he plays hubby to Rani Mukherji are reported to be ‘hero-typed’ roles. What ever that may mean, if Oberoi doesn’t produce a solid hit in the future it is no assumption that he may be branded as another hero who can’t deliver a hit.
That gone with the wind, Hrithik does have a number of interesting films in the pipeline. Lakshya, Armaan and the science fiction drama Koi Mil Gaya are three of his most distinguished projects coming up. Teaming up with fresh director Honey Irani, semi-fresh director Farhan Akhtar and father Rakesh Roshan, it would be unfair not to say that the goings look great for Hrithik.
And yes, Hrithik Roshan has tried his best with Yaadein and Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage, but his work failed to counteract the poor-ness of the films, arguably, his two worst films. When Na Tum Jaano Na Hum, his most successful film this year, had him playing a mature romantic lover who communicated with his love via letters, we were faced with Mujhse Dosti Karoge which just proved a reminder of that character alongside all of his other romantic roles.
But do we expect the actors to be perfect in their choice of films. Obviously, many other actors have more then one reason for choosing a poor film, and many of them have failed miserably in their decisions. And they have faced the flack for it. Yet, for Hrithik Roshan, the flack has been a continuos trend in piles for Yaadein and bits and pieces for Na Tum Jaano Na Hum, Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage and Mujhse Dosti Karoge. Sure your work has been appreciated but it becomes easy to play the same role over and over again, doesn´t it? Just ask Shah Rukh, the one guy who has managed to take a film under the Yash Raj Banner with his name and get the success that he wanted. Is there any difference between Raj Aryan in Mohabbatein or Rahul from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil to Pagal Hai and K3G? For a good laugh one may even say that that´s why his name has been kept the same in those films. For Hrithik Roshan, he can only wonder as we do ourselves.
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http://www.planetbollywood.com/Features ... 130020.php
Edited By arsh on 1030491617
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