Rakesh Roshan reveals why underworld attacked him after Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai's release: 'They asked me to...'

Filmmaker Rakesh Roshan recalled getting injured in the underworld firing incident after the release of his son's debut Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. January 2000 was a bittersweet period for The Roshans. On one side, Hrithik became a star with the release of his first film. However, in the same month, Rakesh was shot in broad daylight outside his Mumbai office. Despite being hit by two bullets, the filmmaker miraculously drove himself to the hospital and survived. The attack was linked to the underworld, which had a powerful influence on the film industry during the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

In a recent interview, Rakesh revealed the real reason behind the attack. While speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Rakesh 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 it to them. This again, I refused to do," he shared.

Rakesh acknowledged that standing against criminals caused a significant personal cost. He said, "Once I had committed my son’s dates elsewhere, I refused to give in to arm-twisting tactics. With the kind of tension and fear that some of us had to bear, we couldn’t do anything creative, let alone make a film."

After the incident, Hrithik once decided to quit films. In an earlier interview with Simi Garewal that he considered quitting the film industry. He felt “directly or indirectly responsible" for his father’s shooting, as it stemmed from his rising stardom.

Hrithik, along with the Roshan family will be seen in the docu-series The Roshans. Hrithik Roshan said he was embarrassed by the idea of the upcoming docu-series The Roshans only to realise that the project would explore his family's legacy and could inspire many others.