« Back to article | Print this article |
Hrithik Roshan, who burst on the silver screen with father Rakesh Roshan's 2000 blockbuster Kaho Na... Pyar Hai and has delivered some fine performances in a career spanning a little over a decade, turns 40 today, January 10. Here's looking at his best performances through the years.
When Rakesh Roshan's light-eyed son made his Bollywood debut in 2000, naysayers wrote him off as yet another one-hit wonder who would fade away into oblivion just as quickly as he had risen to overnight stardom.
And here we stand today, 13 years on.
Hrithik Roshan is one of the most gorgeous actors Bollywood has ever seen and is well regarded for his acting chops among his peers and fans. He also, just recently, delivered one of the biggest hits of last year with Krrish 3.
As the actor turns 40 today, we take a look at some of his FINEST performances of his glorious career so far.
Have a favourite Hrithik film? Show the birthday boy some love by voting for his BEST performance at the end of this slide show!
Returning to the big screen as the much liked superhero Krrish, Hrithik -- along with father Rakesh Roshan -- delivered one of the biggest hits of 2013.
The film started out slow during Diwali holidays but sustained well and did even better in the later part of its run at the box office.
Read the review here
As the conflicted gangster Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, formerly immortalised by the formidable Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan held his own in a very confident and moving turn in Karan Malhotra-directed 2012 remake.
Unlike the original Vijay, Hrithik's version was more human, vulnerable in parts, and managed to move the audiences with admirable effortlessness.
Farhan Akhtar may have got the best lines in Zoya Akhtar's multi starrer buddy comedy of 2011 but Hrithik Roshan stood out in his turn as the uptight friend, who finds love with a free-spirited girl.
As Arjun, the London-based financial trader who takes himself too seriously, Hrithik's performance was spot on.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish saw Hrithik as a quadriplegic with heart, a spirited former magician, who doesn't let his disability get in the way of his uplifting mood.
It was a tough performance, and Hrithik emerged very triumphant indeed.
He might not have played the lead, but Zoya Akhtar's insider view of Bollywood gave Roshan a chance to sparkle.
Hrithik played an effete, narcissistic version of himself and showed off both comic timing and self-deprecation.
Opinions remain divided on how good a film Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar really was.
But everyone agrees that Hrithik looked convincingly regal enough for the title role.
Add to that some restrained acting, and he left us all impressed.
Touted inaccurately as India's first superhero movie, Rakesh Roshan's Krrish borrowed plots from most existing superhero blockbusters.
But that wasn't the point here: the film was all Hrithik, and he carried it off with surprising agility.
The first part of Roshan's sci-fi story began with this ET-ripoff which starred him, unbelievably enough, as a mentally-challenged schoolkid.
It's as melodramatic as can be, but even Hrithik's hamming here was considered mostly likeable.
Sharing screen space with legends is always hard, and Karan Johar's magnum opus pitted a young Hrithik alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.
Roshan, thanks perhaps to limited screen-time, did better than the other men in the film.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra's flawed terrorism thriller cast Roshan as a young, easily misled Kashmir youth.
Roshan, effortless at dancing and romancing young Preity Zinta, looks out of his depth when battling alongside a battle-hardened Sanjay Dutt, yet there is some raw charm to his missteps.
Most Hrithik-worshippers point to this Khaled Mohammed film as if to show that their hero could always act.
Well, it isn't as much 'act' as it is 'look good in checked shirts,' but even that is a skill, clearly.
Roshan skyrocketed to superstardom right with his debut film, an unprecedented, Khan-threatening success.
The role was standard Bollywood fare, but Roshan worked it and that iconic dance step well enough to make it his own, and convince us about it.
So what are you waiting for? Vote now!