In London, Hrithik Roshan currently the toast of the movie-watching hemisphere for his superhero’s act in Krrish, is stunned to hear about young fans trying his heart-in-the-mouth stunts. “Please tell them not to. Those action scenes are dangerous. They were undertaken by me under close supervision and required immense training, focus and labour to be done correctly. And besides, a superhero to me isn’t one who jumps across buildings and glides over rivers like Krrish. A superhero is one who extends a helping hand to one who needs it. To that extent, there’s a Krrish in everyone out there. I’d be happy if kids touched people’s lives instead of trying to imitate my stunts.”

He pauses to reflect. “I’m truly thankful for the way kids have reacted to Krrish. It’s beyond anything we expected. But let me also add that it’s a fantasy film. The action scenes are meant to be enjoyed, not imitated. I’ll tell kids something I’ve not revealed so far. During the circus fire-sequence my hair got burnt in the front of my head. Fortunately, it grew back before the next schedule. I don’t think the hereditary baldness is going to strike me for a long time. At least not until I do the third film in the superhero series.”

The third film is definitely happening. “My secret fantasy is to bring together all the characters from Koi?Mil Gaya and Krrish ? Rohit, Krishna, Krissh, Jadoo and the supervillain ? in the next film. But for that my young fans must stop scaring me by trying to do my stunts in Krrish. I did the action scenes with full safety precaution. I was guided by an action team of 40 people. I watched action films from all over the world to get a hang of it. But I finally decided Krrish would be a unique superhero. Unlike any of his counterparts on celluloid like Superman or Spiderman. That’s why I did away with the thought of a double doing my stunts. No body-double matched my body language or my movements. I knew if I took the easy way out and allowed a dupe to shoot the action scenes my audience will immediately spot the difference, and the film would fall apart. I therefore took it on myself to shoot all the action scenes. To maintain measured elegant hand-and-feet movements while flying through mid-air I watched the long-jumpers at the Olympics and how they held their bodies in gravity-defying positions. If you notice, Krrish is unlike other superheroes in one detail. His superpowers extend themselves according to the need of the hour. Therefore there’s no end to Krrish’s heightened powers. Let’s see where he takes them in the next film.”

Now when Superman is round the corner how would Krrish cope with the competition? “You must understand that the budget for Krrish is $ 9 million. Which is what one action sequence in Superman would cost. Having said that, I must say Superman and Krrish are cousins. They both belong to the superhero league. I see no clash between them. We’re hoping Krrish will take our cinema to places that it doesn’t normally go to. The emotions in Krrish are culture-specific and yet universal. You don’t have to be Indian to understand what Krrish stands for.”