‘Hrithik Roshan locked himself in the bathroom and…’: Rakesh Roshan says son would ‘hold himself back because of his stuttering’

Hrithik Roshan became a superstar with his first film Kaho Naa Pyar Hai but the actor had to overcome many personal difficulties to find the confidence to become a star. Hrithik has previously spoken about his speech problems and now, in a new interview, his father Rakesh Roshan has opened up about the same. Rakesh shared that he could see Hrithik struggle and felt bad for his son as he wanted to say a lot, but his speech was holding him back. Rakesh also recalled an incident when Hrithik locked himself in a bathroom because he had to say ‘Thank you Dubai’ but was having problems in saying that line fluently.

In a chat with ANI, when Rakesh was asked if Hrithik’s problems “frightened” him, the filmmaker said, “I used to feel bad that he wants to say so many things, he is so well educated, very intelligent but he used to hold himself back because of his stuttering. Once, I remember he was in Dubai and he wanted to just say ‘thank you Dubai’, and he used to get stuck on the word D. So he locked himself in the bathroom to learn those two sentences, to say ‘Thank you Dubai.'”

Rakesh said that he felt bad for Hrithik and added, “He is such a progressive man but something is holding him back but he worked so hard on it.” Rakesh recalled that Hrithik would wake up in the morning and read English, Hindi and Urdu newspapers out loud as a way to work on his speech. “He used to wake up in the morning and for one hour, he would read newspapers out loud in English, Hindi and Urdu and now, he doesn’t stutter, for the last 10-12 years,” he said.

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In an earlier chat with Mumbai Mirror, Hrithik Roshan said that he struggled with his speech issue till 2012 and continues to practice his speech every day. “I’d practice every day to overcome the speech issue, I still do for an hour at least so that I can control the secondary actions like twitching and all. The unacceptability to stammering was not only bothersome in my childhood but prevailed till 2012, long after I had become a film star,” he said.