The director who launched Hrithik Roshan’s grandfather in Hindi cinema claimed to have been betrayed by him: ‘Never work with stars…’

Kidar Sharma wanted to collaborate with him for a third time, but he said that Roshan became too big for his boots, and his betrayal left him on the brink of bankruptcy. “He promised me that he would be indebted to me his entire life,” Kidar Sharma said, recalling how he stood up for Roshan when a couple of distributors told him to hire someone else, and retracted their offer when he refused. “Bawre Nain became a musical hit, and then, what usually happens happened. He became too big for his boots, and said that he wanted to work with others.”

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Kidar Sharma said that he wasn’t doing well financially after Bawre Nain, even though the movie had done well, because of some issues with the income tax department. He requested Roshan to not abandon him because he was desperate. “He agreed to compose the music for my film, but when I told him that all I had was only Rs 15,000, he refused. He said that he can’t lower his rate because that wouldn’t be good for his career. That’s the beauty of human beings; see how they change. He demanded 100 musicians, and ultimately settled for 50,” he said.

Roshan Lal Nagrath, the grandfather of Hrithik Roshan. (Express Archive)

Kidar Sharma said that they finally reached an agreement to record the music in one day, and he borrowed Rs 15,000 from a loan shark. Sensing his desperation, the loan shark rejected the Oldsmobile car that Kidar Sharma offered him as collateral, and demanded the distribution rights to his film. “I booked two studios, and the 50 musicians showed up. Roshan didn’t. I panicked. In the afternoon, a person came and said with a laugh that Roshan had left for Kolkata that morning, and he wouldn’t be coming in. I was destroyed,” he said. Kidar Sharma immediately rushed to his old musician friend, and made a request to him to fill in for Roshan. He agreed. “That was the day I decided to never work with stars again, because people get swollen heads,” he said.

In the same interview, Kidar Sharma had recalled coming to Roshan’s aid in the late 1940s. He said, “One day, I saw a man sitting at the railway station with two wives. He was there in the morning, and when I was returning home in the evening, he was still there. I asked him who he was, and in return, he asked me who I was. I said, ‘Don’t be upset. This isn’t a junction, and I saw you sitting here in the morning, and you’re still here now. I thought you were in need, and I felt that I could be of some help. My name is Kidar Sharma’. He said, ‘Pranam, my name is Roshan. I used to make music for AIR, but I had a love marriage, and they fired me. Now I don’t have work, nor do I have a place to stay’.” Roshan went on to compose music for several major films, and reached the peak of his career in the 1960s. But a history of heart trouble got the better of him, and he died at the age of 50. His sons were in their teens, and they suddenly found themselves having to fend for themselves. Rajesh became a music director, while Rakesh tried his hand at acting before becoming a filmmaker.