How Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai positioned Hrithik Roshan as a superstar

On January 14, 2000, a tall young man with sharp features made his first appearance on the big screen. Neither he nor the audience then knew at the time that the boy, whose name flashed as ‘Hrithik Roshan’, would one day play a huge role in the evolution of films in the early 2000s.

When Hrithik Roshan first appeared as Rohit and then Raj in Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, the audience was enamoured. He brought about a dose of mint-like freshness, something that the film industry had long awaited.

Having been directed and produced by veteran actor-filmmaker Rakesh Roshan, the film was a mammoth launchpad for Hrithik. And it was rather cleverly done too. The script was planned in a way which made the audience believe that Hrithik has the potential to play dual roles with different character traits, right from the very start.

Speaking to India Today Digital, Rakesh Roshan said, “When I made the film, I was not sure that it was going to do well or if Hrithik was going to be a superstar. Nobody can predict about the film. I just made the film, and I was a director and producer who was working with an actor. It’s wasn’t the son I was working with.”

He added, “Once the film was ready, and it was about to release, then my father-instinct woke up. I used to pray to God that ‘Please picture chala dena bete ke liye kyunki usne bahut mehnat ki hai‘ (Please help the film become successful, he’s worked very hard for it). We don’t know the success of the film, why it is and why it is not.”

Hrithik Roshan was believable as the naïve and gullible Rohit, who had no malice in his heart for anyone. Scenes later, he appeared as the muscular Raj, who danced like he was forever trained to do so all his life. He hit and beat like a professional. And boy, when he loved, all the girls secretly wanted to place themselves instead of then-debutante Ameesha Patel. And that’s how Hrithik Roshan became one of the chosen ones to have been a sensation, right from his very first film.

At the time, his female fans would have cut-outs of his pictures, pasted in their scrapbooks. His male fans straight hit the gym…or perhaps, dance classes, all emulating their now-favourite newfound superstar.

Rakesh Roshan told us that when the film released, the audience reactions were “unbelievably crazy”.

He said, “How it happened and why it happened, I don’t think anybody can analyse it. I still feel that when an actor becomes a big star or a superstar, there has to be some magnet in him to pull the audience. And what his magnet was, we don’t know. Perhaps his eyes pulled the audience or the way he carried himself.”

The filmmaker continued, “You won’t believe that there are some fans who came and told me ‘My toddler son does not eat food until he watches Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. How would a 2-year-old know who Hrithik Roshan is? There is some kind of attraction in him that pulls the audience.”

But Hrithik could hardly taste his success of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. On one hand, fans couldn’t get enough of him. On the other, his father was hospitalised, after having been shot at by unidentified assailants. Hrithik had even allegedly thought of quitting films.

“When the film was released, Hrithik had to handle all the attention on his own because, unfortunately, I was shot by the mafia within a week and was in the hospital. He was dealing with two major situations simultaneously—his debut film becoming a massive hit with everyone praising him, and his father being critically injured and hospitalised. It was an incredibly challenging time for us. However, by God’s grace, I recovered, and our journey since then has been remarkable,” Rakesh Roshan told us.

While Hrithik Roshan must have received a firm landing, his career hasn’t always been a bed of roses. He tasted an equivalent share of hits, flops and controversies.

“I truly think that you have helped me, all of you, have helped me become the human and the actor that I am in these 25 years through our interactions. Through all the questions and answers, you made me feel uncomfortable—I grew with that. Sometimes you made me feel responsible, sometimes you made me feel accountable. Guys, not good for a shy guy!” Hrithik expressed, in a recent post.

But, along the way, he did make some wise decisions too. Take Mission Kashmir, Krrish, Bang Bang, and Dhoom 2 for example. Today, his fans admire him not only as an actor but also as a source of inspiration, thanks to his fitness regimen, motivational talks, and captivating travel diaries.

Years trickled by like seconds, and here we are, celebrating 25 years of Hrithik Roshan – the actor, with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai’s release. A film that didn’t grow old; only we grew up with it.