Revision as of 20:18, 4 June 2014

End of a love story

Vickey Lalwani & Mehul S Thakkar,Mumbai Mirror | Dec 14, 2013

The Times of India

Personal details

Official name: Hrithik Rakesh Nagrath

Born on January 10, 1974 in Mumbai

Height 5' 11½" (1.82 m)

Family

Grandfather: Roshan, an A-list music director

Maternal grandfather - J. Om Prakash, director-producer: made a string of successful films, with titles mostly starting with ‘Aa.’

Father: Rakesh Roshan: moderately successful lead actor, produced hugely successful films, with titles mostly starting with ‘K.’

Uncle: Rajesh Roshan: had a long spell of success as an A-list music director

Wife (estranged; divorce proceedings are pending): Sussanne Khan, daughter of Sanjay Khan, and from another extensive, A-list Filmistan family.

The love story

Hrithik (born 1974) once told The Times of India that he had known since he was twelve that Sussanne was the girl for him. They moved among the same circle of friends while they were growing up in Juhu , but at the time Hrithik was too shy to confess his feelings for her and was simply content to adore her from a distance.

Eventually Sussanne went abroad and Hrithik stayed back to chase his celluloid dreams. Then one day, while waiting at a traffic signal, he turned and locked eyes with a pretty girl at the wheel of the car next to him. It was Sussane. So thunderstruck was the young man by this momentous development in his life that he insisted it be recreated on screen in his debut film, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai.

Older and more confident, especially after the film's humongous success, he now started pursuing Sussane in earnest. On Valentine's Day, he told her of his love and exactly a year later he went down on his knees on Juhu beach and proposed to Sussane in true schmaltzy Valentine Day spirit.

First signs of trouble

The couple had two sons and seemed well on their way to being that rarity in Bollywood: a happy couple. In 2011 even as newspapers were buzzing about a certain Mexican seductress, Sussane Roshan publicly declared her love for Hrithik on stage at an awards ceremony in Singapore leaving Hrithik look misty-eyed.

He was again overwhelmed when he stepped into her interiors shop one month later, on February 27, tears visible. "For 15 years, she has supported me in my career. Now I want to be her pillar and punching board," he was quoted as saying in an interview then.

In Dec 2013 Bollywood's golden couple Hrithik and Sussanne Roshan have decided to end their 17-year-long relationship. Hrithik announced the split from his wife in a terse statement released from Los Angeles where the star was vacationing solo. It left no ambiguity about who had left whom.

"Sussanne has decided to separate from me and end our 17-year-long relationship," he wrote about the end of his fairytale marriage before assuring his fans that he still had "faith in the institution of marriage."

While the announcement came as a shock to his legions of fans, Bollywood insiders were not exactly unaware of the trouble brewing in the relationship. Sussanne had moved out of the family home in Juhu with their two sons about four months ago but the separation was kept a secret as the Roshans did not want anything to divert attention from Krissh 3, the child-friendly family franchise.

Sources cite several reasons why a reconciliation does not seem possible, one of which is Sussanne's terminal boredom with her husband who, she felt, had become obsessed with his career and his undeniable good looks. The wife felt neglected.

While rumours of an open marriage has been dodging the couple for some time with names of other equally beautiful people like Barbara Mori and Arjun Rampal adding to a sizzling narrative of a marriage unraveling, the final nail comes in the form of a rather mundane familial trouble: saas-bahu friction.

Friends of the couple close to the development told this newspaper that Sussanne wanted Hrithik to move out of the family home Palazzio in Juhu but the star was not keen to leave his parents and his divorced sister. Not that Sussanne had to share a small flat with caviling in-laws. The couple had their own independent floor but the escalating tensions between the bahu and the in-laws would not be contained in that building, and culminated with a blazing row between Sussane and Pinky Mum-in-law Roshan some days ago leading to this denouncement.

The Times of India's source says, "The marriage has had it's share of ups and downs in the past when Hrithik was linked to his Kites costar Barbara Mori. Sussanne had moved into a plush five-star hotel in the vicinity saying that their home was infested with termites. But she went back home that time after Barbara returned to Mexico. But this time the cracks went deeper, particularly after their friendship with another star couple turned sour."

Filmography

As an actor

1980 Aap Ke Deewane

1980 Aasha

1981 Aas Paas

1983 Aasra Pyaar Da

1986 Bhagwaan Dada

2000 Fiza

2000 Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai

2000 Mission Kashmir

2001 Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...

2001 Yaadein...

2002 Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage

2002 Mujhse Dosti Karoge!

2002 Na Tum Jaano Na Hum

2003 Koi... Mil Gaya

2003 Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon

2004 Lakshya

2006 Dhoom:2

2006 I See You

2006 Krrish

2008 Jodhaa Akbar

2009 Luck by Chance

2010 Guzaarish

2010/I Kites

2011 Don2

2011 Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

2012 Agneepath

2013 Krrish 3

As a singer

2010 Guzaarish

2010 Kites

2011 Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

As an associate director

1987 Khudgarz

1995 Karan Arjun

1997 Koyla