Why Hrithik wanted to give up acting

By Dibyojyoti Baksi, Indo-Asian News Service

Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan's knee injury had made him seriously think of giving up acting and he was planning to turn singer or director. But his knee improved after surgery and he was able to shoot forKites.

"I worked on Kites only for seven months. Before that I was trying to treat my knee. For six months there was no sign of recovering from my knee pain. That time I thought either I will turn to singing or direct a film," Hrithik told IANS in an interview.

"I knew if I want to be an actor then I would be an actor and never compromise on my work. If I couldn't dance, if I couldn't jump, then I didn't want to be an actor. I was going through all those thoughts at that time," he added.

Hrithik's knee trouble began when he did some daring stunts in Krrish andDhoom 2. He had torn the ligament of his right knee and continued working despite the tremendous pain. In December 2007, after wrapping up Jodhaa-Akbar, he went to Singapore for six weeks treatment. He endured several injuries during the shooting of Kites.

The 36-year-old says he did not give the nod to any movie after he completed Jodhaa-Akbar because he was incapable of doing strenuous acts. But when the narration of "Kites" came along through director Anurag Basu, he had no reasons to refuse.

"When I heard Kites from Anurag Basu, I could imagine the scenes and could see my face in the character. His vision was so strong that it passed on to me. I was seeing myself doing all those things and at that time I said to myself that if I can see it in my head then it will manifest, somehow. I jumped up after that and said - 'This is what I was looking for and I will do this film'," he said.

After completing Kites, Hrithik says he feels all his movies in the past 10 years were like a preparation for him to essay Jay, his character in the movie.

"Whatever film I did before Kites was a preparation for getting me ready for Kites. I call the phase before Koi… Mil Gayaas a reference phase of my life when all the acting was reference acting. I had seen somebody doing something and I wanted to do the same way. From Koi… Mil Gaya I started to enjoy the true flight of an actor," he said.

Kites, a film about an Indian man's affair with a Latin woman, played by Mexican actress Barbara Mori, and their predicament as they don't understand each other's language, is being made in Hindi and English. The English version of "Kites" has been presented and reworked by well-known Hollywood director Brett Ratner.

Produced by Hrithik's father and filmmaker Rakesh Roshan, the film will be distributed and marketed by Reliance BIG Pictures. It will release May 21 in over 60 countries.

After "Kites", Hrithik will gear up for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish in which he plays a paraplegic opposite Aishwarya Rai. He is also looking forward to Zoya Akhtar's film Running with the Bulls, which is expected to be ready for release by the end of this year.