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Hrithik Roshan on Buzzinebollywood.com

FILM INTERVIEW: HRITHIK ROSHAN

Star of ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ Talks About Big B, ‘Agneepath’

By: Simran Mody
July 13, 2011

Hrithik Roshan in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara on buzzinebollywood.comIt is not every day that Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan is compared to Amitabh Bachchan, but the headlining star of Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milengi Dobara cannot avoid being mentioned in the same breath as Hindi film’s biggest legend -- not after completing a remake of Agneepath. Then again, Mr. Roshan may be taking breaths away in locking lips with Katrina Kaif in this week’s release of Zindagi Na Milengi Dobara, which also stars Farhan Akthar, Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin, and Naseeruddin Shah.

 
Current film aside, most people seemed more interested in Mr. Roshan’s work in the reprisal of a Bollywood classic by Karan Johar. Mr. Roshan said that working on Agneepath was just another day at the office, with a dash of overtime.
 
“In my mind, there are no comparisons (between myself and Amitabh Bachchan), because Agneepath, for me, is just another film. There’s no manipulation and calculation,” Mr. Roshan told the Indian press about working on the remake with Mr. Johar. “I reacted to the script instinctively and related to it without a thought for the original Agneepath. And there is no effort to do things differently, but just convincingly.”
 
Even though the film is not expected to release until January 2012, somehow Mr. Roshan was fielding more questions by the media about Mr. Johar’s Agneepath instead of Zoya Akthar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which hits big screens across India and worldwide on July 15th.
 
Perhaps that is a good thing since, during the filming of Agneepath, Mr. Roshan was pushed a little further than he is accustomed. The actor said that, while the film felt like “just another film,” he exerted efforts during the shoot that were anything but mundane or commonplace.
 
“I don’t think I have worked this hard in my entire life. I feel like I have been steamrolled; I must be getting old,” Mr. Roshan, who is 37, told the press about the intense -- and apparently physically challenging -- schedule he maintained during the month of shooting Agneepath in the mountains.
 
“I was dragged on my back and chest. I had ice packs on my knees and elbows, and returned home black and blue. I have a zillion scratches and bruises on my stomach,” he told the press, adding that the pain is all worth it in end, so long as moviegoers have something great to see in theaters and multiplexes. “It’s this passion for good cinema that drives you to take all this pressure and pain.”
 
That passion has been rather evident in Mr. Roshan’s career, which has entered its third decade now, as his filmography includes a wide range of films such as Jodhaa Akbar, Mission: Kashmir, Krissh, Dhoom 2, and Kites.
 
Hopefully Mr. Roshan’s hard work, passion, and pain will pay off this weekend at Bollywood’s box offices. While Zindagi Na Milengi Dobara has no direct competition from mainstream Hindi films this weekend, Mr. Roshan will go head-to-head with Harry Potter, which releases its final chapter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 on Friday.
 
(Coincidentally, Mr. Roshan’s last release, Guzaarish, which also starred Aishwarya Rai, opened the same day as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1; the Roshan-Rai film performed poorly against Harry Potter in November.)