Hrithik Roshan says he got ‘lost’ with the adulation for Kabir in War: ‘If I don’t separate me from my on-screen persona, I will live in chaos’
Love doesn’t always find a way. Sometimes, especially when it is coming in abundance for something you’re not, it can be messy, confusing, chaotic. Hrithik Roshan experienced this after his 2019 blockbuster War. The superstar, who played the larger than life, awe-inspiring RAW agent Kabir in the film, confessed that the acclaim he received for the part sent him into a tizzy. A character with swag and jaw-dropping confidence was far removed from his real-life persona, which is more grounded, almost to the point that it defies his own stardom.
But speaking with in a group interview, Hrithik said that he was aware that he can’t let the love for his characters seep into and eventually modify his life. He knows where to draw the line.
“War put a different kind of pressure. There was so much adulation for Kabir that I got lost. I didn’t know why, where, what I should take… It was a very confusing time for me. I can’t go very deep into it, but I was kind of lost, because I was getting a lot of love for something that I was not. It was time for me to realign with the person I am and to fulfil myself as Hrithik. Because if I keep constantly filling myself up through the love for my characters, in my real life also I will try and be that, so that I keep getting the love. I need to be comfortable being me,” he said.
Hrithik said that he is aware that he is perhaps not as charismatic as Kabir or Vedha, the gangster from his upcoming feature Vikram Vedha, in real life. The superstar said that these are carefully crafted characters and when he is playing them — no matter the outpouring of love — he knows if he starts chasing the euphoria these parts generate, his life would be “traumatic.”
“It’s okay that I am not as good as Kabir or Vedha. I am not. I am not that guy. These are handmade characters, that’s not me. It’s my work. It’s so important to demarcate and differentiate me as a person, from the person I am and the persona that I project on-screen. If I don’t separate the two, I will live in chaos. I will always live as a hungry soul, trying to get the applause all the time, trying to portray all of that in my real life. That would be traumatic,” he added.
Vikram Vedha is the Hindi remake of the 2017 Tamil hit of the same name. The film has been directed filmmaker-duo Pushkar-Gayatri, who also helmed the original. The film, set to release this Friday, marks the return of Hrithik on the big screen three years after War.
A constant complaint his fans have had over the years is that Hrithik is selective about the films that he does, with longer gaps between each movie. Hrithik said that he is not consciously holding back, but surprisingly, he often struggles to find the right project to dive into. “I want to do more films; I just don’t find the content. They (Pushkar-Gayatri) are the best minds that I have come across, such incredible, riveting (people). If I get writing like this, I will do four-five films a year, if I could. I am a slave to my instincts, and they are determined how impactful the script has been on my soul. So, I just can’t tell you that I am going to decide to do two or four films. I am in the hands of my writers and directors. So, fingers crossed. Maybe I may get lucky again,” he added.
Also starring Saif Ali Khan, Vikram Vedha follows the story of a cop who is on a hunt to nab a gangster. Things take a turn when the gangster voluntarily surrenders and tells the cop his backstory, which challenges the cop’s perception of good and evil.
