Actor Hrithik Roshan made his Bollywood debut with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai in the year 2000. After the release and Hrithik’s skyrocketed to stardom in the same year, Rakesh Roshan faced a near-fatal attack by the underworld outside his Mumbai office.
Rakesh Roshan on how Hrithik Roshan’s stardom made him a target for the underworld
Rakesh Roshan spilled the beans on the reason behind his attack. He revealed how Hrithik’s overnight stardom made him a target for the underworld. He also recalled that how they wanted Hrithik to star in a film financed by them and how he refused their demands.
He said, “I never gave any indication that Hrithik could do a film for them. I kept putting them off, saying Hrithik had no dates, which, in any case, was the truth. They then asked me to take dates away from other producers and give them to them. This again, I refused to do.”
Rakesh also stated that there was tension and fear when it came to making creative work as during the late 90s and early 2000s, the underworld had a strong hold on the Hindi film industry.
He added, “Once I had committed my son’s dates elsewhere, I refused to give in to arm-twisting tactics. I never gave in. With the kind of tension and fear some of us had to bear, we couldn’t do anything creative, let alone make a film.”
An attack happened on Rakesh just a week after Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai was released on January 14, 2000. He was shot twice but he survived and managed to drive himself to the hospital despite his injuries.