The Roshans promises warmth rather than illumination, in keeping with its format. Like The Romantics, about Yash Chopra and his son Aditya Chopra, and Angry Young Men, about the screenwriters Salim-Javed, The Roshans has the imprimatur of its participants, which leads to considerable access and scanty insights.
Directed by Shashi Ranjan for Netflix, The Roshans traces three generations of the Nagrath family –the celebrated film composer Roshan Lal Nagrath, his sons Rakesh Roshan and Rajesh Roshan, and grandson Hrithik Roshan. Ranjan chats with various members of the Roshan clan, including the wives of the actor-director Rakesh Roshan and music composer Rajesh Roshan. Shashi Ranjan also lines up an array of prominent guests – actors, directors, singers, composers, friends – who supply affectionate reminiscences.
Each of the four Roshans has an episode dedicated to him. The most engaging and thoughtful episode is about the patriarch, whose musical brilliance has endured long after the movies for which he created tunes have been forgotten.
Through conversations with singers, session musicians and composers, the reasons for Roshan’s eminence become clear. The interviews reveal how he approached his musical arrangements and handled singers and lyricists. Rich in nostalgia, this episode is also noteworthy for the sheer number of luminaries who have been unearthed.
Veterans like Asha Bhosle, Suman Kalyanpur, Sudha Malhotra, Pyarelal and Anand Virji Shah (the surviving member of the Kalyanji-Anandji duo) share the screen with contemporary filmmakers and musicians such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik. The episode not only has a singalong quality but also leads into the themes of the next chapters.
Roshan’s death from a heart attack at the age of 50 in 1967 dramatically transformed his family’s fortunes. The elder son Rakesh Roshan, then only 18, dropped out of college and began working as an assistant director, while also picking up acting roles.
Rakesh Roshan’s indifferent stint as an actor prompted him to become a director with Khudgarz in 1987. Several hits followed, coupled with some duds. The younger son Rajesh, who was 12 at the time of his father’s demise, became a composer in his late teens with a fair degree of success.
The episodes about the second generation testify to the family’s tenacity and self-belief. Shah Rukh Khan – who appeared in three Rakesh Roshan productions – astutely says that nearly all of the director’s movies are stories of survival against the odds.
The episode on Hrithik Roshan allows a sliver of observation into his dynamic with his clearly strong-willed father. The hazel-eyed hunk overcame a childhood stutter and a curved spine to emerge as a bankable actor, heartthrob and dancer par excellence – all under his father’s careful guidance.
Hrithik Roshan describes his journey as being about “insurmountable odds” and an “incredible desire” combined with “fear”. Anxiety – about the loss of a parent, the threat of instability that dogs every family involved in producing movies, the psychological need for validation – lingers at the edges of the episode.
As can be expected, there’s little in The Roshans that is earth-shatteringly revelatory. But the docuseries goes further than The Romantics and Angry Young Men in trying to explain why its celebrity subjects deserve their reputation. Even puff pieces can be revealing, just about.
