{"id":7580,"date":"2016-03-22T02:05:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T20:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=7580"},"modified":"2016-03-22T02:05:58","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T20:35:58","slug":"hrithik-roshan-2-0-looks-like-superstar-he-was-always-meant-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=7580","title":{"rendered":"Hrithik Roshan 2.0 Looks like the Superstar He was Always Meant to Be"},"content":{"rendered":"\nW<\/span>hile the Big Bollywood Hero Entry is still a masala film staple, they don\u2019t quite make them like they used to. You don\u2019t even need to work at it, these days. Just the sight of the hero usually leads to a loud manifestation of hero-worship. (Here\u2019s looking at you, Singham<\/em>) But every few years, a Hindi film throws up an entry that hits at the heart of the theatrical cinema experience \u2013 the kind of entrance that causes the audience to react and emote collectively, as one. (Think of Shah Rukh Khan\u2019s melodramatic meet-mom in Karan Johar\u2019s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham<\/em>.) But as far as \u2018entries\u2019 go, in a league of its own, sits the one made by Hrithik Roshan in Vikram Vedha<\/em>.\n\n

Post-War Hrithik Roshan (2.0, if you will) is an upgrade for the age of climate change \u2013 he retains the raw power of an internal combustion engine, but it sizzles and scorches on screen with the silent efficiency of an electric vehicle.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nIn Siddharth Anand\u2019s War<\/em>, Hrithik Roshan\u2019s gorgeously grey Kabir wordlessly brought the audience alive when he made his first proper appearance at base camp. I distinctly remember the nearly-full auditorium gasping in unison, age and gender no bar, as he alights the chopper. Everyone forgot to cheer and whistle, because we were all caught up in the sheer \u2018sexiness\u2019 of the moment. The reactions of the characters in the film felt like a self-aware move by the filmmaker, because there was no parallel to the kind of star power this new avatar of Hrithik Roshan has kindled over the last few years. Tiger Shroff and Ashutosh Rana were stand-ins for the audience \u2013 we were all that gobsmacked. Roshan has seen great highs and deep lows in his career, but this version of him seemed like it was a long time coming.\n\nQuite like he couldn\u2019t possibly have predicted the paradigm-changing impact his very first film, perhaps he himself couldn\u2019t have foretold how War would elevate his stardom to a level that it seems no other Hindi film star can presently touch. Post-War Hrithik Roshan (2.0, if you will) is an upgrade for the age of climate change \u2013 he retains the raw power of an internal combustion engine, but it sizzles and scorches on screen with the silent efficiency of an electric vehicle.\n\nI thought it would be a while before he got another moment or film like that \u2013 particularly since Roshan has shown throughout his career that he is willing to mix it up, not always leaning on his breath-taking screen beauty while plying his craft. Then, along comes Pushkar-Gayatri\u2019s remake of their own Vikram Vedha. This one couldn\u2019t have been more different from War, and Vijay Sethupathi\u2019s masterfully mysterious Vedha desperately needed someone who could give it a new spin. (On the other hand, Saif Ali Khan\u2019s turn as Vikram is a fair approximation of R Madhavan).\n\n

Roshan has seen great highs and deep lows in his career, but this version of him seemed like it was a long time coming.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nOnce again, it begins straight with a relatively late entrance. For the longest time you only see Vedha\u2019s back, as the camera tracks with him from behind.\u00a0 A horde of cops and security forces are exiting police HQ, even as the gangster goes exactly where the police don\u2019t expect. It is not a particularly fresh moment in the way it\u2019s written and staged. The original Tamil film had it. (Ek Villain Returns<\/em> had something similar as well, just saying.) But, even as he enters, you can almost instantly sense that Hrithik Roshan is up to the task. The whistles, obviously, start well before his face is revealed. Here\u2019s the thing: this Hindi heartland Vedha\u2019s countenance is quite similar to Hrithik Roshan\u2019s vibe as Anand Kumar in Super30<\/em>. The brownface is back, even though the facial hair is artfully messy this time. He talks nearly the same, even grins the same. But Hrithik 2.0 brings a whole new level of swagger and coolth to this character.\n\nYou\u2019ll see it in full force a little later, in what is ostensibly a sort of chase sequence through a tightly packed neighbourhood. With most other action stars, including an earlier version of Roshan himself (Bang Bang!<\/em> has a similar sequence at some point), this would have been the star and\/or a stunt double doing parkour over rooftops. Hrithik\u2019s Vedha, though, turns it almost into ballet. There\u2019s no way to confirm this feeling just yet, but the effortless ease with which Vedha is shown to navigate over and through the dense, low, sprawl doesn\u2019t feel like that\u2019s how it was written in the script. It seems more like a function of what filmmakers can extract from this liberated version of Hrithik Roshan, using his re-minted superstar aura.\n\n

It took him a couple of decades, but Hrithik Roshan no longer has to live up to his own early high bar. You might sense shades of that freedom in Vikram Vedha, where he wears his swag on his sleeve.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nAgainst all odds and conventional wisdom, with Kaho Naa\u2026 Pyaar Hai<\/em>, Hrithik Roshan arrived into public consciousness a fully-formed star. Since then, he has had more misses than hits. I\u2019m not talking about box office, but about how often he managed to hit or surpass the bar he set for himself so early in his career. The odd Dhoom 2<\/em>, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara<\/em> and Agneepath<\/em> kept him firmly in the A-List, but War seemed like the beginning of a whole new chapter. That film ended in a manner that almost demanded his character be turned into a larger franchise. The Khans have their own superstar appeal, but Kabir feels like the coolest cat on the block.\n\nIn that sense, considering the one-of-a-kind dream debut that he had, for me War probably counts as just Roshan\u2019s second film. Everything in the middle was merely prep. It took him a couple of decades, but Hrithik Roshan no longer has to live up to his own early high bar. You might sense shades of that freedom in Vikram Vedha, where he wears his swag on his sleeve. Despite its lack of detailing, Vedha, in particular, is more a clever movie construct than a fully-written person. It gives Hrithik Roshan the chance to cement this new phase of his career further. It might be a minute before he takes it a notch higher than War, but I can\u2019t wait to see how he will drop our jaws next.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hrithik Roshan has always had the starry quality that accompanied his launch two decades ago, but he has since then been more miss than hit. With War and Vikram Vedha, however, Roshan has possibly laid claim to the title of being Bollywood\u2019s biggest, possibly only superstar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3114],"tags":[2429,141,683,3491,11827,3318,11825,264],"class_list":["post-7580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bollywood","tag-actor","tag-bollywood","tag-hrithik-roshan","tag-k3g","tag-krrish","tag-roshan","tag-vikram-vedha","tag-war"],"yoast_head":"\nHrithik Roshan 2.0 Looks like the Superstar He was Always Meant to Be<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hrithik Roshan has always had the starry quality that accompanied his launch two decades ago, but he has since then been more miss than hit. 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