Picture by Aranya Sen

Hrithik Roshan doing an undie ad? There was enough dhoom in the air before the Dhoom 2 dude walked up the Hyatt lobby on Monday afternoon. People didn’t know what to expect. Would his latest brand endorsement be a teaser to a new Hrithik superhero after Krrish called Macroman who wears his M-series undies outside his denims? Thankfully, there were no revealing answers and this was one product that its star endorser decided to keep under cover.

So, what on earth is Bollywood’s best-looking man — who was crowned the most glamorous star at the Koffee With Karan Awards — doing in an innerwear campaign just a few weeks before he hits the telly screens in the robes of Akbar, the greatest Mughal emperor?

“Beauty is as beauty does; beauty is what it stands for and not what it looks like.” Hrithik obviously had picked his words with care.

And then the brand endorser got down to basics: “You can choose not to wear a perfume, you can choose not to wear jeans, you can take a motorcycle in place of your car, but I don’t think you will choose to walk out without your underwear.”

Wah, kya andar ki baat batai!

Insiders reveal that Hrithik took more than a couple of months to say yes to the product. “He himself wasn’t sure whether he should be doing an underwear commercial,” says our source. “It’s one of those brand endorsements which can work or go totally wrong.”

In fact, so involved was Hrithik with the whole campaign that he would sit in the edit room to supervise every cut. No wonder Hrithik said that the advertisement he has shot for MacroMan M-series undies is “one of the most satisfying works” he has done in a long time.

Undiespeak out of the way, Hrithik turned to the more important matter of Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar.

“Jodhaa Akbar will release somewhere around January,” he said, his pointed ‘Akbar’ sideburns hinting that there was still some work left on the UTV magnum opus initially slated for an October release.

While the popular perception is that the Hrithik-Aishwarya face-off following the Dhoom:2 liplock is responsible for the delay, the truth, says sources, is that A.R. Rahman has not been able to take time out for the background score.

Post-Jodhaa Akbar, Hrithik will reprise his role of the superhero saviour Krrish in yet another sequel from father Rakesh Roshan. But this time, Duggu will be seen in a dual role. Besides jumping around on screen, he will be involved in scripting the movie, a first for him. Hrithik, of course, had earlier assisted his father on the sets of Koyla and even cut the promos of Kaho Naa… Pyar Hai.

The pushback of Jodhaa Akbar means that it will not be pitted against Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om, but that does not stop him from taking a jab at Shah Rukh’s new-found six-pack abs. “If I inspired him even a little bit, I will be happy with it,” said Hrithik with a wry grin. “It’s a nice feeling to live with.”

Om shanti om!