‘Never realised he’s so good looking!’: Hrithik Roshan’s co-star when Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai released

Hrithik Roshan had already signed a couple of films and taken a couple of risks before he made a historic debut with father Rakesh Roshan’s 2000 romantic drama Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai. He next appeared in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir and Khalid Mohamed’s Fiza in the same year, where he played a terrorist. Sonali Kulkarni, who made his Bollywood breakthrough with Mission Kashmir and played his mother, offers a peek into his early stardom.

“I really liked the way he met me. He was absolutely nonchalant and hungry to work well,” recalls Sonali on Screen Spotlight. “He was there for my audition. We were asked to perform a scene together. We wished each other well, ‘Achha karna‘ (laughs). I was also a struggler when I met him,” she adds.

While Sonali began filming Mission Kashmir with Hrithik in Srinagar, it was only after the momentous success of Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai that she realized the extent of his newfound, outsized stardom.  “I remember distinctly I was coming back from an event when I saw a humongous poster of Hrithik at Marine Drive. I never realized having worked with him that he’s so good looking,” she recounted, laughing.

Hrithik Roshan in Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai.

“There was a sequence in Mumbai, where I can’t tell you the size of crowd that had showed up to catch a glimpse of Hrithik Roshan. There were bouncers and security guards to control the crowd. It was out of proportion, out of imagination,” said Sonali. She recalled another instance from IIFA Awards 2001 in Sun City, South Africa, which is a testimony to Hrithik’s popularity.

“I was nominated for Mission Kashmir at IIFA Awards in Sun City. There was a riot at a restaurant where the Roshan family was having a meal,” she said, adding, “But while performing, he was as naïve as an actor should be. He was a director’s actor.” Before even making his acting debut, Hrithik had assisted his father in the latter’s directorials, from Karan Arjun (1995) to Koyla (1997).

Sonali on Mission Kashmir

Sonali was largely a Marathi actor before she played her first memorable mainstream role in Mission Kashmir. She’d already made her Hindi film debut with Amol Palekar’s National Award-winning film Daayraa (1996), but that critically acclaimed movie never saw light of the day in Indian cinemas. That’s why her major breakthrough turned out to be as Neelima Khan in Mission Kashmir.

“I think I’m lucky and the chosen one. Many actors rejected Mission Kashmir. That’s how it came to me,” she reveals. “I’m ever grateful to all the actors who felt like not doing that particular project, which has landed in my fate. Vidhu Vinod Chopra told me the names when I met him. So, he decided to go with a new face. I gave an audition, and was selected,” adds Sonali.

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Hrithik Roshan and Sonali Kulkarni during their Mission Kashmir audition.

Despite playing the lead in Marathi cinema, Sonali chose to settle for a supporting role to Preity Zinta, that too of the hero’s mother, for her own reasons. “Mission Kashmir had a stunning team and a stellar cast. The writing was by Abhijat Joshi, Suketu Mehta, and Vikram Chandra, the cinematography by Binod Pradhan, and the music by Shankar-Ehsan-Loy. What else can you ask for?,” she argues.

Visiting Kashmir was also a major reason. “Mission Kashmir helped me understand patriotism and our country. I didn’t know people can’t come out of their homes in Kashmir. We have the freedom to live and travel anywhere we want. But the lifestyle in Srinagar was different. As an actor, you’re not just observing someone’s mannerisms, but also sensing the atmosphere. I realized that with each film, I started becoming a prouder Indian,” says Sonali.

She’s grateful to Chopra for finding her even though they hardly knew each other. “It was much later I told him I loved Khamosh (1986), 1942: A Love Story (1994), and Parinda (1989), of course. He probably felt he’d be able to direct me, and the appearance suited the character. I played Neelima Khan, who adopts a child after losing her own, without knowing his religion. It was a deeper statement,” points out Sonali.

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She gets goosebumps remembering a sequence where she was putting the child actor, who played her adopted son, to sleep during the song ‘So Ja Chanda’. “In the rehearsal, I used both my hands to put him to sleep. But in the take, I used only one. And Vinod said, ‘I’m missing the second hand. Bring it in. That child has lost his family, and he needs the affection. It came so naturally, do that.’ Why can’t we give affectionate without deciding boundaries or give-and-take terms? The exchange has to be fluid,” says Sonali.