Hrithik Roshan, in a recent Instagram post, revealed that he was "scared" when director Ashutosh Gowariker offered the 2008 magnum opus Jodhaa Akbar to him. On Ashutosh Gowariker's birthday on Monday, Hrithik posted a montage of clips from the film that starred him and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as the lead actors. Hrithik played the role of Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar while Aishwarya portrayed the role of his wife Jodhaa Bai. "Memories. #JodhaaAkbar. Man, this movie was difficult. I was s**t scared when Ashutosh Gowarikar offered it to me. Couldn't understand how he could see someone like me commanding 10,000 soldiers. But then that's what a director does," wrote Hrithik Roshan and added: "He envisions what you can't. And that's the reason I did the film."
In his post, Hrithik Roshan also wrote: "More than the script or story, it was for experiencing what this impossibility would do to me, how it would change me, make me stronger perhaps. And what I learnt was that to do strong things, you don't need to be strong in the beginning! In fact the decision of wanting to be strong comes before. And it MEANS having to choose that which is beyond your ability at the time of choosing. Trusting that the experience itself will do the rest. The challenge then itself creates the stronger you."
The actor signed off his post with these words: "It's magic. Try it. #happybirthdayashutoshgowariker."
See Hrithik Roshan's post here:
Jodhaa Akbar, directed, produced and co-written by Ashutosh Gowariker, also starred Sonu Sood, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ila Arun, Raza Murad, Rajesh Vivek and Suhasini Mulay, to name a few. Amitabh Bachchan was the narrator in the film, which released in February 2008.
The score and soundtrack of the film was composed by AR Rahman. Jodhaa Akbar fetched Neeta Lulla the National Film Award for the Best Costume Design, as well as Chinni Prakash and Rekha Prakash the National Award for the Best Choreography.
Apart from Jodhaa Akbar, Hrithik and Aishwarya have also worked together in Dhoom 2 and Guzaarish.