What followed was Kaho Na Pyaar Hai and with stardom came confidence and innumerable challenges. Every new film demanded special training, if it was skateboarding, snowboarding and sand surfing to play the thief in Dhoom 3, Hrithik hired three different masters to train him in sword fighting, Urdu dialect and Sufi dancing for Jodha Akbar. For Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish where he played magician Ethan Mascherenas, he trained under an expert and also spent time with a paraplegic patient to understand his mindset and inconveniences. His contemporaries often lampooned his homework but his co-stars and his directors valued his commitment and appreciated his detailing.
Hrithik Roshan got emotionally attached to his every character and superstardom did not diminish his passion for his new assignments. When he travelled to China to train for action during Krrish, he suffered a serious leg injury. Any other actor in his place would have returned home but Hrithik Roshan was adamant about staying back and completing his treatment. There is another, more dangerous story of how while shooting for his film Bang Bang in Thailand, Hrithik fell off a cliff and suffered a near fatal head injury. He was rushed to the ICU and had to undergo immediate brain surgery, that kept him out of action for a long time but he remained positive all through and once recovered, Hrithik bounced back to the studios.
To be continued…