"Hrithik and Vivek look evenly-matched in Krrish 3" - Rakesh Roshan

Rakesh Roshan has completed shooting Krrish 3 barring the romantic songs. The climactic fight between Hrithik and Vivek has them locked in a photo-finish combat where Hrithik insisted that Vivek would get equal weightage, footage and leverage.

Reasons Rakesh, "I had to justify Vivek's presence. So his character gets equal importance to Hrithik. The story moves ahead with Vivek and Hrithik. And Vivek has done an amazing job." 

Says the director, "For the last five months we've shot only the action scenes. All I can tell you is, the fights are not about showing the super-hero throwing punches. His opponent is just as powerful. We're ready with two hours of film. We need to shoot another half an hour." 

Rubbishing rumours that Farhan Akhtar was roped in to supervise the climactic fights, Rakesh says, "Farhan? He's grown up with my son. I love Farhan's work. But I've been directing films from the time he was a child…I am very happy with the outcome. We're nearly done." 

The director admits Krrish 3 cannot compare with the action scenes in the Spiderman series. "In terms of stunt spectacle and action, we've gone way beyond the other Krrish films. But we can't compete with Hollywood. One of their action scenes is equal to my entire budget. We can't afford the bigness of the Hollywood super-hero films. Given our monetary restrictions, we've done whatever we could do with the action scenes. But our forte is the drama. So we've based all the action in emotions. Plain and simple, they've the money. We don't. We have to depend on our content, the story and emotions. We'll try to get the audience involved in the emotions and then get them sucked into the stunts." 

Ends Rakesh Roshan, "This is the most difficult film I've ever shot. I've had to create a balance between my son's character and Vivek's character. The two look evenly-matched on screen. And that's my biggest triumph." 

It looks like Hrithik Roshan's Krrish franchise just got bigger, much bigger. Vivek Oberoi's character of the antagonist in Krrish 3 will now be a steady part of the Krrish series. What's more, all plans to make Hrithik's super-hero dance and sing have been dropped, because Vivek's super-villain Kaal does none of that. 

Informs Rakesh Roshan, "Hrithik, the super-hero, won't sing and dance. Both Krrish and Kaal are pitched against one another in a very serious combat. Any attempt to change the equation would tilt the balance." 

Rakesh neck deep in post-production and the remaining fraction of the shooting, admits he had to work doubly hard to make sure the two characters of the super-hero and the super-villain remained balanced in the story. "It wasn't just the super-hero. Hrithik also plays the hero Krishna and his father. So I had to balance three Hrithiks against one character of the villain." 

Informs the director, "This time I had to work hard on establishing Vivek's character. He's a definite part of the franchise now. It makes sense to pitch Hrithik's super-hero against an equally powerful villain. We've left no stone unturned to ensure it looks like a battle between equals. There's no point in introducing an antagonist and then leaving the character half-finished."