Action, Sensation and the Kinetic Body: The Stardom of Hrithik Roshan

Abstract

At the turn of the twenty-first century, the spectre of the Muslim, inexorably bound up with the figure of the Islamist terrorist, triggers a diversity of cinematic engagements in Bombay cinema. In the aftermath of 9/11, the Islamist terrorist is seen to possess a commanding global presence, transnational mobility and the capacity to unleash spectacular violence. The anxiety, dread, horror and fascination set in motion by terror-related violence and death-dealing become the vectors along which cinematic affect begins to travel. The Islamist terrorist, both visible and spectral, not only haunts and transfigures the diegetic world of Bombay cinema but inaugurates a new constellation of films whose affective registers reanimate the cinematic image. This emergent constellation is born when the “war film” becomes liberated from the confines of the combat zone and is catapulted onto a transnational arena. The soldier and spy merge into a singular figuration fusing the violent impulse of the former with the itinerant impulse of the latter inaugurating thereby a “new” cinema of action and sensation. Therefore, the soldier-spy films of Sunny Deol (Maa Tujhe Salaam, Verma in Maa Tujhe Salaam. Indian Movies, 2002, The Hero: A Love Story of a Spy, Sharma in The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. Time Magnetics, 2003, Jaal: The Trap, Dhanoa in Jaal: The Trap. Parth Productions, 2003) become early cinematic experiments in speed, movement and sensation. Running parallel to the soldier-spy films, another set of chronologically overlapping films produce a new force field of affects. The terrorist, who was thus far the hero’s antagonist, becomes the protagonist when the body of the star collides with that of the terrorist. Hrithik Roshan, in his early films Fiza (Mohammed in Fiza. UTV Motion Pictures et al. 2000) and Mission Kashmir, (Chopra in Mission Kashmir. Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions, 2000) is arguably the first star on whose body these aspirations come to be inscribed. As the body of the star fuses with that of the terrorist, new possibilities in the realm of affect and signification are inaugurated. This essay argues that Hrithik Roshan’s stardom is inextricable from the movement and sensation of the new action cinema whose kinetic and affective energies have been unleashed by the spectre of the terrorist. Conversely, the kinesis of the new action cinema is driven by a star body that finds full and spectacular display through not just films but ads and campaigns for global brands. The emergence of Hrithik as a star also marks a significant moment in the history of Bollywood action cinema. Driven by the balletic athleticism of Hrithik’s star body and the pioneering innovations in action choreography, Bollywood witnesses the arrival of “wire-fu” films like Krrish (Roshan in Krrish. Filmkraft Productions, 2006), Dhoom 2 (Gadhvi in Dhoom 2. Yash Raj Films, 2006) and Krrish 3 (Roshan in Krrish 3. Filmkraft Productions, 2013) that allow action choreography to become spectacularly airborne. Central to the stardom of Hrithik Roshan is the sensational allure of kinetic and aerial mobility. It is through this sensorium that this essay contemplates the first decade of Hrithik Roshan’s stardom.