The actor-director siblings have had chequered careers. While Ronit Roy has revived his film career, Rohit is hoping to build a new one behind the camera
Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 30, 2017)

At present, the Roy brothers are in a “comfortable space”. Apart from being one of the biggest names in the television industry, Ronit has been praised for his performances in critically-acclaimed films such as Udaan, Ugly and Kaabil, while Rohit has refashioned himself as a filmmaker and will helm the next Sanjay Leela Bhansali production.

Growing up in Ahmedabad, Ronit had earned the moniker ‘Kumar Gaurav of Ahmedabad’ but Rohit remembers him as the most flamboyant man in town. “You need money for that. I was only an extrovert,” says Ronit, before he is corrected by Roy junior, “You can be Jackie Shroff from Teen Patti, so you can be flamboyant without money.” He also adds that his elder brother also had the reputation of being a “quintessential naughty boy”. “If I got into a scuffle in Ahmedabad and they came to know I was Ronit’s brother, they’d run away,” he says.

Rohit, who was preparing for his MBA when his brother bagged his feature film debut in Jaan Tere Naam (1992), remembers visiting him during a song shoot at Andheri Sports Complex. “He was in swimming trunks and the actress was in a ridiculous purple bikini and they were jumping in and out of the pool. I returned home to tell my mom that her son was doing sleazy films, wearing just a chaddi.”

Ronit signed 40 films following his debut, “of which, 25 producers never showed up, 15-16 went into production, 13 got made, half didn’t release and the ones that did, flopped.” He continues, “I wanted to be a hero when I came to Mumbai and all the trappings that came with it — big house, big car and girls running after me. I got all that with Jaan Tere Naam and then I lost it too. Now, I want to become an actor, and not a star,” says Ronit, who will be next seen in Sarkar 3. “May be, I signed the wrong films. When you’re 26, you don’t know any better.”

Ronit, who won a Filmfare Award for his performance in Udaan, eventually turned to television as a means of keeping his acting career alive. He began with a show opposite Bhagyashree before Ekta Kapoor cast him in Zee TV’s Kammal in 2000 and later in Kasautii Zindagii Kay and Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi in 2002. “I was initially paid Rs 2,500 a day. I felt that if I could make Rs 50,000 a month, it would pay for food, rent, alcohol and mobile bills.” Instead, Ronit became an overnight primetime success. From 2002 to 2010, he worked on a minimum of three TV shows every year and “couldn’t spare time for films”.

Rohit, who admitted to scoffing at his brother’s profession initially, was left adrift when his US visa was rejected in 1992. Prior to his entrance test at Symbiosis, Pune, a chance meeting with Kunal Kapoor, an advertising maverick then, resulted in a move to agency life and he reluctantly strayed into modeling too. “Anant Balani, who had made Patthar Ke Phool, saw my photographs, which were terrible, and called me for a screen test, which was even worse. But he liked it and that’s how I got my first film with Suchitra Krishnamoorthi called Jazbaat which never released,” says Rohit.

A year later, Rohit shot to fame with his TV debut in Swabhimaan. “I was rejected during my audition by Shobhaa De, who wrote the show. She felt I was ‘too MTV’ to play Rishabh Malhotra. She wanted someone like Mohnish Behl, but younger. Later, Mahesh Bhatt, one of the makers, spotted me while going through the rejected auditions, and because of my red jacket he placed his bets on me,” he says.

The Roy brothers’ up and down relationship with success caused some problems for their mother too. “During Swabhimaan, when Ronit was totally out of work, people would tell my mother, ‘we saw the show, but bada beta kya kar raha hain?’ Then, the same phase came in my life in 2013-2014, and they’d ask her, ‘we watch Adaalat but chota ladka kya kar raha hain?’” Rohit says with a laugh.

These days, Rohit has chosen to get behind the camera because it is something he had “always planned to do” but was also in part due to his stuttering acting career. Rohit says he has made peace with the fact that he is “not a star”.

As it happens, Ronit will be playing the lead in the Bhansali love story that Rohit will direct. The younger Roy shares his first choice for the lead was Naseeruddin Shah. “I hated Ronit’s work in Jaan Tere Naam even though the film made him a star. But when I saw him in Udaan, I cried and then I saw him as the gritty cop in Ugly and I was sure that only he could play the character I had in mind.”

So the next time someone asks their mother what the brothers are doing, the answer will be easy.

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; April 18, 2014)

Ronit Roy, 48, is emotional, hardworking, highly self-respecting and a loner. He attributes whatever he is today to television and apart from acting, he runs a security agency and enjoys trading in shares. Ahead of his upcoming role in 2 States, in which he shares a difficult relationship with son Arjun Kapoor, he talks to Bombay Times about his devoted wife, his mentor Subhash Ghai and his own evolution as a human being. Excerpts:

How did you start your journey in Mumbai? 
I was born in Nagpur and brought up in Ahmedabad, where my father had a small factory. Subhash Ghai sahab was my dad’s best friend. When I used to visit Subhash uncle as a child in Mumbai, I would see the stars with their long white-coloured Mercedes Benz at Sun n Sand Hotel, with girls yelling for them, and I was clear that I wanted to be a star. When I was 21, I came to Mumbai to become one and lived with Subhash uncle at his place. I had done my Catering and Applied Nutrition Technology course, which essentially means Hotel Management.

Both, my dad and Subhash uncle, wanted me to do a job that was more secure, as acting was too speculative. The resident manager of Sea Rock Sheraton was Subhashji’s friend. Next day of arriving in Mumbai, I was packed off to Sea Rock Sheraton. Subhashji had the coolest car at that time called the Standard 2000, the first big car to be manufactured in India by Rover England. I sat in the car, wore a suit and went and within half an hour, was made to take out my suit and wash dishes. That was pretty much the beginning of my career in Mumbai. I worked there for two years and I can tell you in the history of the hotel, there must not be a person who could have washed so many dishes or washed dishes so cleanly. I took a lot of pride in my job. After a little over two years, my father passed away. He had come to see me in Mumbai, but all of a sudden, had a heart attack at the Shalimar Hotel in Bandra, where he was staying. I was doing a 7 o’clock shift and got off at 3 pm, went to Shalimar Hotel, but he had already passed away by that time. My dad loved me to death. Ten months before he passed away, we were walking, going to get something when all of a sudden, he had said to me, ‘Son, I am not going to last beyond a year’. I used to walk to work since Subhashji stayed very close to Sea Rock. Four days after my father’s death, I walked down as always to the hotel and went and sat on the rocks. I sat there for a couple of hours and never went back to the hotel after that. Something in me had snapped and I called my boss to tell him that I would not be returning. My father had wanted me to do that job that I was doing somehow, but now that he was not alive, I didn’t see the point of continuing.

How did TV happen?
After quitting my job with Sea Rock, I became a Mukta Arts flunky. At that time, it used to take two years to make a film and I realised that from being sixth assistant to first assistant itself would take me 12 years and then maybe if I was lucky, I could have become director. Once Madhuri Dixit was shooting and I was in her room narrating a scene to her. In front of the whole unit, Subhashji scolded me. I told him that she had only called me to do that. But that kind of got me thinking. Subhashji only taught me — finish your job on time, then help other people with their jobs. That way you will learn and also build goodwill. And that’s what I was doing. I decided to do advertising as ad films were made in only 10 days and started assisting Sanjeev Sharma and Mansoor Khan. Surprisingly, I was a whiz kid and soon learnt to edit films and became an expert at it. I would edit and model for ad films on the side. I was editing for Kunal Kapoor, when I got my first film Jaan Tere Naam as lead actor. After that, I did a whole lot of shit work and was written off as an actor. For seven years, I had no work till Balaji offered me my first role in 2001. My younger brother Rohit had already become a TV actor by then and my mom lived with him. I had by this time married and had both, my first daughter and divorce, and would consume a bottle of whisky every night. During the seven years, I would often survive on just pao and water. Everything in my life happens organically. When I joined Balaji, I used to come home once in 10 days and had no time to drink. Drinking left me in the same way that 
it had come. Whatever I am today is because of television.

Talk about your brother Rohit Roy?
He is like a son and much like his petname Coco, he is a coconut with a hard exterior, but is a child inside. He is resilient, frightfully intelligent, unlike me, where I am wiser than him, but not as intelligent as him. He has superb people skills unlike me. He has hundreds of friends. I could not even keep my four and today, my wife Neelam is my only friend. My brother used to tell me that after drinking, I would get brash, aggressive and short-tempered. I don’t feel the need to drink now as I don’t like to feel intoxicated. When I am not intoxicated, I can handle the idiots around me, but when I am, I can’t. After getting intoxicated, I react.

Talk about your wife Neelam?
She used to be an actor on TV and we did an episodic together. She tells me that when she first saw me walk into the room, she thought I was the rudest, the meanest and the most arrogant person on this earth. We have been together for 14 years and married for 10 and I feel blessed to have her. She is an extremely good person with no malice in her heart. She had told me, ‘I want to get married, have children and take care of my home, husband and children.’ At that time, I thought she was saying this just like another girl, but you can’t hold onto a lie for 14 years. There has not been a moment where her focus has shifted. I could not have found a better wife than her. Over time, I have become a better person and from wanting to become a star, I want to be a better actor today and don’t care whether I am a star or not. I cannot attribute it to one factor, but it has been a journey of evolving as a human being, be it as a father, husband, brother or son. I don’t want to be stabbed in the back anymore. All I ask is don’t say things you don’t mean. I hate fakism and fake people. I can’t be your friend for convenience. If I am in a problem, I will call either my wife or my brother Rohit. I don’t need anyone else. The only people I feel moh and maya towards are my three children, my daughter from my first marriage and my two children from Neelam. Parental love is the highest form of human emotion that you can feel.

It’s ironic that you never worked with Subhash Ghai as an actor. Did you feel hurt about it? 
He is a frightfully intelligent man and I lived with him for five years. His daughter Meghna is my sister. He gave me a roof, food, knowledge and an upbringing. Isn’t that more important than giving you a role? He is my father. Initially, for a couple of years, maybe I had expectations. But I leave expectations very soon and today, I don’t expect anything from anybody. I may have hoped initially that he would have given me a break, but my barometer is that kid who used to go and steal mangoes from the orchard. From what I wanted from life, I can’t even calculate, how much more I have got.

What do you aspire for in life?
I was born a rebel. I have never walked the line and have lived my life the way I wanted to. And it’s not that I have never done wrong things. I have made amends for some of them and some I can’t make amends for, but the realisation makes me not do wrong now. I am not a destination seeker and I am not in a hurry. They say if you are No. 1 in the rat race, you are still a rat. I hope for nothing in my life except getting close to my consciousness. When I stepped into Mumbai, I had 6.20 in my pocket, which also was gone the next morning as I took a friend out for breakfast. My father was a bright and honest man, who was always a giver. In his last years, he went and lived in Nagpur in our ancestral home, as some relatives wanted to take away his home from him. Since I was free doing nothing, I went and lived with him, spending time with him. He could not save the house from going away and died a poor man. He had held my finger and made me walk. I think I am blessed. Even though I believe that my father is there as an angel with me, I wanted to do things for him. I also wish that he was alive to have seen me become an actor.

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 19, 2014)

She exploded on to the scene in ‘92 with Jaan Tere Naam and Bollywood went gaga over the Madhuri Dixit lookalike. A spate of movies followed, including Amaanat, Sainik, Dil Ki Baazi, and a few down South.

Two years later, she met controversial cricketer Manoj Prabhakar and they started a relationship, even though the sportsman was already married and a father. Reports of a secret nikaah followed and then, Farheen disappeared.

Buzz was, after a four-year-long affair and a three-year-old son, Manoj had left Farheen to return to first wife Sandhya and their son. But then in November 2006, a Delhi court settled a dowry harrassment case filed by Sandhya. But Farheen’s whereabouts remained a mystery.

Mirror has now tracked her down to Delhi where she lives with Prabhakar and their two children--16-year-old Raahil and 11-year-old Manavansh. The cricketer’s father and Rohan, his 25-year-old son with Sandhya, plus Rohan's wife (a match Farheen says she arranged) and baby, complete the family. “So you see I’m already a grandmother,” laughs the 41-year-old who is gearing up for a comeback in the Jaan Tere Naam sequel as the “young” mother of the heroine.

“I couldn’t say no to Deepakji (director Deepak Balraj Vij). I’d do even a bit role for him,” she tells Mirror in a telephonic chat. Quiz her about her sudden departure from the spotlight and she reminisces, “I turned down Baazigar opposite Shah Rukh as the dates clashed with a film I was doing with Kamal Haasan. After Kalignan, I was flooded with offers from the South and I accepted them because the money was good and they wrapped up fast. Then in '94, I met Manoj."

Farheen insists that they started off as friends but somewhere along the way, they fell in love. “He was going through a rough patch and he needed me. So, I chose him over my career,” explains the actress who made a hasty exit from showbiz and was soon firmly ensconced in domesticity.“There were a couple of offers for serials but TV is time-consuming. My children were young and I had to be around. I have a home to run and a herbal skincare business too. Besides, I was happily married, there was no pressure to work two shifts a day,” she says.

But why the vanishing act, given that a lot of former actresses continue to be public figures? The question draws a laugh: “I did not disappear. It’s just that I’m in Delhi and chose to keep in touch with just a few of my industry friends like Deepakji, Aditya (Pancholi) and Shakti Kapoor. And though both Manoj and I lead very private lives, we do socialise and people here are avid Bollywood fans and have seen my movies. I just didn’t give any interviews before this.”

Sound her out on the rumours about her relationship with Manoj and she clarifies, “Manoj is a part of my life, as are the kids and his family. But I don’t want to comment on his ex-wife or the charges of match fixing levelled against him. He's still connected with cricket as a commentator.”

Farheen credits her atheletic husband for her youthful looks. “Thanks to him, I’ve never missed out on a gym routine which has kept me in shape after two babies. Since I’m blessed with great skin, I’m told I still look like I am 30,” she says.

And how have the kids reacted to her decision to return to acting? “They show my films to their friends and tell them their mother is the most beautiful woman in the world. They know I gave up my career for them and they’re happy that I’m going back,”she says.

So Madhuri Dixit, who too has made a much talked about comeback, will have competition again? “Madhuri is beautiful, but I think I’m more beautiful, even my sons say so,” she laughs. “Had I not got married I would have given her good takkar. She is an actress par excellence but I had age on my side as I entered the industry seven years after she did. But today, I don’t think I resemble her. My hair is longer now and when I met Shatrughan Sinha recently, he told me that I look like Suchitra Sen. That’s a real compliment.”