Anil Kapoor gets emotional as Hrithik Roshan praises Fighter co-star: 'I have modelled my process on you'

Fighter director Siddharth Anand with actors Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor (Photo: Yogen Shah)

Anil Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan have been in the film industry for decades, but Fighter is the first time they have shared screen space together. Hrithik has been on set with the actor earlier though, when Anil worked in his father Rakesh Roshan's films.

During a recent media interaction ahead of the release of Fighter, Hrithik and Anil lavished praises on each other. The former also shared an incident from the sets of Fighter, that made Anil Kapoor emotional.

Anil Kapoor: How does Hrithik work so hard?

Talking about Hrithik's dedication to his craft, Anil said, "You want to get into Hrithik's brains. Is he normal? How does he work so hard? I have worked with the best of the world, I would rate him with all the phenomenal actors I have worked with. He is an actor to the core. He was saying, ‘I just love acting.' Longevity usi mein hai. If you want to work for 10-12 years, that's a different process. If you want to work till you die, you have to become Hrithik Roshan."

"I have never seen anyone do generous, giving and caring. You will see, it is a very difficult role. He has done it very honestly," the 67-year-old added.

Anil Kapoor gets emotional

Hrithik then volunteered to say something about the senior actor. "I want to say something to you. I have worked as an assistant while watching you in many of my dad's films. I modelled my process of how to get into the film as an actor, by seeing you. I spent 3-4 years doing that. I was a very good assistant - even now I shift between being Sid's actor and his assistant. I love doing that. As an assistant I used to watch you, I used to learn."

"On the sets of Fighter, you were doing a scene in the corridor. And I had just seen a few scenes of the film and I was on set with you. When you compliment somebody on how well they have done on a scene, the common reaction is ‘Thank you so much, I'm happy'. But when you win a gold medal at the Olympics or Wimbledon, something you have put your entire life into, and then you get a compliment, you feel overwhelmed, and you have tears in your eyes."

Hrithik continued, "That scene was written as a very aggressive one on paper. I told you, that you have interpreted this scene in an entirely different emotional way, and what you have done has taken the film to a different level. When I said this, your eyes welled up. You were tears in your eyes, and I was just watching you aghast. ‘My god, this man, must have put so much of himself into that one scene, that when he is getting praise he has tears in his eyes'. This is after 4 decades of doing what he does. That day I went back to being an assistant and just watched him."

Hrithik's anecdote made Anil emotional during the interaction. Both Sidharth Anand and Hrithik pointed out, "He still has tears in his eyes."