The Importance of Being Hritik

(This article of mine appeared in this month's issue of Mother&Baby...July '08. I hope you guys enjoy it!!)

The Importance of Being Hritik

Hritik Roshan is more than just a Greek God with oodles, pools and hidden reserves of talent. He is more than a sculpted body to lust for. He is more than a sexy daydream who makes many female (and I’m sure some male) insides flutter deliciously and then melt away in a deliriously wanton manner. Sigh.

You can talk all you like about the machismo of Jackie Shroff and Vinod Khanna. The chocolaty good looks of Jimmy Shergill and Neil Nitin Mukesh. The cool dude attitude of Chhote Nawab and Baby B. And the ‘je ne sais quoi’ about the Badshah and the Big B.

Hritik is all that. And so much more.

Sue me all you other Hritik fans, but I was only marginally impressed by his first film. While all my friends were falling around me in dead faints, I was giving him a ho-hum. In ‘Fiza’ I gave a salute to his acting skills. Then, a couple of years later, ‘Koi Mil Gaya’ happened and I sat up and took notice. There seemed to be intelligence and talent oozing out of every pore. And finally, dhoom! It hit me! In ‘Dhoom 2’ I was a goner! I sank like a brick weighed down by a tonne of lead. Wow!

And turns out, I wasn’t the only one. Even my hubby and bro-in-law (and they are both macho pieces of manhood with high levels of testosterone), sat up and went ‘Wow!’ Yes, yes, the ‘Krazy Kiya Re’ babe also happened to be a strong factor, but they were mighty, mighty impressed with his dancing skills. The title track of the movie became a firm favourite in our household almost overnight. That dance was my undoing.

And my son’s.

Yes. My four-year-old fell hook-line-and-sinker for this magnificently structured man with the mind-blowing dance moves. He was even christened ‘Hhoom Machale’ by my boy. By express request, I would have to play the song and the video at least ten times a day and at first, my son would just watch with his mouth wide open. A few days later, suddenly I saw him get up and try and copy the dance moves! With absolute sincerity and total dedication, he tried the leg raises, the splits and the pelvic thrusts. He even took my dupatta to uses as a scarf! It was side-splittingly funny as well as heart-wrenchingly adorable. It was one of those moments when I physically felt my heart lurch as it sprang to life to take a photograph.

I soon discovered that my nephew was a fan too. And together, these two adorable boys would try to shake a leg like the man himself. They even played ‘pretend’ games where they would fight over who would get to be ‘Hhoom Machale.’ And their mission? Oh just about anything from saving the world to winning races. The hero in their little games was always you-know-who.

A couple of days later, I was dressing him up for a wedding and I said, “You’re looking so handsome my sweetheart!” Immediately he went to the mirror, looked at himself and then looked back at me with his big, beautiful eyes sparkling, a huge smile flashing. He then asks me so seriously, so innocently, so sweetly, “Like Hhoom Machale?” I hugged him close to my soul and said, “No, so much better!”

So thank you Hritik. Not for the daydreams and the dancing. But for these sweet little moments that I shared with my son. And all because you’ve got the right moves.

Oh and yes, in thy name, I can always get him to finish his food. “Eat your parwal sweetheart. You want to be like Hhoom Machale, don’t you?” Gone. All of it. In just a few quick bites and gulps!

So yeah. Thanks.