In Bollywood, a few stars have captivated audiences with their smooth-as-butter dance moves quite like Hrithik Roshan. With his debut in Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai, Hrithik not only stole hearts with his acting but also stunned with his mesmerising dance prowess. Choreographer-director Farah Khan, who was a dance director on the film, recently recalled an unforgettable moment that marked the beginning of Hrithik’s journey to becoming a dance icon. His ability to effortlessly blend into any choreography while adding his unique touch has made him one of the finest dancers in Indian cinema.
“Hrithik Roshan, who is the son of Rakesh Roshan, never revealed to us that he was such a good dancer,” Farah reminisced, during an appearance on Radio Nasha Official, her voice tinged with amusement. She added, “He was very quiet. We were practising to a normal song — I think it was Sitaron Ki Mehfil.”
It was during a routine break from rehearsals that Farah Khan and her team decided to play a playful prank on the unsuspecting newcomer. “We were getting bored, so I told my assistant, Pappu, to choreograph the most difficult steps and ask Hrithik to perform them,” Farah chuckled. “I told him, ‘Tell him ma’am (referring to me) has instructed this.’ My assistant, Pappu, showed him the steps, and we waited for Hrithik to react — thinking he would say, ‘I can’t do this’ and then we would all laugh,” she shared. However, what followed was far from expected. “He looked at Pappu and did the whole thing effortlessly,” Farah recalled incredulously. “It was like a joke on us! I jokingly told him, ‘Tu ghar jaa aur do din baad aana (Go home and come back after two days).'”
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Farah and her team quickly realised they had underestimated Hrithik Roshan’s abilities. “We re-choreographed the entire thing, including every move that anyone could do, and he not only performed it but did it better than all of us,” she said with a mix of admiration and pride.
Little did they know at the time that their playful prank would foreshadow the phenomenal success of “Ek Pal Ka Jeena,” a song that would become an anthem and showcase Hrithik’s electrifying dance style to the world. “I didn’t anticipate then that ‘Ek Pal Ka Jeena’ would go on to become such a hit,” Farah reflected.
In a recent interview, Farah Khan also revealed that Hrithik was initially supposed to star alongside Shah Rukh Khan in Main Hoon Na, and was quite nervous about the prospect of sharing the screen with a star of Shah Rukh’s stature. When Farah was asked if the rumours of Hrithik and Abhishek Bachchan being in the running for the Laxman role in Main Hoon Na were true, she said, “It was a musical chairs situation to cast that role. Hrithik was supposed to do it initially because I was shooting Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai, and saw him give his first shot and knew that he was going to be a star… I went to Rakesh Roshan and told him that. You can instantly make out. Rani Mukerji gave one shot in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and we all knew…”
She continued, “That time, I told Hrithik that I’d written a script and that he’d be the young boy… He was very excited. He said, ‘Shah Rukh will (work) with me?’ I said, ‘Of course.’ That was the (dynamic). And then, obviously, Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai was released, Hrithik became a huge star, and the rest is history…”
Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan were both acutely aware of their standing in the film industry, and the tension was felt on the set of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, for which Hrithik had been signed before his big debut.
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