Interview: Hrithik Roshan

December 30, 2022

And we end the year with a.. BANG BANG! #HrithikRoshan speaks about how his acting has evolved, watching KOI MIL GAYA with the new gen (his sons), and the response to #VikramVedha

Happy 2023, dear viewers, from all of us at @galattaplusoffl @galattadotcom https://t.co/tfbZFKswSq

— Baradwaj Rangan (@baradwajrangan) December 30, 2022

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Raghu Narayanan

December 30, 2022

Wow! BR has been a very busy man!!!😁😁

Happy 2023 BR, and everyone out there!! Have a blast 😃🥳🥳

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glad

December 30, 2022

omg! will listen to this . what did you think of hrithik? you’ve been rather unkind to him over the years.

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ravenus1

December 30, 2022

^glad: Really? BR had a fair number of good things to say about HR’s last few releases, including Super 30, War and the Hindi remake of Vikram Vedha.

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ravenus1

December 30, 2022

^addendum: And I personally think Hrithik is someone that, like a wine, has gotten better with age. He seems more relaxed, less worried about how much he is conveying to the camera, and in consequence not overdoing it the way he used to, a decade ago.

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Glad

December 30, 2022

Ravenus: how does that contradict what I said?

@br, I watched the whole thing. Hrithik didn’t let you finish a lot, even your compliments. Actors that are very good looking have the same problem. I saw vv hindi – Hrithik was v good but there was too little of him and too much Saif (who was v boring) and the movie was far too long. Anyway, Hrithik is too hard on himself. He should chill and do what he feels like. I always feel bad for him when he talks about his stammer. Poor guy.

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MANK

December 30, 2022

I think this is one of your greatest interviews boss. this is phenomenal. To get a star\actor – who is most prone to superficial pseudo philosophical ramblings about his life and craft in interview after interview – to open up and be honest and genuine about his work is truly a great achievement. Of course, you don’t ask the same stupid questions that other dumb interviewers ask. I don’t think i have ever loved an HR interview before this one. He is absolutely on point with everything he said (his performance in KMG is intolerable) and he even uses the same terms that u use – tools\toolbox 🙂 ; and his joy at you pointing out those specific scenes in “War” was very infectious (BTW, u should have mentioned about him outdancing Tiger Shroff just with his toes :)). I think he is finally in a very good place, his thought process is much more clearer (kudos to his decision to doing more star parts), and all that flashes of brilliance which was there in bits and parts in his earlier films are coming together now. Though I didn’t like him that much in Super30, i thought he was phenomenal in both War and Vikram Vedha. VV just turned out to be a film that did not appeal to the North audience. as he rightly pointed out it should have been made economically- maybe for 50 crs or less. I don’t like the title “Fighter”, that sounds very ordinary and generic, but hopefully like “War” it would be another good masala film.

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Vishnu

December 30, 2022

I have never enjoyed a Hrithik interview so much.. Though Hrithik overused the “Filtering through the lenses of a star” phrase but given the line of questioning and knowing that he indeed is a super start, It didn’t bother me after a point.

BR pointing to that Soni Razdan scene from WAR showed how much respect he has for minor moments in a masala film and Hrithik’s reaction to this question was that of a pure actor..

This is the first time I have seen Hrithik being himself in an interview rather than being a star. As he himself put it “Now he is running for the joy of running, not because of fear of the dog behind”. And this sentiment was an undercurrent throughout the interview where he is actually answering for the joy of it and not because of any promotional or starry compulsion…

@Baradwaj :: Not only yours, this interview ends even my year with a surprisingly soothing BANG BANG.

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Raghu Narayanan

December 30, 2022

@MANK: You did hit the nail on the head with the comment “who is most prone to superficial pseudo philosophical ramblings about his life and craft in interview after interview”.

IMHO, this defines what HR has been throughout his career – being superficial and plastic to the public. And being the sceptic I am, it will be difficult for me to accept that he has suddenly become honest. But then I will admit I have not seen this interview yet. So I will have to be fair too. And again, have not been a great fan of his acting talents too though I find his movies generally entertaining mainly on the action and music front. As an actor he lacks depth, variety and nuance. But its okay because he is smart enough not to venture into too complicated stuff.

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yay hrithik

December 30, 2022

I have a feeling we will see just how much Hrithik did with his character in War when Pathaan comes out. War was a silly film but Hrithik was just phenomenal in it and looked drop dead gorgeous in every frame. I really went back to feeling like I did when I first watched KNPH – just totally wowed. He carried that film. Great interview – I know everyone dumps on Hrithik for philosophising in his interviews (which he does rarely) but I feel nothing but empathy for him. Being an actor is a terribly hard career choice if you stammer and are conscious of it – let him speak slowly and some more if he wants to. The way people go on, you’d think he murdered someone. I felt for him when he said he struggled with it for 20 years (and probably still does).

Like you said BR, he was so defensive about “star actor”. You’d think he’d be fine with it by now. He was outstanding in VV – I wish it had done better for his sake. Do more dancing Hrithik, before you’re too old – we don’t have many like you.

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Madan

December 30, 2022

I am so glad he said the thing about doing Super 30 for fulfilment and the star stuff is something that’s thrust upon. I guess this is why he gets called shallow or pretentious or whatever, because stars are not ‘allowed’ to say such things in India. But it’s a dilemma that actors grapple with all the time. At the other end of spectrum, actors like Alec Guinness or Gary Oldman have said they did certain roles for the money so that they could ‘afford’ to take less pay to act in a film they truly wanted to be a part of.

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Akhilan

December 30, 2022

Hey yay hrithik, I really enjoyed reading your comment. The last sentence was poetic. The trailer of Pathaan was so meh, whereas War right from the outset looked like a million bucks. I must admit that I have never particularly liked SRK in the action genre/space. Whether it was Don, Don 2, or Ra.One, something just felt off for me. I don’t know, but I feel like he lacks the aura, charisma, perhaps the suaveness and magnetism as well in order to pull off such roles. Hrithik though on the other hand was simply otherworldly in Dhoom 2, War, and even Bang Bang (which was quite frankly awful). Truly greek god-esque (not just in terms of his looks, but also in terms of how he carried himself in these movies, and the movies themselves). You couldn’t take your eyes off him and all the other characters faded into the background.

And of course, the interview was an absolute delight BR. You made Hrithik feel so relaxed, which led to the candid nature of the interview. Your questions never felt forced. Wishing you and everyone else a very Happy New Year.

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Rocky

December 30, 2022

This was one of the best interview of Hritik, his interviews are normally very boring and full of BS.
he seemed very relaxed , confident and self aware.
His lit up on BR mentioning the Soni Razdan scene, it was nice to see him getting so much joy on getting appreciation and acknowledgement for that one tiny scene.

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AnAnnoyedFan

December 30, 2022

I understand the need to monetize your videos for the benefit of Galatta Plus but I really wish there was a more subtle way of doing it. I really did not enjoy the random cut ways in the middle of the interview that broke the flow and mood of the interview. Its similar to a song breaking the narrative flow of a movie. I am okay with a 2 minute long section at the start or at the end of the video with the ads.

Also, when the interview cuts in the middle to accommodate the ads I am more frustrated with the product and have a negative association with it than anything positive.

Anyway, this was a great interview to wrap up the year.

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brangan

December 31, 2022

AnAnnoyedFan: For a second, your comment made me smile. I recalled my now-dead grandfather saying “There are more ads than news in The Hindu”. This was the time quarter-pagers and half-page ads from cars etc were becoming common.

But I hear you, and there is nothing I can do. I create content. How they monetise that content is up to the marketing team.

But you can get YouTube Premium, which (I think) is totally ad-free.

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Madan

December 31, 2022

BR: These are embedded ads/sponsors which show up even on the premium version. This is not new by itself. Most popular youtube channels today have ads in the middle. But your team is frontloading them which seems to irritate people. I guess it creates a perception that this video is going to bombard you with ads (which doesn’t happen, because the last 40 min or so of the video has none of these sponsored ads). So the team could consider pushing one ad or all to the middle. Also, a decent separation between the main content and the ad. All youtubers announce the ad and read out the ad message themselves. What’s happening in your videos is like the interval block in Avatar 2. Aka no block, it’s just wham and suddenly the volume spikes up for the ad.

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brangan

December 31, 2022

Oh okay Madan / AnAnnoyedFan. I’ll let the team know. Thanks.

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Another annoyed fan

December 31, 2022

BR, you’re the face of the channel though and you’ve been in the digital video biz for a while. So I don’t know if you can just say I only create content, I’m not involved with the rest. At the very least you should know the difference between YouTube ads, embedded ads, sponsor blocks and screen ads. You’re interviewing A list celebrities and have screen and embedded ads popping up randomly in addition to sponsor blocks in the beginning and end. This is a very south thing and you should say something about it instead of saying I don’t know. It devalues your content and you should care.

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Madan

December 31, 2022

I don’t find these ads in all the interviews or discussions but specifically the two roundtables and this Hrithik interview and the ads are all for GRT. So I guess it was a package deal- interview shot at GRT in exchange for sponsored ads.

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brangan

December 31, 2022

I checked, and Madan, you are right. It’s a packaged deal for three pieces of content. So yeah, the other ones won’t have these block ads.

Another annoyed fan: I am not saying “I don’t care”. I’m just saying I wish things could be done differently, but when you are giving content that costs a lot to make but is consumed freely (at least the Hindu cost some money to buy), the company is going to have the last say in how they want things monetised.

It’s like how tickets in Mumbai for the first three days of a big film are inflated and then they come down — not an exact example, but I couldn’t instantly think of another.

Digital is a brutal, brutal industry to survive in — that much I have understood and have made my (uneasy) peace with.

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hr

December 31, 2022

As someone who completely enjoys the intensity Hrithik bring to scenes, including the flaring of nostrils and veins and muscles popping out of his well toned neck, I was sad that most questions were about his shortcomings in his earlier films.
I mean,if u get rajni for an interview, you wouldn’t ask why he does those funny gesticulations with his hands and face that might look odd and funny to a non-native, but looks normal and great to people who have been watching him for decades.
Forget rajni, even when you got amala, I don’t think u asked her about the flirty, bubbly, eyelashes- batting ,weird face making, the heroines were made to do in her heyday in the ’80’s and the overly artificial tone in their acting in the beginning of their career.
I concur with Rishi Kapoor who said that Hrithik raised the standard of acting in Indian cinema. I completely loved the intensity ,earnestness and theatricality Hrithik brought to screen, even in his earlier films. He is one of the last of those Bollywood actors who is the complete package..good looks, can do dance,stunts, (bollywood) drama and the rest of it all very well. Especially compared to some of the stone faced actors who cant emote anything, he is a god-send.
I guess he had expected this line of questioning. He had come well prepared to answer them.

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Another annoyed fan

December 31, 2022

Again – ads are the not the main problem. Type of ads and intrusive placement is. Pl try to do better there. Everyone on the internet understands ads are the monetization model. The things being suggested are easily doable. Dunno why you keep repeating you need to carry ads. No one is asking you to get rid of them.

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MANK

December 31, 2022

It was not just Brangan, but Hrithik himself who started that chain of thought (discussing his flaws as an actor in his earlier films, he described his Akbar as Stiff, KMG as dated) and Brangan just latched on to that (nothing wrong in that IMO, actually commendable, that’s what good journalists do) and Hrithik looked more than happy to follow. Hrithik refers to himself as an ‘actor’, so that line of questioning is most appropriate. Rajni himself says he is not an actor and just a star with a stock set of mannerisms , so there’s no need probing him abut that. Actually , Rajni was a great actor in his initial period – in films like “Mullum Malarum,” before he decided that being a star performer is the way forward.
I agree that Hrithik is truly the last Hindi film superstar- lucky enough to make his debut in the pre-internet era and able to achieve superstardom with his very first film. No matter what one say about his acting talent, his personal fiascos or the uneven career he has had, his stardom has remained intact. He is the only one among the 21st century stars to posses that old world star charisma. and he seems to be getting better with age as well.

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brangan

December 31, 2022

hr: I don’t know if this is an Indian thing (because we worship our stars and cricketers so much), but anything not complimentary is taken as a criticism.

I was NOT criticising HR at all.

We all evolve along our journeys, and both of us (HR and me) found it interesting to discuss that evolution. I am not comparing myself with HR, but when I look back at some of my early writing, I find it very overwrought, like I am really trying to impress people. Now, my writing is much more relaxed.

Also, it’s not like I went and thrust a bunch of questions at him and said “Answer this…” Before every interview, I tell the person that this is not live, and if there is anything they do not want to answer we always can go to the next question.

(I wish I could release my list of unanswered questions down the years, including one where a famous Tamil filmmaker actually stormed off… and had to be cajoled and brought back to his seat.)

Also, with major stars/directors, the PR team is always present. So if they sense something “uncomplimentary” or damaging to their client’s image , or if they suspect that a line may cause a controversy, they will ask to edit all that stuff out. There was a lot of stuff edited out in the round tables — but here, NOTHING was edited out, and EVERY question was answered by HR.

The energy was positive in the room that day (I am very good at reading the energies between people), and I came away feeling quite satisfied (and VERY impressed with him).

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yay Hrithik

December 31, 2022

Hey BR, very curious to know how this interview came about – please tell us more na? HR doesn’t do many interviews – did you reach out to him? HR will always have a special place in my heart and I feel so protective of him. For his sake, I hope he’s not vulnerable as he seems (probably not) – he’s had a lot to overcome. Always feel like life threw a lot of shit at him also (along with being genetically and otherwise blessed).

Duggu, if you’re reading this – yes, people want to see you in aspirational roles like War and Dhoom with you looking like a million bucks. This is because we have many others that can do Vedha and Anand Kumar. We have none who can do what you do in these films. That’s why they always do well – cos people can’t help but be wowed. Dhoom 2 was a dumbass film but my God, my jaw was on the floor the whole time you were on screen. You are made to be a Bollywood superstar and are so effing charismatic. If you want to feed your artist ego, for heaven’s sake, do more films. Do one VV and one war in 2 years, instead of one film, every 3 years. Please!

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Aman Basha

December 31, 2022

The most beautiful way to top a great year for you BR 🙂 Special props for the placement of flowers behind his Handsomeness. I’ll take some time to expand further, both on the interview, Hrithik’s career and just how insanely good looking he is.

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Anu Warrier

January 2, 2023

Finally got around to watching this – great interview, BR. Hrithik seemed so much more relaxed than he usually does.

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kaizokukeshav

January 3, 2023

Still don’t think Hrithik is at Super-star level. In Indian cinema the hierarchy goes like this, character artist -> celebrity -> star -> super star ->

To become a super star, the interviewer himself should be very cautious about touching the actor’s inner persona… that’s the level. And Hrithik is probably more comfortable talking about his emotions, so there’s some more way to go. More than War, I liked him in Super 35. Those are the kind of subject he needs to choose in order to rise his stardom.

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Padhma Ranganathan

January 3, 2023

@kaizokukeshav, I don’t think BR would be cautious even if he were to interview Rajini (wonder why he hasn’t yet).

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Aswanth Kok fan

January 4, 2023

Nothing wrong with the ads. These sorta ads are more ethical than random YouTube ads which u have no control over. It is typical mentality shown by a section of countrymen to be complaining about anything and everything, they feel the world revolves around them to ensure that they don’t even face minor inconveniences.

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MANK

January 4, 2023

Good Lord, ‘Kokachi’ fans have landed here as well 🙂

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Anu Warrier

January 4, 2023

What I found most funny about the ads was that the Westin ad was interrupted by another advertisement hawking hair growth serums. 🙂

p.s. @MANK, what’s a Kokachi fan?

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musical v

January 4, 2023

Once Velachery was considered flood prone area. Now it has gained fame and name with Westin hosting high profile interviews.
Velachery, you have come a long way.

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Rohit Sathish Nair

January 4, 2023

“Kokkaachi” is what some of Aswanth Kok’s followers (and maybe detractors too) call him
Aswanth Kok used to be one of the admins (I think he was the founder too) of the FB group Fan Fight Club (also known as FFC and KuKuCha)

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MANK

January 4, 2023

Anu, just to add to what Rohit said, he is an influential film reviewer who’s now at loggerheads with Malayalam film directors and producers. The director B. Unnikrishnan (of Arattu infamy) , who is also the head of FEFKA is planning to take legal action against him accusing him of damaging the film’s prospects through his reviews. Kok has been severe in his criticism of recent Mohanlal films like Markkar, Arattu and Monster. Kok fans are rallying all over the net in support of him.

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Considering how forgiving he is of the first half, I’d say this is still a kinder “Aarattu” review than most, and I thinj it speaks about the kind of disappointment and heartbeat that an ex-Mohanlal fan like Kok feels when talking about A10

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Mankfan

January 5, 2023

The guy is incredibly vain and full of himself. Every expression, nod in the interview is thought through and from the PoV of how he will look on Camera.

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Anu Warrier

January 5, 2023

Ah, thanks, Rohit and MANK. I can do without one more vainglorious reviewer’s reviews. 🙂

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Rohit Sathish Nair

January 6, 2023

I don’t know, my only issue with him yet is that he has a soft spot for “audience favourites”

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Interview: Hrithik Roshan

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