Amid restrictions on theatres across countries, Aditya Chopra to resurrect drive-in cinemas to screen studio's past hits
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 4, 2020)

Earlier this week, mid-day reported that filmmaker Aditya Chopra intends to celebrate the golden jubilee of Yash Raj Films by hosting film festivals across the USA, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Russia and several other countries. The plan, however, hit a roadblock due to the current restrictions on seating capacity in theatres due to Coronavirus. Now, the head honcho has resorted to Plan B — the on-ground teams, as per Chopra's instructions, are reintroducing drive-in theatres, thus enabling Hindi film lovers to relive their favourite movies.

A source reveals that Chopra has devised an elaborate plan, which will kick off later this year around the world. "Over the next 12 months, Adi wants to showcase the studio's rich library through drive-in cinematic experiences. While the new films that are part of YRF Project 50 will enjoy a theatrical release, the drive-in cinemas will screen previous gems, including Kabhi Kabhie [1976], Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge [1995], Dhoom 2 [2006] and War [2019]. The studio will tie up with global partners to execute the idea across different countries."

Meanwhile, on home turf, Chopra will unveil the slate of movies on Yash Chopra's birth anniversary on September 27.

Hrithik Roshan says there’s a lot more that he has to offer as an actor
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 5, 2020)

He set the box office on fire with two consecutive hits last year — Super 30 and War — two roles as different from each other as chalk and cheese. And this is what actor Hrithik Roshan has always done in his career spanning 20 years. From Krrish (2006) and Guzaarish (2010) to Agneepath (2012) and Kaabil (2017), he has pushed the envelope. As the rumour mill goes on an overdrive about what is going to be his next film, we talk to the 46-year-old about the journey so far:

You had mentioned once that ‘playing a suave charmer who can dance well doesn’t come naturally’ to you. This is despite the fact that you are a regular on the lists of ‘most sexy men’ and are considered to be among the best dancers in Bollywood. So what made you say that?
I am frankly more comfortable doing characters where the exterior is not something I have to sell as ‘sexy’. Because it really is a lot of hard work, physically, and there is a chance to get carried away by that exterior. I need to be extra vigilant in each shot, to make sure my character is coming from a real place and does not appear pretentious about his looks when facing the camera. Unlike a character like Rohan from Kaabil or Anand from Super 30 where it is just all heart — that to me is easier. But then again, the mental stimulation when playing people like Aryan from Dhoom 2 (2006) and Kabir from War is just unmatchable. So, both have benefits.

Having done over three dozen films in a career spanning 20 years, have you figured out your process as an actor yet?
I don’t think that there is ‘a’ particular process of acting. An actor’s job is to bring a scripted character to life. It’s quite easy to imitate someone or even an emotion, but only good ‘actors’ can do that. I, on the other hand, need to feel it or I can’t act it. So, in that regard I am a bad ‘actor’. Hence my basic process in the larger sense is first identifying the way I want the audiences to feel about the particular scene or the film, and then feel that emotion and hold on to it till the end, towards that goal.

Is there still something left in your bucket list that you would want to tick off?
A bucket list is something that sets the basis for what all one wishes to do or achieve. So while I keep ticking off things I have managed to achieve, I also keep adding newer things to that list and there are too many of them. The ticks are an encouragement, and all the additions to the list are all motivations.

There are ups and downs in everyone’s lives. Who has been your inspiration? Does box-office success play an important role? 
Like you said, there are clouds in everyone’s lives. A professional high would definitely bring some kind of sunshine in your life but the key is to keep going, whatever the weather.

Do you believe that a part of the actor in you is yet to be tapped?
I’d stop acting if I ever felt that there is nothing more in me to be explored as an actor. I have always believed in taking up challenges and being more and more versatile in my craft. I am grateful for the kind of projects that have come my way to help me do that. Possibilities are endless and one needs to just keep discovering their capabilities

Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; September 25, 2019)

After impressing audiences with his turn as a scruffy-looking Maths professor from Bihar in Super 30, Hrithik Roshan is all set to return to action, literally and figuratively. The actor will be seen doing some daredevil stunts in his upcoming action entertainer, War. The trailer has already created a buzz, and his face-off with Tiger Shroff in the film has piqued interest. Here, the superstar tells us how he has always maintained a variety in his roles, sharing screen space with the younger hero and if he will now do more films now or stick to his style of doing a few movies.     

After playing a heartland character with dishevelled hair and shabby beard in Super 30, you will be seen flaunting your physique and muscles in War. Was it deliberate?
Not at all. When I signed Super 30, there was no War or a script for it. Super 30 was an extremely important project for me because there was a lot of talk about me not being able to fit into that kind of a character. People felt that I was too westernised and it was wrong casting. I read that throughout the year. So, having a success in Super 30 has reaffirmed my belief in myself in a big way. I do very few films, and because of that, I need to know that my instincts are in the right place. I could lose a lot of years and a long duration on the film if one’s gut feeling goes wrong. So, it’s encouraging that my instincts are going right.

What did you like about War?
The script. I’m a fan of action and love doing films in this genre. Unfortunately, I haven’t read very intelligent scripts in this genre. Dhoom 2 was one and Bang Bang, which I loved, and now War. I’ve been looking for this kind of action entertainer, but never found one till I read this script. Also, Sid (Siddharth Anand, director) and I have an equation from Bang Bang. I know how he sees the film. So, it became easy for me to know that this is the kind of movie I’d want to do.

But action films have been a regular staple in Bollywood...
Yes, but they are straightforward and boring for me. The kind of action film I desire to do is intelligent and in the James Bond space. For that, you need a lot of focus on the character like the one I played in Dhoom 2, Bang Bang and now War. They are not the same but they are close to that world — intriguing, mysterious, suave and intelligent. I get a lot of positive feedback when I do those. He’s the guy who never gets perplexed, he is always in control, smooth, witty, and composed. That kind of composure and intelligence is hard to come across in a script here.

War is a two-hero film and you are sharing screen space with Tiger Shroff...
(Cuts in) That was my condition. I said I will do this film, but make sure Tiger Shroff stars in it. That was important for me because I was coming from a Bihari space, I was out of shape, I was not conditioned. And the idea of Tiger standing in front of me was something that could drive me to develop that passion again, to get to my best shape, ever. I wanted somebody who was better than me so that I would do and be at my best.

How challenging was the physical transformation, especially on the back of Super 30?
It was difficult. In fact, that transformation is kind of a film in itself that I have shot. It’s actually become a content piece. I will share that with all my fans at some point. Going from the Bihari world of Super 30 to that of Kabir in War was difficult. They didn’t even give me much time, only about two months. So, I did a lot of crazy things to try and get into shape and finally I managed, but it was painful. The most important thing is to get up and restart — get back to your diet and avoid all the foods that you become used to. Initiative, discipline, sacrifices — those are the hard things. Otherwise, everything else becomes easy.

How difficult was the action in this film?
It was painful, but I enjoyed it because it looks good. Somehow for some reason, I feel I look good when I do action and, that’s my curse because it hurts.

How was the experience of working with Tiger?
Tiger is one of the most disciplined actors I’ve worked with. I’ve also developed a lot more fondness and admiration for him. He is somebody who works without any ego. That’s how I like to work. And I think we’ve done well in this film — both of us have helped each other to be honest.

Usually, when there are two-hero films, there are insecurities about the role or the character. Didn’t you have any such problems on or off the set?
I don’t think I will ever have that because I’m not from the school of wanting to be better than somebody else. I just have to do my best. I’m tuned to that. That skill has developed inside me well. I will never have a problem. In fact, my problem is that I have to make sure that others are at their best so that it’ll drive me to do even better. Whenever I am doing a two-hero or three-hero film, I make sure that everybody else is at their best, if I can help them be better I will do that. Then I will see how it drives me to be better for myself. All the actors who work with me will be happy because I make sure they are better than what they can be.

Any anecdote that you can share from the sets?
The only anecdote that I have probably is the fact that Tiger and I were basically starving! Sid is somebody who is interested in food, so, he used to pile a mountain of food on his plate, while Tiger and I would sit with salads. That was sad, but I had company. Normally, I am on that diet starving all by myself but Tiger was there and we shared a lot of tips on diet and exercise.

Comedy films are in vogue. Will we see you doing any?
I’m extremely keen on doing comedy. I love a certain type of comedy, which is situational and not slapstick. I like straight-faced humour. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to do that as well. I really enjoy Ben Stiller, Steve Martin and Jerry Lewis’ comedy, they are my favourites. In Hindi, Angoor and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron are the classics that I enjoy.

There is news about you doing Satte Pe Satta. Is that true?
There are choices on my plate and Satte Pe Satta is one of the options, but I haven’t made up my mind. Once War is out of my way, I will take a call.

You are known to work on one film at a time and don’t do too many movies. Are you planning to change that since content-driven movies are being made more?
No, this is my style and this is how I do my best work. If it takes someone 10 films to reach somewhere and if I can reach there by doing three good films, it’s fine. As far as content or variety is concerned, you will find it in my trajectory. From playing Akbar (in Jodhaa Akbar) to Koi Mil Gaya or Kaabil, in which I played a visually-impaired guy, Anand sir in Super 30 or War, which has me in a cool, sexy image, there is a variety in my movies and characters.

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 16, 2018)

After playing Aamir Khan and Kajol’s young son Rehan in Kunal Kohli’s Fanaa and Lara Dutta’s son Rohan in David Dhawan’s Partner, 18-year-old Ali Haji who makes a comeback with the Hollywood film, The Field, also featuring The Mummy actor Brendan Fraser, has now bagged another Bollywood biggie. He will be seen in Vikas Bahl’s Super 30 alongside Hrithik Roshan, who plays math whiz, Anand Kumar.

“I’m this rich brat from an influential family in Bihar who wants to join IIT and despite being tutored in a high end coaching academy, wants Anand Kumar to prep him up for the entrance exam. I’ve been shooting in Mumbai for five days now and am really excited about working with my childhood idol Hrithik,”says Ali, recalling his first meeting with his 44-year-old co-star years ago while filming Fanaa at a Mumbai studio. “I would go there for readings and look tests while Hrithik was rehearsing for a Dhoom 2 song in the basement. I just went up and greeted him. He was really nice but had no idea then that I was playing Aamir and Kajol’s son. I recently reminded him of my fan-boy moment on the set and he was surprised I remembered the brief meeting.”

Ali has started with a song sequence and is looking forward to sharing the frame with his hero. “I took some dialect classes for about a week to get the Bihari accent right in my first mainstream Bollywood film since my return. I’m glad it’s not a potboiler but a real-life story.”

Did he ever want to join IIT, you wonder, and he admits that was never a goal though he does believe that software engineers have a cool life but the pressure they face ruled that out as a career option for him.

Ali who resumes shooting in July, recently bagged the Best Child Actor award at the New York Indian Film Festival for his performance as a 10th standard student studying at a posh boarding school in North India. Noblemen, directed by Vandana Kataria, is about bullying in boarding schools and also features Kunal Kapoor. “It is inspired by William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and I shot for it in January, 2017. It is currently doing the festival rounds,” he informs.

Ashutosh Gowariker talks about his magnum opus that released on this day ten years ago, and why the recent Padmaavat controversy should not stop filmmakers from wanting to make historicals
Roshni Olivera (BOMBAY TIMES; February 15, 2018)

When Jodhaa Akbar released on this day in 2008, it was termed a modern masterpiece that would be remembered for years to come. Rightly so. Ten years after the historical hit the screens, it is still talked about for its visual treatment — the opulence, breathtaking battle sequences and the romance between the lead pair Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan that lit up the screen. The man behind it all, filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker, has reasons to be proud. A decade later, the filmmaker still gets emotional while talking about his historical romance, and in a chat with Bombay Times, he reminisces the days of filming his dream project. He also shares his thoughts on the challenges of making a historical and why the recent Padmaavat controversy should not dissuade makers from telling a story that they want to. Excerpts from a chat with Ashutosh Gowariker...

You’ve always said that Jodhaa Akbar is a very special film for you. What makes it so special?
It’s my first historical; before that I had made a period film, Lagaan (2001). I knew the challenges were many — it would be compared to some great historicals of the 1960s and there would be other comparisons as well. But I wanted to make a film with religious tolerance as the theme, and I wanted to tell that story through Jodha and Akbar. Even after all these years, the film is very important to me. What is exhilarating is that it is still appealing to the audiences — the newer audiences as well — not just in India, but overseas, too. Even now every year, it gets invited to film festivals and is showcased in their special sections.

You made a beautiful film which was 3 hours 40 minutes long, but eventually, you had to trim it down to 3 hours 20 minutes. How difficult was that given how passionately you felt about the subject?
Well, I must admit that it was tough (laughs). When it is a dramatic story, there is so much drama, so many different character graphs, and other character arcs that need to be justified. In a film like this especially, you have a lot of mannerisms of that era, where a person visiting the emperor would bow down and salute thrice. That needed to be shown, because if you don’t show it, then you haven’t entered that world. All these nuances added to the film’s length, and the scissors fell on the character of Birbal. There were two scenes of Birbal, which went out of the film and later, we included them in the DVD as the deleted scenes. The final film was 3 hour 20 minutes... I’m not very proud of the length, but at least I could bring it down to that.

With so many years having passed, would you have done it any differently now? Would you give the film a tighter edit?
No, it would have been the same.

Jodhaa Akbar saw protests in 2008 and over the years, protests of such nature seem to have become the order of the day. With the recent Padmaavat controversy, do you think filmmakers like you will be dissuaded from making historicals?
Not at all. It doesn’t have to be a historical; I might make a contemporary film and have a social issue that I want to discuss and raise questions about. That can get into controversy too. Controversy is not just limited to historicals. Anything which is issue-driven can face this. I feel filmmakers and writers should go out and make what they believe in. Otherwise, we will cease to be creative. Any art or cinema needs to grow. A thought needs to be taken ahead. The thought is the biggest thing. Thinking minds mulling over society, mulling over life are the ones who are able to create images or words in literature. For art, literature or cinema to grow, we need to have the freedom to tell what we want to.

Talking about historicals, they are not easy to make. What was the most difficult part about making Jodhaa Akbar?
When you delve into history, you will find that only some facts are written in books. You then have to fill in the blanks. When you are filling those blanks, there is a huge responsibility, because you have to imagine it with great care and try and see how you can tell the story, while setting it in that time period. Also, when it’s history, everyone wants to know exactly what happened. If you make a mistake, you will get criticised. These are the challenges, but it’s all in the preparation. With every film I make, I do as much preparation as I can to fine-tune the details. In the case of Jodhaa Akbar, the credit goes to the entire team that came together to create something that has found universal appeal.

Were Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan your first choices to play Akbar and Jodhaa?
Absolutely! I feel very fortunate that I thought of them and was able to cast them for it. I remember that Dhoom 2 had released then, and everyone knew how they worked well on screen. It gave us an additional thrust and confidence. For audiences, it was interesting to see them as Jodha and Akbar. For me, Hrithik is the new-age emperor. Aishwarya too, now holds the tag of Jodha. We have seen her play so many parts, but never a princess. Here she plays both, a princess and an empress.

Lasyapriya Sundaram (BOMBAY TIMES; July 14, 2017)

Like the Dhoom series, YRF is planning to launch another action franchise starring Roshan Jr
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; April 25, 2015)


While Hrithik’s Bang Bang had received poor reviews, the action sequences were appreciated and with the YRF film, the actor wants to go a step further. “If Bang Bang’s action sequences had set your heart pumping, then this will make it skip several beats,” the source adds. “Dhoom 3 had Aamir playing the villain and it made more money. But undoubtedly, it was Hrithik’s Dhoom 2, which is considered a better film. Dhoom 2 still stands out as the best installment in the franchise. That’s why Adi has made plans of getting him on board for this action film.”

So why not a Dhoom 4 instead? Because Aditya Chopra has ‘bigger plans’ claims the source. “Dhoom has been done. Now there needs to be another series that sends the audiences’ pulse racing. The film that Adi has planned with Hrithik, will be turned into a franchise film in the future. But unlike Dhoom, this will have only Hrithik in it as the central character in its sequels, like a Dabangg and Krrish.”

Hrithik will need to flaunt a chiselled body yet another time in the series. “Hrithik has always been fit, but with this thriller, he is expected to follow a strict regimen and achieve a particular body shape — one which people have never seen him in before.” The yet-to-be-titled flick will be helmed by Dhoom 3 director Vijay Krishna Acharya and ‘cutting edge technology will be used to design the action sequences’. “The makers are in talks with stunt experts from Hollywood and are planning to make it on a lavish budget.” Announcements of the same will be made soon.

Preity on dance, her twinkle-toed favourites in the industry and more
Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; April 16, 2015)


Rate yourself as a dancer.
I am fantastic. Have you heard anybody say they are bad?

No, seriously?
I can’t believe you are saying ‘No, seriously?’ Like, seriously!

But you were never known as a dancer like Madhuri Dixit or Shilpa Shetty...
Now, if I got powerful roles that did not require me to dance, what can I do? Veer Zaara had no dancing, nor did Dil Chahta Hai, or for that matter Kya Kehna. There were some dances in Soldier. I played a journalist in Lakshya, a prostitute in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, which had some dance. My roles were character-driven, but somehow those characters didn’t dance. I love to dance, but I was never given opportunities to dance much. However, now, that you have said this, mere andar ka dancer jaag utha! May be, I will do a film ABCDZ dancing till Z!

Who according to you is the best dancer — male and female?
It has to be Hrithik among the males. I know he is being raved about for his dances in Bang Bang, but I think his dance in Dhoom 2 is something else altogether. He is my friend but I was like wow — I became a fan of his after that. Among females it’s Aishwarya (Rai Bachchan). From Nimbooda (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) to Dhoom 2, there is no better Indian dancer than her. She is equally amazing in Western dances. However, the one who is slightly better than both of them is me! This is to ground them just in case they start smiling too much after reading this. (laughs)

If you had to pick a dance partner, it would be...
Hrithik (Roshan). And if I am allowed two partners then even Aishwarya (Rai Bachchan).

Three songs of yours that you see yourself dancing to?
Where’s The Party Tonight (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna). The second would be Tera Rang Balle (Soldier). Whenever they play that song, I jump up and start dancing it is addictive and so much fun. The third would be Jiya Jale from Dil Se.

Judges often end up performing on the show. Will you dance too?
Don’t expect to see anything that you have seen before. This whole format is different. If you feel it will have the predictability of a ‘judge has to dance’, you won’t see that.

How tough will you be?
I will be very fair and ethical. I am going to be myself. I am not that kind of a person, who believes in belittling someone. I believe that the best performance comes out when you encourage the contestants, not when you are mean to them.

The song that always makes you dance is...
Of late it’s Subah Hone Na De (Desi Boyz). Whenever I hear it, I start dancing.

You will be juggling the show and IPL, right?
Yes, and with a heavy heart, will miss one or two games because of the shoot.