Tenderness and Testosterone
Roshan embodied one of Bollywood’s first major superheroes with the Krrish franchise, in which a young man has a chance encounter with an extraterrestrial being called Jadoo, causing his son to exhibit supernatural powers. In the opening of Krrish (2006), we see Krishna (Roshan) racing a horse. There are close-ups of his sinewy arms, bare chest and broad back as he cuts his way through the air. But the film simultaneously chooses to focus on his forest-green eyes, his face set in an expression of determination, and his long hair billowing behind him. In the climax of Krrish 3 (2013), Krrish is killed by the villainous Kaal (Vivek Oberoi) and brought back to life by his father’s sacrifice. As he flies above the crowd and strikes a fatal blow to Kaal from his moral high ground, the focus is once again on his eyes, glistening with tears and reddened by the fury of losing his father. There is a vulnerability to Hrithik Roshan’s action, an earnest tenderness that distinguishes him in the testosterone-soaked action landscape. Where the focus in most action films tends to be on the hero’s physical strength and feats of daring, such as Ajay Degvn ripping off a lamp-post in Singham (2011), or Salman Khan leaping off a bike and latching on to a flying plane in Ek Tha Tiger (2012), this glimpse into his emotional turmoil is refreshing.
A Romantic Action Hero
Roshan’s action heroes sport a kind of a bravado that rarely feels narcissistic, often graciously extending limelight to the women cast as his love interests. The same year as Krrish, he played Mr. A, a thief with an international imprint in the second instalment of Yash Raj Films’ (YRF) Dhoom franchise. Roshan famously whisked the audience’s attention away from the film’s protagonists, ACP Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) and Ali (Uday Chopra). Along with glossy action sequences on top of a train (where, iconically, he disguises himself as Queen Elizabeth) and bike chases galore, A’s sizzling romance with Sunheri (Aishwarya Rai) — his partner-in-crime and a competent thief in her own right — is given equal space within the narrative. A’s love for Sunheri becomes both his undoing and his eventual salvation, but her purpose is not solely that of his redemption. She has ample screen time, and an arc that exists without him necessarily in the frame.