Films made with honesty cross language barriers: Hrithik

Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan, who makes a comeback on silver screen with 'Kites', says films made with honesty cross barriers of language and aims to be part of only such projects in future.

"Of course, I want to dance and do all the things that made me what I am today. But, I want to do that with honesty. 'Dhoom 2' was an honest film. It promised fun, action and item numbers. It was a film which you could sit back and enjoy with your popcorn. Where as 'Kites' is a slice of life...real and intense. You cannot put 'Dhoom' songs in the story track," Hrithik told PTI.

To a question on whether 'Kites', which releases on May 21, will open frontiers for him beyond Bollywood, Hrithik said, "That's not my call. I react to scripts." 

"Every film has its own destiny no matter where it has been made," he said.

Hrithik felt that Indian films do not find takers at the international level because Indians are conditioned in their mindsets to repeat past successes.

"We use songs as a way of garnering an initial for a film even if it does not fit into the scheme of things and the world that the film is supposed to be in. We are very happy in our little pond and we know what works here and what does not.

This is very commercially manipulated and those are not the
kind of films I would want to do anymore," the 36-year-old
actor said.

"The film is a simple, straight forward love story. My character is a guy born and brought up in Las Vegas and if he meets a foreigner, he will use English. If he starts speaking in Hindi then it is commercially manipulated. We should be unafraid to make an honest film as it will find its own level," he said.

The 36-year-old actor said working with Mexican actress Barbara Mori was an enlightening experience.

"She comes from a different school of thought. But, the approach to art is same. I had to ask questions that never occurred to me earlier," he said.

On why he does few films, Hrithik said every creative person has to follow his own pace. 

"A creative person cannot calculate and manipulate his creativity. If an actor starts thinking from his mind, creativity will suffer," he said.

According to Hrithik, he is on a mission to find out his true potentials and he is doing it at his own pace. 

"Krrish gave people the confidence to think that more super hero movies can be made here. Earlier the concept was non-existent. Dad and I were challenged to raise the bar," he said.

On his character in Kites, he said, "I play a street smart guy...he is a loner, living a hand to mouth existence. His mission in life is to become rich as he believes money will end all his sufferings."

Hrithik said he does not consider his singing in 'Kites' as a debut in playback.

"There is a moment in the film that I had to be honest with. I don't call that debut as a singer. I have sung in 'Guzarish' too," he said.

The actor also said that he had virtually slipped into depression after 'Jodha Akbar'.

"Before beginning shooting for 'Kites', I was trying to get my knee treated and doctors said it will not be able function. I was heartbroken and was even contemplating an alternative career in singing or direction," he said. 

Hrithik said he wondered how he could compromise with his work as an actor when he could not jump or dance. 

"I was on crutches," he said. 

The actor sustained knee injuries while shooting stunt sequences in 'Krrish' and 'Dhoom 2'. Even in 'Kites', he suffered injuries in his hand. He said he met with an accident while enacting a scene of breaking the window.

"It was an emotional scene and my mind was in the character. The accident was a good reminder to be aware that you can hurt yourself in small actions," he said. 

Anurag Basu's script was so strong that he started imagining himself in the character. 

"Within a week of shooting, my knee pain just disappeared," he said.



The actor said that it was after 'Koi Mil Gaya' that he started enjoying the true flight of an actor.

"The phase before 'Koi Mil Gaya' in my career was a reference phase. I was doing reference acting...doing things I had seen somebody doing. From 'Koi Mil Gaya', I started to enjoy the true flight of an actor," he said. 

Hrithik said he felt good and his quest was to keep feeling like that. 

Hrithik said he has not deliberately planned two year gaps in between his film releases. "I shot Kites for seven months. The English version of Kites is presented and reworked by the well known Hollywood director Brett Ratner. If he says that he wants five months to work on it, We cannot say no. Hence, Kites got delayed," the actor said.

He said he completed Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Guzarish' during that period.

"I will have two releases this year and hopefully Zoya Akhtar's film will also be released in the first quarter of next year," he said.

The actor also said that he is in talk with Shekhar Kapur for his next project 'Paani'.