Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan has revealed a direct link between “The Lord of the Rings” and his sci-fi franchise “Krrish.”
Roshan was one of the guests at Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Asia-Pacific premiere in Mumbai on Thursday. The actor revealed that his father Rakesh Roshan, who directed “Koi… Mil Gaya” binge-watched Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy in 2004.
“He was talking about the way they’ve used this one great incredible idea and then had this progression which was so incredible and [asked] ‘why can’t we do that?,’ said Roshan.
“He said ‘why can’t we take ‘Koi… Mil Gaya’ — which is one of our previous films — ‘and have a progression and build on that’ — and that was the birth of ‘Krrish,’ ” Roshan revealed. “If there was no ‘Lord of the Rings,’ there’d be no ‘Krrish.’ ”
“Krrish” released in 2006, “Krrish 3” in 2013 and “Krrish 4” is understood to be in the works.
The premiere was also attended by Bollywood star Tamannaah Bhatia, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” showrunner JD Payne, cast members Robert Aramayo, Sara Zwangobani Maxim Baldry, Lloyd Owens, Nazanin Boniadi, Megan Richards, Charles Edwards, Tyroe Muhafidin, Ema Horvath and Markella Kavenagh and Amazon executives.
Payne said: “I came across Tolkien by watching the Peter Jackson films. I was in my 20s and they were one of the few films that really got to my heart. The way that films were made, compelled me to take a deep dive and read all the books and got super into it. Now these books have woven themselves into the very fabric of my life. Very rarely does a day go by where I don’t make a reference to it. If something is happening in my life, I would say I feel like Frodo carrying the Ring . Be it weddings or funerals I weave these quotes into eulogies and speeches! So Tolkien is now a part of my soul.”
Albert Cheng, COO, Amazon Studios said: “We have seen fantastic customer adoption in India and the country has witnessed the maximum number of new customers worldwide who started streaming on Prime Video last year. It is one of the fastest growing and most engaged locales for Prime Video worldwide, all of this within just five years of launch. Indian originals now have a massive fan following globally too as one in every five viewers of an Indian original series is from outside India, and India has the largest slate of local originals outside of the U.S. with over 70 shows in various stages of production and development. Mumbai is recognized globally as one of the entertainment capitals in the world alongside Los Angeles and London. This made it an obvious choice for us to host our first Asia-Pacific premiere.”
Gaurav Gandhi, country head, Prime Video India added: “Tolkien is the originator of much of modern fantasy. His stories are both timeless and relatable. They continue to inspire people even today and stoke their imagination. That is why people keep returning to them again and again. And with this series, we are creating an epic world that our viewers would not have seen before. The ambition of the show, the universal themes excite us on behalf of our viewers.”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” will stream from Sept. 2 and customers in India will be able to watch it in the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages.
