Happy Birthday Hrithik Roshan: Bollywood’s Superhero

Gifted with looks of a Greek God, Hrithik Roshan has wooed fans and audiences since the onset of his career. Hailing from a filmy family, not only has lady luck smiled on the actor, but his work and talent speak volumes for itself. Hrithik Roshan has succeeded in creating a niche for himself with notable performances in ‘Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai’, ‘Krrish’, ‘Dhoom 2’ and ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’. As he turns 41 today, we take a look at his career graph.

Hrithik Roshan is the son of acclaimed director Rakesh Roshan and his wife Pinky. His maternal grandfather is famous director-producer J. Om Prakash, who is said to have introduced a 6-year-old Hrithik to cinema by filming him for the film ‘Aasha’ in 1980. His uncle is Rajesh Roshan, a renowned music director and he also has an elder sister, Sunaina.

After completing his school and college, Hrithik Roshan decided against moving to the United States to pursue a Masters Degree and turned his focus to films. The actor is said to have begun his career with simple responsibilities like sweeping floors, story development, cameras work and later spent 6 years in assisting his director father in movie like ‘Khel’ from 1992 till ‘Koyla’ in 1997.

When it comes to Hrithik’s romantic life, all seemed perfect. The actor married childhood sweetheart Sussanne Khan on December 20, 2000 after a courtship of four years. The couple has two sons – Hrehaan and Hridhaan.

However, in December 2013, Hrithik issued a statement announcing the couple’s separation. Their divorce was finalized by Bandra family court in Mumbai on 1 November 2014. Rumours suggest that Hrithik’s closeness to his ‘Kites’ co-star Barbara Mori may have been the reason for marital discord between the couple. Certain rumours about Hrithik and Kareena Kapoor having a certain fondness for each other also did the rounds. However, nothing has been confirmed.

After appearing in a couple of songs from his father’s films as a child, Hrithik Roshan made his debut as a lead actor in ‘Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai’ (2000). Directed by Rakesh Roshan, the film also launched debutante Ameesha Patel and became a grand Box Office success. The film featured Hrithik in a dual role and became the highest grossing film in India for year 2000. Hrithik’s performance earned him the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award as well as the Best Actor Awards and the film received the Best Movie Award.

That same year, Hrithik played Karisma Kapoor’s younger brother in ‘Fiza’. Though the film tanked at the Box Offcie, Hrithik’s performance of a young innocent Muslim boy who turns into a terrorist after the riots was highly appreciated.

He was next seen in ‘Mission Kashmir’ (2000) along with Preity Zinta, Sanjay Dutt, and Jackie Shroff. The film told the tale of a young boy played by Roshan who is traumatized when he discovers that his adoptive father is responsible for the death of his entire birth family. The film was a success and became the third-grossing film of the year.

In 2001, Hrithik starred opposite Kareena Kapoor in Subhash Ghai’s ‘Yaadein’. The film didn’t do well in India but was a major success overseas. His next big release was Karan Johar’s family drama ‘Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham’ which had a stellar cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Kareena Kapoor. The film was a huge success and Hrithik’s performance earned him several nominations for Best Supporting Actor at various year-end award ceremonies.

2002 wasn’t so lucky for Hrithik. For the first film, he reunited with Ameesha Patel for Vikram Bhatt’s ‘Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage’. However, their ‘Kaho Na… Pyaar hai’ magic did not repeat itself. He was next seen in ‘Na Tum Jaano Na Hum’ along with Esha Deol and Saif Ali Khan. But, the film performed poorly at the Box office. His last release for the year, ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge!’ with Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor also failed critically and commercially.

2003 had an unlucky start with another flop – Sooraj Barjatya’s ‘Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon’ alongside Kareena Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan. Post this lull in his career, Hrithik once again tasted success with India’s first science fiction film, ‘Koi… Mil Gaya’. The actor played the role of a mentally disturbed boy who befriends an alien stranded on Earth. The film became the most critically successful film of the year and won a number of awards including The National Film Award and Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Critics Award for Best Actor.

The following year saw only one release from Hrithik – Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Lakshya’. The film, which was a coming-of-age fictional story set against the real-life Kargil War, also featured Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta. Hrithik’s performance was well received.

Hrithik then appeared in the sequel to ‘Koi Mil Gaya’, titled ‘Krrish’ (2006) along with Naseeruddin Shah and Priyanka Chopra. The film saw Hrithik play a triple role and became a major critical and box office successkrrish2. His performance of a Superhero earned him many best Actor Awards

The same year, Hrithik had a smashing Box office success with ‘Dhoom 2’ opposite actress Aishwarya Rai and also starring Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and Uday Chopra. Hrithik’s performance as the sexy, enigmatic thief won him much acclaim. The movie did well commercially and Hrithik won his third Filmfare Best Actor Award.

Hrithik once again starred opposite Aishwarya Rai in historical flick ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ (2008), where he played the role of the young Muslim Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great. The film did well both in India as well as overseas and won Hrithik his fourth Filmfare Best Actor Award. 2009 saw the actor in Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Luck by Chance’ where he played a movie star ‘Zaffar Khan’. The film that also featured Farhan Akhtar did not do well commercially but was a critical success.

For the rest of the year, Hrithik was busy with his family production ‘Kites’ with Mexican beauty Barbara Mori. Directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Rakesh Roshan, the romantic thriller opened well but underperformed in the country. It got a better reception abroad.

Hrithik romanced Aishwarya Rai onscreen for the third time in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Guzaarish’ (2010), in which he played a quadriplegic magician. Though the film was declared a flop at the Box Office, Hrithik received a number of Best Actor nominations at award functions.

In 2011, Hrithik once again teamed up with Zoya Akhtar for multi-starrer ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ alongside Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol. Hrithik’s role as a compulsive workaholic and his crackling chemistry opposite Katrina Kaif was much praised. ‘ZNMD’ dominated year-end awards for Hindi film, winning 33 awards out of a total 66 nominations.

Hrithik then appeared in action film ‘Agneepath’, a remake of the classic 1990 film of the same name. The film also starring Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt and Rishi Kapoor took a historic opening and broke all opening-day records at the time.

Hrithik’s performance on screen has been in ‘Krrish 3’, sequel to ‘Koi… Mil Gaya’ and ‘Krrish’. Though the film opened to mixed reviews from critics, ‘Krrish 3’ had a magnificent response across the country and was declared a major blockbuster by Box Office India.

In 2014, Hrithik scorched the screen with his action avatar in ‘Bang Bang’ with Katrina Kaif. The film, which was a remake of the Hollywood flick, ‘Knight and Day’ got mixed reviews. Yet, the film is among the highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time.

Hrithik also made it to the small screen when he appeared as a judge on reality dance show ‘Just Dance’ in 2011 along with choreographers Farah Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant. The actor was paid Rs. 1.75 crore per episode.