Hoping for some magic

After playing an autistic child and a superhero in past films, actor Hrithik Roshan will be seen as a paraplegic in his upcoming film, Guzaarish. While the actor confesses his role was challenging, it helped that director Sanjay Leela Bhansali pampered his stars.

“It was my most difficult film, but it also became my easiest film. Working under such superb guidance as Mr Bhansali’s … he really pampered us. It was my responsibility to portray with dignity the life, courage, hopes and the depth of emotion of a man who at a young age is confined to a wheel chair, and can’t move a finger,” he says.

In the film, Roshan plays a magician before he has an accident. Along the way, the actor says he picked up a couple of tricks. "I know a couple of tricks. I can actually take a playing card and make it disappear; I did that trick in Kites. Also, I did some tricks in Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, like a rose coming out of my coat sleeve and colourful handkerchiefs coming out of the upper pocket of my coat."

His co-star in the film, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, had said that she would always be able to spot any magic tricks he played. The actor disagrees. “She is very sharp, but I’m sharper. She never caught my magic tricks,” he says.

Roshan has plenty of other films in his kitty. “Besides Zoya’s film (Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara), I have the remake of Agneepath beginning in January. As for (the sequel to) Krissh, I hope that dad (Rakesh Roshan) gets really excited about the story we are working on. So far, he is not completely satisfied. It would be very easy to create a story, add problems and fights, get a super villain … the film is ready and people will come to see it — you make your money, but dad is not like that.”