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The extended shooting schedule of Ashutosh Gowarikar’s magnum opus, Jodha Akbar has taken a toll on Hrithik Roshan’s health. He suffered a knee injury while enacting some battle sequences and has been advised bed rest for three months. The actor, who continues to film lest the film’s post-production gets delayed, complained of acute pain recently and moved out of the chalet, which was built for the actor at ND Studios in Karjat.

Hrithik’s spokesperson Ashok Vishodia admits that the actor is in pain. “Hrithik has had a problem with his knees. He has been under treatment for a while. He put up at a hotel in Lonavla this time around.”

Apparently, Hrithik was no too happy with the amenities provided to him at the cottage in ND Studios and eventually, checked into a five-star hotel at Lonavla.

A source close to the actor informs, “The three-hour long journey from his home to the sets at Karjat and back was only adding to his pain. So Hrithik decided to stay at the cottage specially built for him at the ND Studios. Recently, he again complained of acute pain in the knee. That’s when he checked into a five-star hotel at Lonavla for a more comfortable stay.”

When quizzed about it, Nitin Desai denies that Hrithik had any trouble at the chalet and says, “Hrithik has always referred to our cottages as ‘home, away from home’. We are well-equipped and he has had a comfortable stay.”

Hrithik has been shooting for Jodha Akbar for almost a year now. His knee injury has only gone worse because the film’s exhausting sequences didn’t allow him much time to heal his wounds. “Hrithik Roshan had braved a spate of knee injuries during the schedule. He was taking medicines but he didn’t get the much required rest,” says another source.

However, for the next few months, the actor is going to stay put in Mumbai and complete dubbing for the film. He hasn’t signed any new projects yet. His spokesperson says, “He has just completed a song sequence for Jodha Akbar and is back in the city. He might need to go back to Karjat for some patchwork. He is not working on any other films as of now.”

Hrithik Roshan had some hot memories to carry back from the sets of Jodhaa Akbar while he was shooting in Rajasthan. The actor had blisters on his entire body after he wore a heavy metal attire for hours on end under the scorching sun, at a place called Sambar, where the climate and topography were extremely harsh.

Says a source from the sets, “Hrithik was shooting at Sambar in Rajasthan where one can’t see anything but plain barren ground. There is not a single tree or a mountain as far as one can see. The climate is horrible with a temperature of 47 degrees centigrade. The hot breeze only made matters worse.”

“Hrithik was shooting there wearing a metal headgear, metal shields on the body and he also had metal chains tied around his hands and legs. The attire was so heavy that it would easily weigh around 40 kgs. Hrithik could barely walk or sit comfortably. There were two men who helped him every time he had to sit or get up,” adds the source.

What made matters worse was that the actor had to enact some emotional scenes. “It was very difficult for Hrithik to shoot in those conditions. Everybody from the unit was feeling sorry for him. He had to shoot some emotional scenes wearing the uncomfortable attire for long hours. But, he continued to shoot. Only when he was done did we see the blisters all over his body,” says the source.

Hrithik Roshan, who plays Mughal Emperor Akbar in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodha Akbar, has been working hard to get his Urdu lines right. Hrithik also takes his Urdu teacher, Kamaal Ahmed, to the dubbing studio so that he can deliver the perfect dialogues.

Hrithik, who has been learning Urdu at his home in Juhu, has been so driven about learning the language that he makes it a point to take lessons whenever and wherever he has some free time.

A source says, “Hrithik has been learning Urdu from a teacher for some time now. The teacher also accompanies Hrithik to the studio where the actor is currently dubbing for Jodha Akbar.”

Kamaal Ahmed, a native from Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), confirms the news and says, “Yes, I am teaching Urdu to Hrithik. Hrithik is my favourite student as he is very hard-working and a perfectionist. He doesn’t give up till he gets the pronunciations perfect.”

So has he burdened the actor with homework, like most teachers are infamous for? “Yes. I used to give him a format that he had to keep practising. And he used to practise it diligently every time. Kaafi baar kuchh words repeat karaye (I would keep making him repeat some difficult words) which he had difficulty pronouncing. Many Arabic words like ‘khh’ in ‘Khabar’ and ‘ghh’ in ‘Ghaddar’ are pron o u n c e d wrongly by most. But it is just not possible that Hrithik will make any such mistake now,” says a confident Ahmed.

Commenting on accompanying the actor to the dubbing studio, Ahmed says, “It’s better to be present at the dubbing studio as well so that I can supervise each word and check if he is pronouncing it correctly. Hrithik always is open to learning and he still thinks that he is a trainee.”

The trainer is quite happy with the outcome of his teaching as well as the person he has taught. “The credit goes completely to Hrithik. He has learnt the language well. Personally speaking, Hrithik is extremely cultured and knows how to respect people,” says a visibly proud Ahmed.

Papa Rakesh Roshan has gifted son Hrithik Roshan a brand new S class Mercedes after his car was smashed up in an accident on the Lonavla highway a month ago. It can be recalled that Hrithik’s car was banged from behind by a speeding car. Luckily, Hrithik escaped unhurt.

Our source says, “Hrithik was travelling in his father’s S class Mercedes, when his car met with an accident and was rammed from behind. In spite of such a serious accident, Hrithik escaped unhurt. That’s when he realised that the car is built very strong. So he went up to his father and asked for a car of the same make. Doting dad Roshan immediately ordered a similar car for him, which was delivered to him in three days flat. (Normally it takes months for the delivery of a Merc.) Hrithik’s S class Merc is golden beige in colour and Hrithik is very proud of his new possession.” Earlier the actor used to drive a Porsche Cayenne.

We all know what a perfectionist the Hrithik Roshan is and this is not the first time he’s hurt himself in the bargain. Apparently, while practising some stunts, he hurt his knee badly. Without risking life and limb further, he let all his work come to a halt, since he was obviously in ‘k’need of some love and care. Besides, being at home is always a pleasure - on one hand he gets pampered by Suzanne, and on the other, he’s cuddling baby Hrehaan to the hilt. Even superheroes need a bit of TLC, na?

Hrithik Roshan’s Rs 35 crore, three-film deal with Adlabs seems to be finally on the road. What’s interesting is that he will be working with Ram Gopal Varma for the first time, in one of the three films. Now, here’s an unlikely combination: a dancing superhero teaming up with a filmmaker who likes to venture off the beaten track every now and then. However, reports says that Adlabs has signed Ram Gopal Varma to make an action film with Hrithik. Incidentally, John Matthew Mathan will be directing a film with the actor too.

A source from Adlabs says, “Yes, Hrithik’s three-film deal is finally on. Adlabs had an old understanding with John Matthan for his film Shikhar and that’s why he has been signed for a film with Hrithik. The second film will be directed by Ram Gopal Varma and he has been paid a huge amount to direct the film. Ramu is currently working on the script. It’s supposed to be a stylish action film, based in Afghanistan.”

Hrithik’s look in the film will apparently be somewhat like Rambo and the tentative title of the film is Aryan. The budget of the film will be approximately Rs 40 crore.

Adds our source, “Hrithik is busy with Jodhaa Akbar right now. Once that’s done, he will take a final call on which film he wants to start first, Ramu’s or Mathan’s, in August.”

While Ramu remained unavailable for comment, Hrithik Roshan’s secretary, Ashok Vashodia, only said, “Nothing has been finalised yet.”

Great minds sure think alike. Guess what is common between Bollywood baadshah Shah Rukh Khan and heartthrob Hrithik Roshan. The two stars have the same physical trainer Prashant Sawant, after an impressed Hrithik insisted on having a fit body like SRK.

Hrithik met SRK at his residence Mannat before SRK left for his long holiday to London. That’s when some serious guy talk happened between the two, since Hrithik was quite impressed by the way Shah Rukh’s body was looking.

And the next thing they did was exchange Prashant’s number. A close source says, “Hrithik met Shah Rukh at his residence recently and was quite impressed with SRK’s fit body. Hrithik immediately took Prashant’s number and asked him to train him too.” Prashant confirms the news. “I have been training Shah Rukh for a long time now. Recently I also got a call from Hrithik saying that he wanted me to train him too. I was a little surprised initially when Hrithik invited me to his residence. He was also impressed by the power equipment that I use to train Shah Rukh. It was great fun training him and he’s quite a hard-working actor. Even though Hrithik has a state-of-the-art gym at his Juhu residence, he visited my gym and checked out the equipments and was quite impressed.”

The source adds, “Prashant trained Hrithik for a week on a regular basis before he left for his vacation. Hrithik’s wife Susanne was very pleased with Prashant’s training and she also sent him a ‘thank you cheque’ after she met him the first time.”

With every film that Bollywood directors make these days, they ensure that a sequel follows soon. Or so is the case of Anurag Basu. After his film Metro set the cash registers ringing at the box office, he has decided to follow it up with an apt sequel which will be titled Metro 2.

Reportedly, the big news is that Hrithik Roshan, who had earlier expressed a desire to work with Anurag, will star in this sequel. Anurag, on his part, is working at super speed. The scripting is already underway and the film is expected to go on the floors later this year. He says, “We loved the idea of making a sequel to Metro. My writer Sanjeev Dutta and I are currently busy finalising the script. Rest of the things will fall in place after that.”

As for roping in Hrithik Roshan, Anurag says, “Rakesh Roshan has seen Gangster and Metro, and he loved both the films. He expressed Hrithik’s wish to work with me once the script is ready and approved. Once the script is decided on, casting will get going.”

Ram Mirchandani, VP, UTV Motion Pictures says, “Yes, it is true that we are planning a sequel to Metro. It is one of the films that we are very proud of. Metro 2 will start where Metro ended. We are currently thinking of various other locations for Metro 2. Mumbai is not the only metropolitan city, after all. Metro 2 can be situated in Delhi or even in London, for that matter. Anurag will obviously direct it as it is completely his baby and we intend to start the film after the casting is done.”

What prompted them to go ahead with a sequel? Mirchandani says, “The film is currently running in its seventh week and has just completed a 50-day run at the box-office. Even the feedback we have received has been quite encouraging.”

When quizzed if Hrithik Roshan will be a part of the film, Mirchandani says, “This is something which only Anurag can confirm. I can’t confirm anything at this moment.”

When Rakesh Roshan launched his comic film Krazy 4 without son Hrithik, there was much speculation whether junior Roshan would still be included in the film. The film stars Arshad Warsi, Irfan Khan, Rajpal Yadav and Juhi Chawla and is being directed by debutant director Raja Sen. While Rakesh has always insisted that Hrithik would not be doing the film, rumours have once again surfaced that Hrithik has been roped in to do an item number in the film, and that dad Roshan was pulling out all stops to ensure that the song would be one of the best. Knowing the scale senior Roshan works on, we’re sure this one will definitely be eye candy for Hrithik fans. “I am neither confirming nor denying this piece of news,” says director Raja Sen who is currently holding the cards close to his chest. When asked about Roshan’s earlier claim that Hrithik would not be involved in Krazy 4, Raja tells us, “Hrithik was not supposed to be involved in the capacity of an actor, but now things may change, although there is no confirmation as yet.” Considering the star attraction it would add to the film, we’re willing to bet this one does happen!