Hrithik Roshan

Some Lesser Known Facts About Hrithik Roshan

• His official surname is Nagrath, not Roshan.

• He was born with two thumbs on his right hand, and his classmates used to make fun of it.

  

• At the age of 6, he made his entry into Bollywood as a child artist in a dance sequence of 1980’s film- Aasha.

  

• With his first earnings of ₹100, which he got from shaking a leg next to Jeetendra in the movie Aasha, he purchased 10 Hot Wheel Cars that were in vogue at that time.

• Before making his film debut, he took bodybuilding classes from Salman Khan.

• Being a style icon, he has launched his fashion label brand named HRX, which deals in casual clothing.

  

• Prior to appearing in films, he assisted his father, Rakesh Roshan, in his films Karan Arjun and Koyla. He used to do odd jobs on the sets like serving tea to the actors and even sweeping the floors. In an interview, Rakesh Roshan talked about this and said that he wanted Hrithik to live his dreams as he (Rakesh Roshan) failed as an actor. Rakesh revealed that after Hrithik completed his college, he made him travel in taxis, autos, or buses, and he didn’t allow Hrithik to travel in the family car, while Hrithik was assisting him on Karan Arjun. According to Rakesh Roshan, Hrithik was ‘just another assistant director’ on set. Rakesh said,
  

  After graduating from college, he (Hrithik) was selected to learn special effects abroad. But he chose to be here and started working with me on Karan Arjun. As an assistant director. I was very strict with him. I made sure he would not sit with us for lunches, dinners. He would not travel in my car. Instead, he would travel with the other ADs, in taxis, autos or buses. We would be having breakfast on the same table at home, but on the set, he was not my son, but just another assistant. He would have to share a room with three other people and have food with them. That’s the way I thought he would learn much better.” ^[4]Hindustan Times

• At the age of 19, he suffered from Scoliosis, a spinal disc herniation and he was told by the doctors that he would not be able to dance or act, but he struggled through his weaknesses, and the outcome is in front of everyone.

• In his debut, it was first expected that Kareena Kapoor would be seen opposite him, but she walked out of the film due to some misunderstanding between Hrithik’s father and Kareena’s mother.

  

• Hrithik’s performance in the movie- Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai received critical acclaims from the audience. The film went on to become a blockbuster, which made Hrithik an overnight star. Moreover, he met his Ex-wife first time in the same way Rohit met Sonia at a traffic signal in the movie.

• On Valentine’s Day in the year 2000, he received around 30,000 marriage proposals from his fans.

• He got married to the first sight love of his life, Sussanne Khan on 20 December 2000 at Golden Resorts and Spa, situated on the outskirts of Bangalore.

  

• His signature dance moves in the song “Ek Pal Ka Jeena” became a nationwide sensation and a big craze among youth.

• After the release of his film- Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, opposite Kareena Kapoor, his wife asked him not to sign any movies with Kareena; as she had noticed that Hrithik and Kareena were getting close to each other on the sets.

• He was the first choice for Shah Rukh Khan‘s role in Don and Swades, Akshaye Khanna‘s role in Dil Chahta Hai, and Siddharth’s role in Rang De Basanti.

• While shooting for his film- Kites in 2009 in Los Angeles, USA, he met his dancing idol, Michael Jackson.

  

• During his growing years, he had a huge crush on Madhubala and Parveen Babi.

• He had a stammering problem in his childhood, due to which he used to bunk his school and oral test classes. However, he overcame it with the help of a speech therapist.

• For his film, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, he did all the adrenaline pumping stunts himself without the help of body double- bull chasing, skydiving, and underwater diving.

• Hrithik used to do stunts on his BMX bike to impress Sussanne, and she used to call him “Bholunath.”

• He is a fitness freak and is very much conscious about his health and diet routine. Whenever he is ill and suffers from bad health, he gets depressed and starts working out at that moment, which reflects positive vibes in his life.

  

• Despite being so successful in his life, he is terrible at handling finances on his own, his ex-wife and mother take care of it.

• He loves documenting his day-to-day life in a scrapbook, which is filled with a lot of pictures.

• Hrithik motivates everyone to quit smoking, but there was a time when he was severely addicted to smoking. He told in an interview that Allen Carr’s publication- Easy Way to Stop Smoking, helped him a lot to quit this filthy habit.

• He is an avid animal lover and had a pet pug named Puggy, and cats named Pearl and Tiger, who are no more. He also bought a beagle named Paris for his sons.

• Hritikh has his wax statue established at Madame Tussauds’ museum.

  

• During the stunt shoots for “Bang Bang,” he suffered a head injury and later, underwent surgery for the removal of a blood clot in his brain.

• After the release of Bang Bang, Hrithik became the first actor to do a flyboarding stunt in a Bollywood film.

• Somewhere in the midst of 2013, the golden couple of Bollywood, Hrithik and Sussanne got separated. On 1 November 2014, the two got divorced with mutual consent, but they are still spotted together as doting parents to their sons on holidays.

• In 2017, his role as a blind person in the film Kaabil pleased everyone. Later, it was disclosed that to get into his character, he locked himself for about four to five days in his house and moved around blindfolded. He just wanted to become familiar with the body language of the blind people. Moreover, he also invited a few blind people to his place and studied their expressions and gestures.

• He launched an integrated and fun learning book series titled “Tactabet,” which is for the visually impaired people and kids with low vision published in Braille format.

  

• He loves eating pizzas and can eat two in one go.

• In 2019, he portrayed an Indian mathematician, Anand Kumar, in the biopic titled “Super 30,” directed by Vikas Bahl.

  

• He holds a very disciplined image, but in his childhood, he was beaten very badly by Senior Roshan when he was throwing empty bottles at strangers from his terrace.

• Tiger Shroff is his huge fan and considers Hrithik as his inspiration.

• Hrithik is a certified and professional diver.

  

• He and his whole family is an ardent follower of Sai Baba.

• Before the release of his film “Super 30,” he shared a heartfelt note on his Twitter handle for his grandfather, whom he lovingly calls “Deda” and Dr Oza, his childhood speech therapist.

  

• Although Hrithik has quit smoking, earlier, he used to be a chain-smoker. After he quit smoking, the actor termed cigarettes as the worst evil manufactured ever. According to Hrithik, it was Alan Carr’s Easy Way To Stop after reading which he was inspired to quit smoking. ^[5]Deccan Chronicle In an interview, the actor talked about cigarettes and his desire to become a role model for non-smokers. ^[6]Hindustan Times He said,
  

  I am a true believer in the fact that it (cigarette) is the worst evil manufactured and sold in this world. It should not exist. As far as anti-smoking disclaimers are concerned, I don’t know if that is the right way. I think it needs a role model who will speak on the joy of being a non-smoker. Perhaps, someone like me. I would love to become a symbol of…someone who struggled with giving up smoking and now is enjoying his life as a non-smoker. That will go a longer way in changing people’s perspective and making them believe that smoking is not good.”
  

• Although Hrithik has always maintained he does not drink at all, the actor has been spotted consuming alcohol on various occasions. ^[7]India Today

  

• In May 2024, Hrithik Roshan and Sussanne Khan attended their elder son Hrehaan Roshan’s graduation ceremony.

  

• In October 2024, his apparel brand HRX gained over Rs. 1000 crore in profit.

• In March 2025, his father, Rakesh Roshan, gave an interview in which he revealed that to over come stammering, Hrithik used to read English, Hindi, and Urdu newspapers loudly every morning for an hour.