The three things that you infer from the Roshans documentary series on netflix
1. They were/are camera shy
2. They are more talented than what they are known for so far
3. Rakesh Roshan is a true visionary
Even if you are not a fan of the Roshan family, you can get glued to the series especially the first two episodes which are purely about the discovery of Roshan Sr and Rajesh Roshan as music composers. I did not know that half the great songs of the 50s ,60s were composed by Roshan hiself. What a talent he was! Rajesh Roshan mentions he trained under Laxmikant Pyarelal and there is no doubt that he also created melodious and progressive songs in his era. Just like his brother, he too seems to be a fighter who fought within himself and the biased industry who never truly acknowledged his masterly music until he delivered the banger of the century - KNPH album.
The episode on Rakesh roshan reflects what a fighter he has always been. He is the pillar of the family and the captain of the ship. We all remember how he fought for his son right after success of KNPH when he was threatened by the underworld who tried all their might to finish the career of hrithik after labelling him a one hit wonder. When paid articles and magazines were busy in writing hrithik off, Both of them were making Koi Mil gaya and the way its success shut the mouths of industry naysayers was to be seen to be believed in 2003. I remember rakesh roshan getting choked with emotions when Hrithik won the Best actor Filmfare and said " The critics wrote him off and now he has the best critics award". The dude was always a fighter. Who could think of making a mentally retarded lead movie to make a comeback? How did he have the courage to make Krrish in 2006 when shahrukh romcoms were ruling? How did he think of making female centric Khoon bhari maang in 80s? Or a Karan arjun reincarnation story in 1995? Both srk and salman had no interest in the project as acknowledged by srk himself in the show. It was ultimately upto Rakesh roshan who hit the jackpot. Rakesh Roshan was giving hits in 90s but he was missing a lead who truly believed in his project and vision. The lead who could truly realise his potential as a director. The lead who would take Rakesh Roshan from a superhit director to a "GENRE DEFINING BLOCKBUSTER DIRECTOR".
Who knew it will be his son, Hrithik Roshan Nagrath , who truly filled the shoes of the ideal hindi cinema hero , gave path breaking and genre defining hits like Kaho Naa Pyaar hai, Koi Mil gaya , Krrish and Krrish 3. Rakesh Roshan finally realised his true worth in Hindi film industry and finally thought about the idea that this family needs to be celebrated for their contribution.
This brings us to Hrithik - the phenomenon.
The only thing which i felt was not covered extensively is Hrithik Roshan career, the biggest name in not just his family but in Indian Cinema. They should have done an year on year analysis of him which i summarize below:
Year 2000:
No one knows about who is Hrithik and whether he is debuting in 2000. The industry is pumped for the debutant of abhishek bachchan , son of amitabh and some are pumped for yahs chopra son , uday too! Hrithik Roshan came out of syllabus and disrupted the hegemony of the khans . His debut is nothing less than a national event. Now he is everywhere from directors queued to signing him for movies and reworking his supporting roles to lead (yaadein, fiza, mission kashmir, k3g) to him captaining cricket team of bollywood stars against Sachin tendulkar xi. The underworld takes a note of his success and offers him movies. Both hrithik and his father decline. This triggers a witchhunt orchestrated by the underworld through their henchmen who work as journalists, directors, producers and even stars in the industry.Consequently, both mission kashmir and fiza which opened to record numbers and were box office success are labelled as flop in media and hrithik labelled a "one film wonder".
Year 2001:
The underworld looks to tighten its grip over Hrithiks career by discrediting his contribution to the success of Kabhi khushi kabhi gham even though srk himself was reeling under flops. But the media is quick to give the yaadein failure credit to hrithik.
Year 2002:
Hrithik miscalculates his image in the industry and tries to go for romantic genre with AMALL, MDK and NTJNH. The underworld fed media has a filed day in 2002 and is celebrating the fading of Hrithik.
Year 2003:
Hrithik is riding the burden of last years mistake of signing movie devoid of merit and going by just big names, Sooraj Barjatya. Sooraj tries to ape KNPH and forgets filmmaking in the bargain. The film is surprisingly a box office succes due to faithful audience of barjatya and stardom of Hrithik but labelled a big flop by underworld fed media. Just when media is ready to bid farewell to Hrithik, in he comes with an absolute genre defining blockbuster with the most "ORIGINAL ACTING EVER" in Koi Mil Gaya. The film is such a big success that critics hide under covers and the media is shocked. They werent prepared for this! Hrithik is back and how! Though they still try to whine saying he gets hits only under his father banner.
Year 2004:
Lakshya opens very well but does only decent biz. Its still among the top 10 grossers of the year but industry labels it a flop. Though the underworld is not strong anymore due to various arrests and now the witchhunting has subsided. Industry has swallowed a bitter pill called Hrithik Roshan.
Year 2005:
No movies. SRk flops, salman is struggling, aamir flops.
Year 2006:
Hrithik delivers Godfather 1 and Godfather 2 back to back in same year ( Krrish and Dhoom 2) finishing all the age old debates about getting success in home banners and whether he is bigger than khans . He proves to be the numero uno star of Hindi Cinema.
Year 2007
Many projects announced with Hrithik from rgv casting him as Rambo to shankars Robot to SS Rajamouli wanting to cast him for magadheera. Adlabs offers Hrithik 35 crores for 3 films, the highest offer in the industry. Hrithik chooses to decline. It was such a time that even if Hrithik stood on screen doing nothing , the film would be a hit.
Year 2008
Jodhaa Akbar finally gets a release. Delayed from its original diwlai 2007 release. The film is written off before release. Period films were not working for the last 2 decades. It was a genre no one wanted to touch. But the magic of Hrithik and Aishwarya proved stronger and the film became a big hit and among the top 5 grossers of the year. Hrithik wins all accolades throughout the year.
Year 2009
Hrithik having tasted both box office supremacy and acting accolades thinks of trying his hands at international cinema. But chooses a wrong project called Kites. Kites which was supposed to release in 2009 gets delayed.
Year 2010
Hrithik takes another unsolicited gap since 2007 and the momentum of 2006 and 2008 is somewhat lost. He tries to go international with Kites and Guzaarish . Both fail. Shekhar Kapur offers Hollywood production Paani to Hrithik with Kristen stewart. The project never materializes.
Year 2011
The lasts of his international project aspirations, ZNMD , gets a release. Starts slow on the box office but picks up miraculously. Its a film for the ages! Hrithik does a dance show the same year , JUst dance, which gets fair success.
Year 2012
Riding high on znmd and just dance, hrithik delivers record breaking blocbuster of a flop film remake agneepath. Gives a fresh dimension to Vijay Dinanth chauhan. Agneepath turns out to be the most intense masala movie .
Year 2013
Hrithik comes up with krrish 3. CReates a non holiday record day 1, creates highest single day and highest lifetime until dhoom 3.
Year 2014
Hrithik comes up with Bang Bang. Creates record of highest day 1 in clash and gets a top 5 grosser
Year 2015
No release. Only a song Dheere Dheere remake which breaks the youtube record of Kolaveri di.
Year 2016
Mohenjodaro. A film hrithik did just in good faith with gowariker. Did not deliver. Due to clash with rustom, Hrithik faced lot of unsolicited bias in the indsutry.
Year 2017
Clash of kaabil and raees. Raees signs deal with theatre owners to give more shows to raees on the strength of baahubali 2 rights. Kaabil gets less shows and opens lower. But beats raees in second, third, fourth week. Beats raees on trp too.
Year 2018
No release. Me too movement begins against Hrithik from Kangana and paid media
Year 2019
Hrithik with 2 releases as varied as Super 30 and war. Both get huge box office especially war which is a record grosser. Me too gang goes into hiding. Hrithik is again all over the industry
Year 2020
Covid. No releases
Year 2021
Announces Fighter . But signs up Vikram Vedha remake
Year 2022
Gives Vikram Vedha which is a copy paste movie. Has no rework of script like agneepath. Falters.
Year 2023
No films. The gap from 2019 is around 4 years and audience is searching for heroism which they get from south imports like kgf and pushpa
Year 2024
Delivers Figher. Poorly promoted yet becomes a big grosser. A genre defining hit. But not enough to make people stand up and take notice
From the abocve its clear that had hrithik spent the years 2007, 2009, 2015,2016,2018 wisely, he could have ruled bollywood with no competition. His gap years allowed mediocre stars to shine and get away.
But then this is not his own issue. Its an issue with the roshans. They dont work consistently. They dont do cinema as a job. They are artists who work when they are inspired from within. And i believe it makes them happy and content.
