Looking at a decade of Hrithik Roshan

Say what you may about Hrithik Roshan's latest movie, Kites, the actor always seemed destined for stardom, right from his roles as a child artist in films like Aasha and Aap Ke Deewane in 1980 and Bhagwana Dada in 1986.

And though Bhagwan Dada starred Rakesh Roshan, Rajnikanth and Sridevi, people today still remember Hrithik as the little handicapped boy.

His actual debut as a hero came in 2000, with Kaho Na Pyaar Hai.

It's been a full decade since his emergence as a star, which had him heralded as the next great hero of Hindi cinema. But in the ten years that he has been in the film industry, Hrithik has starred in just 15 movies and made four special appearances.

Given the release of his long-awaited Kites, rediff.com decided to take a look at Hrithik's work over the last ten years.

Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000)

Rakesh Roshan saw to it that his son's immense talent was showcased in his very first movie.

Hrithik played a double role: one, an aspiring singer named Rohit and the other a successful singer named Raj.

Kaho Na... Payar Hai was directed by Rakesh Roshan, while Hrithik's uncle Rajesh Roshan composed the music.

It starred newcomer Amisha Patel and Anupam Kher in main roles.

The film was a big hit and became the top grossing film of 2000. It made Hrithik an overnight Bollywood star

Directed by film critic Khalid Mohammed, Fiza starred Karisma Kapoor, Jaya Bachchan and Manoj Bajpai. It tells the story of Fiza (Karisma), whose brother Amaan (Hrithik) goes missing after the 1993 Bombay riots.

After six years of waiting, Fiza one day decides to go in search of her brother, only to discover that he has turned into a terrorist.

Fiza persuades him to come home to meet his mother, but Amaan is too far gone in his activities, and he one day leaves them again.

Songs like Aaja Mahiya, Piya Haji Ali and Tu Fiza Hai did well on the charts. In fact, Sushmita Sen performed an item song from Fiza on Mehboob Mere.

But despite all this, and even with Hrithik's new found star status, the film did not fare so well at the box office.

Mission Kashmir, directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, starred Sanjay Dutt, Sonali Kulkarni, Preity Zinta and Jackie Shroff.

The screenplay was written by Suketu Mehta, and tells the story of a young Kashmiri boy Altaaf (Hrithik), whose family gets killed by police officers, one of whom is Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt).

Inayat Khan adopts Altaaf, but when the boy comes to knows that his family was killed by Inayat, he runs from his house and seeks revenge.

It had an average run at the box office.

The film was directed by Subash Ghai.

Raj Singh Puri's wife dies in a car accident, leaving him to take care of his three daughters -- Avantika (Avni Vasa), Sanya (Himani Rawat) and Isha (Kareena Kapoor).

Raj's close friend Lalit (Anang Desai) is a rich businessman, whose son Ronit (Hrithik Roshan) falls in love with Isha. But Raj does not agree to this, because his daughter Sanya already faced problems in a love marriage.

Isha agrees to sacrifice her love for her father's wishes. This film was the biggest flop of Subhash Ghai's career.

Directed, written and produced by Karan Johar, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham had a glittering cast, consisting of Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukerji and of course Hrithik Roshan.

Yashwardhan Raichand (Amitabh Bachchan) is a rich business man, disciplined and traditional in his thoughts. So when his foster son Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) falls in love with a bubbly middle-class girl Anjali (Kajol), he disowns him.

Rahul marries Anjali, leaves his father's house and moves to London with Anjali's younger sister Pooja (Kareena Kapoor). However, Rahul's younger brother Rohan (Hrithik Roshan), who is determined to unite his shattered family, arrives in London and stays with them in disguise

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham was one of the highest grossing Indian films ever overseas. In fact, it was the first Bollywood film to have a theatrical release in Germany. 
 

After Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, Hrithik and Ameesha Patel got back together for Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage. But this time around, their magic didn't work at the box office.

Directed by Vikram Bhatt, Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage is a story about Sapna (Ameesha Patel), who is in love with Rohit (Hrithik Roshan). Sapna lives in a very conservative family, and her father, Pratap Dholakia (Kiran Kumar), who has criminal links, is planning to marry her off to his friend's son.

Learning of her impending marriage, Sapna leaves the house and stays with Rohit in the boys' hostel, until she is found and beaten up by her father and brother. Rohit meets the same punishment, but then Sapna poisons herself, forcing her family to agree to their marriage.

This film failed badly at the box office and Bhatt had a fall-out with the film's producer, Rohit Kumar.

The film was directed by Arjun Sablok, and starred Hrithik, Saif Ali Khan and Esha Deol.

Esha Malhotra (Esha Deol) and Rahul Sharma (Hrithik) are pen friends, but they have never disclosed their identity to each other. Through their letters, they begin to fall in love.

Rahul's friend Akshay is a flirt by nature, and Akshay's mom wants Rahul to check out a girl for Akshay. Rahul goes to meet the girl and finds Esha there. Not knowing that Esha is his pen friend, Rahul informs Akshay that he finds Esha suitable match for him, and soon the marriage preparations begin.

But during the course of marriage preparation, Rahul finds out that the girl he has been writing to is none other than Esha. Rahul does not want to disrupt his friends' happiness, and walks away.

Neither Hrithik nor Saif could save this movie from flopping badly at the box office.

Directed by Kunal Kohli, the movie is a triangular love story about three childhood friends Raj Malhotra (Hrithik Roshan), Pooja Sahani (Rani Mukerji) and Tina Kapoor (Kareena Kapoor).

Raj gets separated from Pooja and Tina when his father settles in England. Tina and Raj make a promise that they will write to each other. But Tina never writes to Raj, instead Pooja writes to Raj in Tina's name.

Years later when Raj, Tina and Pooja meet again, Raj instantly falls in love with Tina, thinking she has been writing to him all these years. But later on, he realises it was Pooja who wrote to him, and he decides to marry her. But fate has something else planed for them: Tina's father passes away and Raj's father wants Raj to marry Tina.

On the other hand, Raj's friend Rohan Verma (Uday Chopra) meets Pooja and falls in love with her and wants to marry her. Pooja agrees to marry Rohan to make Raj happy, but Rohan understands that something is amiss and backs out.

This hugely hyped film failed at the box office.

Written and directed by Sooraj R Barjatya, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon starred Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan. This film is a remake of Chitchor (1976)

Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon is a story of mistaken identity. Sanjana's (Kareena Kapoor) mother tries to arrange a marriage for her daughter with Prem: But then there are two Prems -- Prem Kishen (Hrithik) and Prem Kumar (Abhishek)

So when Prem Kishen comes to meet Sanjana's parents, they mistake him for Prem Kumar, who is a rich industrialist. They let their daughter go out with Kishen and befriend him.

But when Prem Kumar appears, they come to know that Prem Kishen is just an employee in Kumar's office. Sanjana's mother does not want Prem Kishen to see her daughter anymore, so Kishen walks out of their lives.

When Prem Kumar comes to understand the situation, he decides to unite the couple.

Everyone overacted in this over-the-top film, explaining why it didn't do well at the box office.

After Kaho Na Pyar Hai, you could say this was Hrithik's first solo hit. Directed and produced by his father Rakesh Roshan, it starred Rekha, Preity Zinta and Rakesh Roshan in a special appearance.

Rohit's (Hrithik) father Dr Mehra, a Canada-based scientist, creates a computer through which he can send signals to extraterrestrial life.

He gets killed in a road accident, and Rohit's pregnant mother, played by Rekha, then gives birth to Rohit, who is mentally disabled. He thinks and behaves just like a kid even though he is fully grown.

Rohit meets a young girl Nisha (Preity Zinta) and they become good friends.

Rohit one day finds his father's computer and leaves a message for aliens. They come but then leave in haste, leaving behind one whom Rohit befriends and calls Jadoo.

Suddenly there is change in Rohit. He becomes smarter, faster, well built and handsome.

But when police comes to know about Jadoo, they capture him. Eventually, Rohit rescues him and sends him back his to spaceship.

Koi...Mil Gaya was an instant hit and Hrithik became a household name because of it. Children especially got hooked to the character of Jadoo. Looking at Koi Mil Gaya's success, Rakesh Roshan decided to make a sequel.

Directed by Farhan Akhtar and written by Javed Akhtar, Lakshya starred Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta and Boman Irani alongside Hrithik.

It's a fictional story based on the Kargil conflict.

Karan Shergil (Hrithik) is a good-for-nothing, easy-going chap who has no goals in life. His girlfriend, Romi (Zinta), tells him to shape up if he wants to marry her. Karan, on hearing his friend is going to join the Indian Military Academy, decides to apply too.

But once in the academy he keeps getting into trouble, because he is not disciplined. Not satisfied with the academy, he leaves it. But after returning home, he realises he must return to make things right.

He returns to the academy and focuses on what he is doing and gradually becomes Lieutenant Karan. Lt Karan and his men later recapture a post that had been captured by Pakistani soldiers.

Lakshya did pretty well and proved that Hrithik can perform well without his father's shadow.

Krish was the sequel to Koi Mil Gaya, directed by Rakesh Roshan. It starred Rekha, Priyanka Chopra, Naseeruddin Shah and Sharat Saxena

Many call Krrish the first Indian superhero film. It is a story of Krishna (Hrithik), son of Rohit (Hrithik from Koi Mil Gaya). He is born with superhuman powers.

Krishna falls in love with Priya (Priyanka Chopra) and goes to meet her in Singapore. One day, he saves a boy from a fire in a circus, and from then on takes on a dual personality: Krishna the man and Krrish the superhero.

Krishna comes to know from Vikram Sinha (Sharat Saxena) that his father Rohit is alive and is kept captive by Dr Siddhant (Naseeruddin Shah).

The film's stunts were choreographed by Tony Ching Siu-Tung.

Krrish was one of the highest grossing films of 2006, a true blockbuster.

After the success of Dhoom, Sanjay Gadhvi made Dhoom 2 with Hrithik replacing John Abraham in the sequel. Other cast members included Uday Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Bipasha Basu.

Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) and his partner Ali Akbar Fateh Khan (Uday Chopra) are both cops and want to capture Aryan (Hrithik Roshan), a professional thief who uses high-technology gadgets to rob people, and who's recruited another robber Sunheri (Aishwarya) to work with him.

Sonali Bose (Bipasha Basu) is a special officer assigned to investigate Aryan's case.

Dhoom 2 had the biggest release in Indian cinema history, with over 650 prints across the country. Needless to say, the film was well-received.

Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, the historic biopic stars Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan alongside Hrithik Roshan and Sonu Sood.

The Indian epic centres on the romance between Mughal Emperor Akbar (Hrithik), and his wife Jodhabai (Aishwarya). It is a love story between a Muslim emperor and a Hindu queen.

The music is composed by acclaimed music composer A R Rahman.

The film had a slow start at the box office, but with good word of mouth publicity, did well. Jodhaa Akbar did not release in Rajasthan due to political pressure.

Directed by Anurag Basu, the long-awaited Kites is Hrithik's current Bollywood film. The movie also stars Barbara Mori, Kangna Ranaut and Kabir Bedi.

J (Hrithik Roshan) is a dance teacher in Las Vegas. He also marries immigrants for money. Gina (Kangna Ranaut), the rich daughter of casino owner Bob (Kabir Bedi), falls for J, who wants to marry her for her money.

But his first marriage to Natasha aka Linda, done to get her a green card, comes in the way.

Though reviews of the Hindi version of Kites were not favourable, there's still the English version to look forward to on May 28. The international version will be 90 minutes long, as opposed to the Hindi version, which is 130 minutes long.
 
If all goes well, we will see one more release of Hrithik's this year -- Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish, which is slated to release on November 17.

Guzaarish is a story of a wheelchair-bound Ethan (Hrithik) and a married nurse who takes care of him, played by Aishwarya Rai.

Hrithik is also working on two movies. One is Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara produced by Farhan Akhtar and directed by Zoya Akhtar. It stars Farhan, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin and is slated for 2011.

The other is Paani, a science fiction, futuristic film about water wars between rich and poor. It is directed by Shekhar KapoorI and is slated for 2012.