I binged on junk food after 15 years: Roshan

Hrithik Roshan bent his rules, performed career’s toughest dance sequence for upcoming film Guzaarish.

MUMBAI: Hrithik Roshan, who follows a healthy diet and workout regime, bent his rules for Guzaarish. He also performed what he calls his career’s toughest dance sequence for the upcoming film.

“I didn’t work out for six or seven months. I discovered the taste of batata vada and samosas after 15 years. I binged like anything,” Roshan said.

“I had the liberty to have fried stuff because I had to look fat in some parts of the film. But when I was on this toxic programme, my health took a very bad turn.”

“For 15 years, I lived a healthy life with a proper diet and workout. My medical reports had gone crazy with such major shift and doctors were forcing me to stop. But I enjoyed it because it was an excuse to eat whatever I wanted to,” added the 36-year-old actor.

In Guzaarish, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Roshan plays a magician who becomes a paraplegic when a trick goes wrong. The film, which also has Aishwarya Rai Bachchan playing a nurse, is slated for a November 19 release.

This is the first time that Roshan has worked with Bhansali, known as a short-tempered director, and said there was no shouting or yelling on the set.

“It was fabulous working with Sanjay. I’ve never had such an experience. In the beginning, people told me that he is slightly mad, he screams, but once I started working with him, it was a different experience.

“May be our equation worked because of the kind of actor I am and the kind of person he is. But there was not a single day that anybody had to be upset or raise his or her voice. In fact, people from the crew were surprised that for the first time there is calm and peace on the sets,” he added.

Roshan, known as Bollywood’s best dancer, says he had to work very hard for a dance sequence in Guzaarish.

“There is a dance sequence for which I had to work the hardest I ever have in my life. I trained for it for a month. It’s not a long dance routine, but it’s very tough.”

Choreographer Ashley Lobo designed the moves.

“Ashley told me to take a three-time spin and then stand back straight. If you’re not used to dancing, you can take four to five months to learn it, but I just had one month. All the steps are mostly jazz or ballet. It’s a lot about the form, the stance, the spins — it’s the toughest thing I’ve tried,” said the actor.

“None of my songs have ever had spins because that’s something I’m really bad at. If it’s a spin, it’s a half spin. This was the first time I tried a full one. It was also difficult because the entire song is with a ball in one hand. I’m playing with the ball and I’m also dancing,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2010.