Meet director who mortgaged his house, cars, office to launch son's Bollywood career, film became superhit, made for Rs 10 crore, it earned Rs..., actor is now worth..

Filmmaker Rakesh Roshan started out his career as an actor, appearing in over 84 films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Rakesh Roshan was mostly known for his supporting roles in big-budget films before he transitioned to being a producer, director, and screenwriter. In the recently released documentary, The Roshans, it was revealed how Rakesh Roshan faced a tough time as a director, and now, his daughter Sunaina Roshan has also shed some light on Rakesh Roshan's struggles and how he was willing to bet everything before his son Hrithik Roshan made his big Bollywood debut. 

In an interview with News18, Sunaina Roshan opened up about her father's financial struggles as a director and producer. She said, "We were very young to understand, especially when Dad started his acting career. As a producer, he had mortgaged his house twice, the cars, and the office during Kaho Na Pyaar Hai and Khudgarz. He gambled with his life a lot, but he was fearless in doing so."

Sunaina Roshan shared how, despite the difficulties, their father never brought his work home. "We never knew that side of him because he never showed us what we were going through. I and my brother both had a very peaceful childhood. We never had to deal with people talking about our backgrounds because times were very different back then. There was no social media, thankfully, and Dad himself didn’t make it that big," she said. 

Both Hrithik Roshan and his father, Rakesh Roshan, have previously been open about the financial difficulties they faced initially. Rakesh Roshan once told Mid-Day, "Hrithik never knew, I never told him. Only my wife knew about it. I said I am mortgaging the house, maybe if I require, I will take money, otherwise I will try to manage. But it so happened that I managed it with the funds I had. Had the film not done well, then I would have to shift somewhere else or… but I took that chance."

In the documentary The Roshans, Hrithik Roshan also reflected on the poignant moment when he got to know what was at stake for his family. 

"I always saw the glass half-full. I had not colour-corrected in two or three scenes, because I was handling that. And the overseas prints had already been sent. So, I came to my dad, really upset that, ‘How could you let that go?’ And I think that was the first time that my dad gave it back to me. He gave it back to me in my face. He turned to my mom, and he said, ‘I am doing everything for him, and he’s sitting here and he’s complaining’. And that’s the night I found out, my mom told me, that the house was mortgaged, the cars were mortgaged… I realised how much was at stake."

Hrithik Roshan made his Bollywood debut with Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai in 2000. The film, directed, written, and produced by Rakesh Roshan, was made on a budget of Rs 10 crore. After release, the film became such a superhit that it earned Rs 80 crore at the box office and made Hrithik Roshan an overnight star. 

Rakesh Roshan's gamble on his only son ultimately paid off as over the years, Hrithik Roshan established himself as a superstar. Hrithik Roshan's net worth is estimated to be around Rs 3130 crore and he is also considered one of the highest-paid actors in Bollywood, with reports suggesting he charges between Rs 80 and Rs 85 crore per film.