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The euphoria surrounding Hrithik Roshan’s landmark debut as an actor was overshadowed by the attack on his father Rakesh Roshan’s life by two assailants in 2000. One bullet hit the filmmaker in the arm, and another grazed his chest. He survived, but a shadow was cast over the Roshan family’s success. The new four-part documentary series The Roshans, which celebrates the family’s artistic achievements across three generations, revisits this painful chapter. But it doesn’t go into too many details, such as identifying the reasons behind the attack, and the purported involvement of the underworld.
In the final episode of the show, which was released on Netflix on Friday, archive footage of Hrithik at an awards function shows him addressing the attack. He says, “As you all know, in the past few weeks, my family has been through a lot. My father, who has always believed in doing good work, was recently attacked by unknown assailants. I was losing faith in people, in goodness, in the world. I saw no point in all the hard work that we people put in. Basically, nothing made sense. I just wanted to quit before things had even begun for me… I’m up here this evening to let people know that no matter how much some people might want to put us down, we will rise. We believe in one thought, that the show must go on.”
In a present-day interview for the series, Hrithik recalls the moment he first realised the gravity of what had happened. “God, it was a hard time, of course. But I still can’t remember me feeling afraid for my dad. He was Superman. Even when he was in the hospital, I remember seeing a glimpse of blood-red sheets, and it made me scared for a second. But just the next moment, my dad was conversing, laughing, and it seemed like he could handle this. It was only month after that, my mom narrated what had happened the previous night, that my dad had woken up screaming, screaming for help, thinking that he’d been shot at. That was when I realised the vulnerability behind that Superman. He had such a strong facade, he just never let his soft side out,” he says.
Rakesh’s wife, Pinkie, teared up as she looked back on the conflicted emotions that were going through her mind at the time. “It was a very, very difficult time. It was very hard to manage two different emotions at the same time,” she said, and their daughter, Sunaina, added, “Oh my God, Hrithik became a star overnight, and dad was shot at. Both those things were unbelievable.” Rakesh’s brother, music composer Rajesh Roshan, said, “He’s a very strong man. He was shot and bleeding, but he went to the police station and told them to catch the people who’d done it.”
The series also featured the man himself, briefly reflecting on the attack and tearing up. “News would keep flowing in about Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai’s success, about how much money it’s making. It was all so overwhelming, and that was the reason I came out of all this mess.” Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai was a blockbuster, launching Hrithik’s successful career. His father had put everything on the line for the film.
In an earlier interview with the BBC, Hrithik had reflected about his state of mind after the incident, saying, “I had not even begun to enjoy the success of my film and this happens. I was waiting for trade papers to say KNPH was a hit. And we got to the Friday, and I was going to have a party, but before that dad got shot. He had a bullet in his chest and his arm; I remember he called me up because he was concerned whether I was okay. In his mind he was wondering if there was a simultaneous act (on the family).”
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