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Bollywood has found its very own super-hero : our desi version of Superman and Batman rolled in one, who can give the original Hollywood super heros a run for their money. Dashing looks, great stunts, fantastic dance steps, silken smooth dialogue delivery - the man's got it all! The Krish series continues to set the box office on fire and Hritik Roshan seems like the man who's got it all - the lucky guy who God has been so kind to.
Seeing Krish, one would be tempted to feel that nothing is really impossible for this super-hero. The real story however is not about Krish and his death defying stunts. Its about the real life story of the actor behind Krish. It's the real life story of Hritik Roshan and how he has so successfully dealt with and conquered challenges that life threw at him. Its about a man who never once thought that life is unfair on him, by giving him more than a fair share of huge challenges. Its about a man who found his own unique way of conquering challenges that would have laid most low. Its about a burning desire to achieve his ambition that did not allow any obstacle to come in its way. And, in his real life story, lie some important lessons for all of us who let our shoulders droop when business challenges seem one too many.
Hritik's epic struggle began at age 6
At a tender age of 6, Hritik developed a stammer, which badly affected his ability to speak fluently. School friends poked fun at him, which shattered his confidence and made him a shy, quiet and introverted young kid. He would dread attending oral exams, and would find every possible excuse to bunk school on those days. The turning point came when he decided that he would overcome this inability and fight it rather than run away from the problem. He joined speech therapy classes. He tried everything from homeopathy, hypnotism, physiotherapy, speaking with marbles under tongue but nothing helped. Finally, he developed his own techniques as he found out few ways of playing with tongues to get the correct pronunciation. He practiced saying every alphabet aloud in several ways for hours on end, days on end to master his pronunciations and perfect it.
Be it books or even big novels, he would read the books aloud and never silently. He read loudly to himself, page by page, line by line and word by word. He had been advised to do so by a speech therapist. This gradually healed his stammering problems. He specially stressed his pronunciation after which he could clear his articulations. He practiced for hours every day, alone in a room, in front of the mirror, slowly but surely making determined progress to overcome his stammering problem. It was a very slow, painful and gradual process - but over time, with hours of practice, determination and perseverance, he completely eliminated his stammer and what you see on screen now is a hero with a silken smooth dialogue delivery.
Would you believe that even today, at age 39, he still practices speech therapy for an hour every day? He does this to ensure that the stammer never comes back because of his complacence at having killed it. He is open about the problem and never tries to duck a conversation about it. In 2009, he opened an institute for speech therapy which encourages youngsters with a similar speech problem to overcome it, just the way he has so successfully done.
You can never dance. Forget films.
At age 15, he developed a major back problem called scoliosis - a condition where the spine becomes bent into a C or S shape rather than being firm and straight. At 19, he was bed ridden for a full year with this chronic back problem. He had a herniated disc and excruciating pain. His doctor told him to forget about any dreams of becoming an actor. He was told he would not be able to dance, and he and his parents were advised that he must seriously contemplate a career which was physically less demanding.
Hritik however had different ideas. He wanted to become an actor - just like his father. He was not going to allow anything to come in the way of his goal - however huge the challenge seemed, and whatever be the advice of experts. He started dealing with his problem himself, principally by training his body and mind to bear pain and live with it. He underwent treatment, worked on his body and spine, and constantly increased his pain threshold to a point where he actually danced and performed stunts with a slipped disc. He says quite candidly today that he can't think of a day when he didn't have any pain. He's just come to accept it as part of his life, and has strengthened his inner self to overcome it and carry out every demanding physical task that an ace actor and dancer like him needs to perform. He has conquered pain - which most of us easily lose out to.
Not just a terrible back. Now, the knees give in
At 33, he was diagnosed with arthritis in his right knee and put on crutches for six months. As he recalls, the pain was unbearable, there was hardly any cartilage left. He did go through a moment of despair - maybe his acting career was now truly over. But, once again, he summoned up his immense inner strength and decided to fight and overcome this as well. Besides treatment, he also needed to take his pain threshold even higher - which he successfully did. He shot his most successful movie to date - Krish 3 - at age 39. Who would say, after watching this movie, that the super-hero you were awe-struck by, is battling a stammering problem, a chronic back problem and arthritis in his knee?
Lessons for us from Hritik's story
The business environment for financial advisors and distributors has undoubtedly been challenging over the last 5 years. At times, it certainly would have felt that life is being unfair. The business has seen a confluence of thinning volumes, shrinking margins and increased compliance pressure - all at the same time. Not to mention client dissatisfaction over weak portfolio performance. Its very easy to throw in the towel in these circumstances, like many did.
There are two important lessons however from Hritik's story, for those of us who are clear that we want to succeed in this business and not be overwhelmed by the challenges it has thrown at us in recent years:
It takes huge effort over long periods of time to overcome some challenges. You need to have the conviction that you will overcome it and the burning desire to overcome it - with this attitude and unrelenting hard work, nothing is impossible. No challenge is too difficult to overcome. Hritik's conquest of his stammering problem shows us the way. There are some challenges which cannot be solved, as they are beyond your control. That doesn't mean you lose. It means that you raise your game to a level where you win, despite the challenge. Hritik may have overcome his speech disorder, but he continues to live with a chronic back and knee problem. They are not solved - he has learned to deal with the pain and has raised his pain threshold to a level where the pain no longer comes in the way of what he has set his heart at accomplishing.
If you would really like to take a lesson out of Hritik's story, here's what you can do. Jot down all the challenges that are holding you back today from achieving what you truly aspire. Put them into two buckets : those which can be overcome, however difficult it seems today, and those which have no solution within your control. Begin working on those which you have some influence over, with Hritik's determination and perseverance. And, to counter those that are completely beyond your control, increase your pain threshold - take them in your stride. Conquer pain when you cannot conquer what causes the pain. Either way, you win.
Content is created by Wealth Forum and should not be construed as an opinion of Axis Mutual Fund.
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