Hrithik says Rakesh Roshan was told to not launch him with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai | Bollywood

Hrithik Roshan said that before he began shooting for his debut film Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai (2000), someone close to father-filmmaker Rakesh Roshan had told him to not make the film. Hrithik told Film Companion in a new interview that Rakesh Roshan ignored the advice that Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai should not be Hrithik’s first film. Hrithik recalled his father’s reaction to the advice, but refused to name the person who gave it. Also read: Hrithik Roshan says he did Kaho Na Pyaar Hai after dad Rakesh Roshan didn’t want to cast him

What Rakesh was told about Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai

Hrithik Roshan said in a new interview with Film Companion, “My first film Kaho Na Pyaar Hai… so I won’t name who it was now, but someone told my dad that you should not make this film because of whatever reasons. The person said this should not be the first film. I also at a certain point kind of agreed a little bit. This is pre-shooting, pre-everything, we just had the script. And that meeting ended and my dad after the meeting got even more convinced that this is the kind of film that speaks to him, and that he was going to make this film.”

Hrithik calls Rakesh Roshan secure filmmaker

Hrithik further said about Rakesh, “So he is very solid inside. He just knows, when he knows. When he speaks to his colleagues or my friends for feedback, that is all he is doing – just getting feedback. He wants to just hear what you are saying. It will either… if it is good, it will empower him, if it is bad, it will empower him. He will learn something. It is a great quality to have… It is just a matter of how secure you are as a person and as a filmmaker.”

About Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai

Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai featured Hrithik with Ameesha Patel, who also marked her acting debut with the film. Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai, directed by Rakesh Roshan, became a huge hit and also featured Anupam Kher, Dalip Tahil and Ashish Vidyarthi, among others. In a 2022 interview, Hrithik Roshan had said that Rakesh was not eager to cast him in his films and revealed what led to his debut with Kaho Na… Pyaar Hai.

Hrithik had told Galatta Plus. “My father told me time and time again, ‘I’m not going to make a film for you, you’re on your own’. So, I was doing screen tests, I did a couple of them, I was looking for work… When he heard that I was doing screen tests, and was getting offers, maybe he sat down one day and thought, ‘Yeh kya ho raha hai (What is this happening), am I losing out?’”

“That, and he was making a film at that time with Shah Rukh [Khan] or Aamir [Khan] which fell through. And he had another thought, and while he was working on the scripting of that film with all the writers — and I was a part of this process — some weeks into it, everyone started feeling that this film needs a new boy or new girl. You have seen big stars do these roles, and even I was a part of that, that noise. Even I was like, ‘Yes, papa, I don’t want to see Shah Rukh do this’. And, when this got very repetitive, he said, ‘That’s not what I had in mind, I’m taking you in the film’.”

Hrithik’s projects

Hrithik was last seen in the film Vikram Vedha (2022), which also featured Saif Ali Khan and Radhika Apte. He will be next seen in Siddharth Anand’s action film Fighter alongside Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor. It will be Hrithik’s first movie with Deepika. Fighter is scheduled to be released on January 25, 2024, coinciding with the Republic Day.